Cooper, Luke

Kostenko, Anna

Prokhorova, Anna

Gueudet, Sophie

UK International Development

2025-04-10T14:21:38Z

2025-04-10T14:21:38Z

2025-04

This research report draws on interviews with civic activists conducting evacuations from Russian occupied territories in Ukraine, as well as some evacuees, to shed light on the human rights abuses and totalitarian forms of governance that shape daily life in these territories. It utilises the concept of “civicness” as a form of public authority grounded in mutual obligation among individuals and groups, to highlight the strength of the societal resilience fostered by Ukraine’s “do-it-yourself” culture of active citizenship. In Russian occupied territories, these civic ties and relationships constitute a form of subversion to occupation, and a means of survival for those seeking escape from the threats to life and liberty that the Russian occupation entails. At the time of writing, a US-brokered negotiation process has begun in the form of bilateral US-Ukraine and US-Russia talks, hosted by Saudi Arabia. In parallel to this process, Ukraine and European states have been engaged in a discussion about the design of post-conflict security guarantees. A plausible outcome of these developments is that Russia will remain in some form of de facto control of at least some of the territories it presently occupies. This makes testimony from humanitarian civic defenders, who run networks operating across both sides of the line of control, important to building a picture about the conditions Ukrainian citizens are facing on the ground, and the human rights monitoring and protection measures that should be included, as an absolute minimum, in any ceasefire agreement. The report makes a number of policy recommendations in this regard, including access for and guaranteeing the safety of independent human rights monitors, establishing freedom of movement across the lines of control, and the release of the thousands of arbitrarily detained captives of the regime.

Cooper, L., Gueudet, S., Kostenko, A., & Prokhorova, A. (2025). Life Under Occupation in the Russo-Ukraine War: Insights from Activist Networks (PeaceRep Report). PeaceRep: The Peace and Conflict Resolution Evidence Platform, University of Edinburgh

https://hdl.handle.net/1842/43354

http://dx.doi.org/10.7488/era/5890

en

University of Edinburgh, LSE CCRG

Ukraine

Life under Occupation in the Russo-Ukrainian War: Insights from Activist Networks

Other