Responsibility for Our People

How can true leaders be defined? By actions and the willingness to act for the sake of the common good: on the frontline and in the rear.

The Ukrainian School of Political Studies is an institution bringing together this kind of people. As part of the Responsibility for Our People special project, which USPS launched together with The Ukrainians, we share stories of their alumni who show, through their actions, what it means to be leaders in turbulent times. To become a pillar of strength and support for others. To come together and create opportunities in different fields and areas. The stories were recorded by Kristina Berdinskykh.

The story of Alina Koval, 2012 USPS alumna, member of Khmelnytskyi Oblast Council and founder of the Kalyna Foundation volunteer centre in Volochysk, which helps internally displaced women, children and older people.

By helping with basic needs, weaving camouflage nets, and providing psychological assistance to IDPs, the foundation not only provides them with the essentials but also creates a space for adaptation in a new community where they can find friends and like-minded people.

Launching a project on renovation of old private houses to provide accommodation for IDPs, helping relocated businesses and charities, and creating more job opportunities — this is how Bohdan Kelichavyi, Mayor of Kopychyntsi and 2023 USPS alumnus, helps IDPs integrate into the new community.

“The war always reveals the face of every person. Residents of Kopychyntsi have shown their humanity,” the community says. Read more about how the community is building a life for locals and IDPs in the cover story.

Supporting your hometown and each other even hundreds of kilometres away — this is how Oksana Hliebushkina, Executive Director of the New Generation NGO and 2007 alumna of the Ukrainian School of Political Studies, rallied support for Kherson IDPs by establishing a kind of Kherson hub in Ivano-Frankivsk.

Helping volunteers and activists who stayed in the occupied city, hopes for adaptation and active inclusion of female IDPs in the community that has now become their home — we describe the entire path of the organisation and the people who work there in this article.

In 2020, the city of Trostianets in the Sumy Region topped the ranking of the most thriving communities, as compiled by the Regional Center for Economic Research and Business Support. At the time, the city was developing rapidly. The full-scale invasion cut short this promising rise.

How did the authorities of Trostianets, located 35 kilometres from the russian border, manage to bring people, business, and life back to the city after the occupation? Read the story about the mayor of the city and 2006 USPS alumnus Yuriy Bova.

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the mood of Odesa residents has changed. If before, in Odesa, one could face aggression for the national dress and Ukrainian language, now any public manifestations of love for anything russian do not find support, only condemnation. Many residents of Odesa responded to russian aggression and joined the Territorial Defense Forces to defend Ukraine.

Natalia Mazharova, 2023 USPS alumna and the owner of a store of national clothing, “Nezalezhni”, spoke about Ukrainianisation in Odesa. Natalia has been running the Vyshyvanka Festival in Odesa since 2009. Over 100,000 people attends the festival every year. This event is held so that people have a sense of community and are not alone in their pro-Ukrainian position.

Tetiana Petrakevych, owner of a private school in Odesa and 2019 USPS alumna, decided to help the city in any way she could since the beginning of the invasion. And she could quite a lot: it turned out that the Petrakevych family was able to make anti-tank “hedgehogs.” Tetiana didn’t stop there; she created a non-governmental organisation called MriyDiy that helps residents of frontline cities. She also jokes that the level of patriotism in Odesa is much better than Odesa residents thought it was. Read more in Kristina Berdynsky’s material.