The Perspective of a Ukrainian in the United States
When Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, it sent a shockwave across the world. As a Ukrainian in the United States, my life was split between two worlds. The first was the world of my youth, torn by unimaginable cruelty and destruction where all my family and friends were in imminent danger. The other was where life went on as usual in the United States.
Living in these two worlds, I began noticing differences in perceptions about what was happening in Ukraine. The terror of war and the Ukrainian military’s response was prominent, but another force – no less powerful – had emerged. I was seeing and hearing myriad stories of people mobilizing their energy to support the Ukrainian people. From nonprofits started by Ukrainians in the U.S.—like a friend of mine from college— to stories of those in Ukraine doing everything possible to resist Russian aggression and support one another. The sheer volume and diversity of these personal accounts highlighted how Ukrainians themselves were front and center in financing and supporting their own defense efforts and aid.
Yet in the West, the news of Ukraine was dominated by pictures of grief and destruction, with little acknowledgment of the unprecedented scale at which local civil society had mobilized. I felt compelled to study whether the stories I was hearing were heroic outliers or part of a bigger phenomenon.
Like many in the Ukrainian diaspora, I was looking for ways to channel my energy and skills into something meaningful. I paired up with my colleague Rossana Zetina-Beale, who had international development experience, to study the scale of civil society’s mobilization in wartime Ukraine and understand what it means for the country’s future and reconstruction.