TCUP Commentary

Aid from the Inside Out: Glory to the Ukrainian Blue-Collar Interstices

by Britta Ellwanger, Ian Crookston, and John Vsetecka  

Britta Ellwanger

Britta Ellwanger is a graduate student at the National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy in their flagship Anti Corruption Studies program. Once the full-scale invasion began she went full swing into volunteer work in Ukraine. Originally planning to do her research on the use of environmental, social, and governance factors (ESGs) as a mechanism of oligarchic legitimization, she's changing her topic to be more relevant to the war. She has been living, working, and/or studying in Ukraine for ten years. She has a B.A. from Stanford University in Political Science.... Read more about Aid from the Inside Out: Glory to the Ukrainian Blue-Collar Interstices

Supporting Ukrainian Psychologists to Improve Mental Health Care during the War

by Dr. Alexander Lupis 

Dr. Alex Lupis in Washington DC

Alexander A. Lupis, Ph.D., is a licensed clinical psychologist based in Washington, DC. He is also a moderator of the National Psychological Association (NPA) of Ukraine and a member of the Committee on International Relations at the American Psychological Association (APA). His volunteer work has focused on helping Ukraine's National Psychological Association expand their work with support from experts in Europe and the United States. Lupis's mother and maternal grandparents were from Mariupol and came to the US after WWII as refugees.... Read more about Supporting Ukrainian Psychologists to Improve Mental Health Care during the War

A New World Order: Reflections on Panel 1 of the "Rebuilding Ukraine, Rebuilding the World" Conference

by Karolina Naidon

Karolina Naidon

Karolina Naidon is a Vassar College freshman born and raised in Dnipro city, Ukraine. She is a finalist and co-mentor in Ukraine Global Scholars, a non-profit that helps Ukrainian students to apply to top institutions worldwide, and a participant in the all-Ukrainian TED-Ed Talk 2021. Karolina was a researcher at the Junior Science Academy of Ukraine in history and environmental studies and participated in numerous all-Ukrainian and international conferences, presenting her research results.... Read more about A New World Order: Reflections on Panel 1 of the "Rebuilding Ukraine, Rebuilding the World" Conference

Voices of Ukraine: Storytelling in Rebuilding Ukraine and the World

by Sofiia Tiapkina

Sofiia Tiapkina

Born and raised in Ukraine, Sofiia Tiapkina is a junior at Northfield Mount Hermon School in Gill, MA. She is a finalist and volunteer of Ukraine Global Scholars, a non-profit organization that helps Ukrainian youth from modest backgrounds achieve education in top-world institutions. Sofiia is a passionate writer and visual artist whose work was published in the Voices of Ukraine: Impressions Around War anthology. 

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The Power of Virtual Connections: Helping Ukrainian Refugees in Romania

by David Kirichenko

David Kirichenko

David Kirichenko is a freelance journalist and an editor at Euromaidan Press, an online English language media outlet in Ukraine. Ever since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, David has volunteered to help Ukrainian refugees on the ground in Mexico, Romania, the United States, and Ukraine. He volunteered with the Dnipro-based organization Dobra Sprava in Donbas and continues to work with the organization to buy supplies for Ukrainian soldiers on the frontlines.... Read more about The Power of Virtual Connections: Helping Ukrainian Refugees in Romania

Launching a Mental Health First Aid Charity for Ukraine

by Hannah Scott

Hannah Scott

Hannah Scott is a Belfer Young Leader Fellow in her second year in the Harvard Kennedy School MPP (Master in Public Policy) program. She has been working with First Aid of the Soul since March 2022 as part of the founding team that worked to formally incorporate the charity. Since then, she has worked as the charity's Director of Operations and sits as a member of its board.... Read more about Launching a Mental Health First Aid Charity for Ukraine

Russia's Illegal Annexation of Ukrainian Territory: Experts Respond

Tweet from Ukrainian government account showing two identical maps of UkraineOn Friday, September 30, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed four accession treaties declaring that the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine are now a part of Russia. This move, which forcibly claims 15% of Ukraine's territory, follows a series of sham referenda wherein citizens were forced to vote (yes) on the question of whether they wanted to join Russia. HURI joins the international community in absolute condemnation of this action, which violates international norms and escalates the months-long brutal, unprovoked war.... Read more about Russia's Illegal Annexation of Ukrainian Territory: Experts Respond

A Voracious Beast: Emotional Energy in the Tsunami of Suffering

by Ivan Shmatko

Ivan Shmatko and partner in Vinnytsia

Ivan Shmatko is a PhD student in sociology at the University of Alberta (Canada). Ivan has been a part of the volunteer movement in Ukraine since February 24. He has done research on policing in Ukraine and the imaginaries that shape how police officers see their work and interact with others. His doctoral research project focuses on experiences of newly mobilized soldiers in Ukraine.  

... Read more about A Voracious Beast: Emotional Energy in the Tsunami of Suffering

On Trust, Transparency, and Learning from the Experience of the Extraordinary

by Dafna Rachok

Dafna Rachok

Dafna Rachok is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Anthropology at Indiana University Bloomington. She is a Ukrainian-born anthropologist with interests in medical and political anthropology. Her research seeks to understand how vulnerable groups in Ukraine respond to existing HIV prevention and treatment programs and how their attitudes to the state shape their desire or reluctance to seek those programs. February 24th caught her doing fieldwork in Ukraine, so since then Dafna has been combining her research with volunteering efforts: fundraising, buying, and delivering protective gear and medical supplies.

... Read more about On Trust, Transparency, and Learning from the Experience of the Extraordinary

How I Contribute to the Ukrainian War Effort as a Graduate Student in the United States

by Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon

Kimberly St. Julian Varnon

Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon is a doctoral student at the University of Pennsylvania and an alumna of the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute. Her work examines how Black experience in the Soviet Union shaped Black identity, and how the presence of people of color shaped ideas and understandings of race, ethnicity, and nationality policy in the Soviet Union, East Germany, and post-Soviet space. When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Kimberly leveraged her social media presence to advocate for marginalized communities in Ukraine, counter disinformation, and share historical information about Ukraine.

... Read more about How I Contribute to the Ukrainian War Effort as a Graduate Student in the United States

Working Together in Warsaw and Beyond: The Creation of forPeace’s Ukraine Relief Project Team

by John Vsetecka

John Vsetecka

John Vsetecka is a PhD Candidate in the Department of History at Michigan State University. With a specific focus on the Holodomor, his current work seeks to understand how people make sense of tragedies and come to terms with difficult pasts. After being evacuated from a Fulbright placement in Ukraine to Warsaw, Poland due to Russia’s war, John became involved with humanitarian work that assisted refugees who fled to Poland from Ukraine. He serves as an Academic Advisor for the Ukraine Relief Project team at forPeace.

... Read more about Working Together in Warsaw and Beyond: The Creation of forPeace’s Ukraine Relief Project Team

The Importance of Helping to Leave

by Daria Savchenko

Daria Savchenko

Daria Savchenko is a PhD Candidate in Harvard's Department of Anthropology, focusing on the anthropology of artificial intelligence. Daria started working with Helping to Leave in May 2022, inspired by a post shared by her friend. The impressive atmosphere of support from other volunteers and the first message, “We are safe,” from Ukrainian evacuees showed her that volunteering in a nonprofit organization like this can have a real impact, despite her physical distance from the war.

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Mariupol's Last Stand: Inside Azovstal

View a collection of photographs Azov regiment soldier Dmytro Kozatsky took from inside the beseiged Azovstal steel factory. His mother, Iryna Yurchenko, also shared her experience as a soldier's mother.

Voices from Ukraine

Russia’s war in Ukraine began in 2014 and has continued for the past eight years. On February 24, Russia invaded Ukraine, initiating a full-scale war and elevating the crisis to a new level. 

HURI condemns this war and is working to provide what assistance it can to advocate for Ukraine, fight disinformation, and assist those whose lives are in danger. In the midst of this activity, it is important to keep Ukrainian voices first and foremost, and to remember the very personal, human dimension of this tragic war.

We've reached out to contacts in Ukraine to offer...

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