How Volunteers Created A ‘Second State’ Inside Ukraine

Massive and unprecedented volunteer movement fills the void where the Ukrainian state fails.

The Ukrainian Red Cross Society volunteers administering first aid to a wounded protester. Kyiv. Jan 19, 2014. Photo: Mstyslav Chernov, Wikimedia.

What You Need to Know:

✓During the Maidan Revolution, volunteer organizations emerged to support the protesters and assist the wounded;

✓The Ukrainian government was unable to handle necessary state tasks during the annexation of Crimea and fighting in Eastern Ukraine: that’s where a massive volunteer movement filled in

✓Volunteer groups, many driven by the war-related patriotic surge, emerged to handle tasks usually shouldered by the state such as supplying soldiers and helping civilians amid the growing conflict in the east;

✓The emergence of volunteerism in Ukraine has led to the development of parallel state structures of civil society in the country at unprecedented levels in the country’s history;

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How Volunteers Created A ‘Second State’ Inside Ukraine

by Chris Dunnett, Hromadske International

produced by Maxim Eristavi, Randy. R. Potts