Survival and ‘Civicness’ in the Shadow of Russian Power: The Networks Conducting Evacuations from Ukraine’s Occupied Territories

Authors: Luke Cooper, Sophie Gueudet, Anna Kostenko & Anna Prokhorova

Evacuations from Russian-occupied territory are sometimes assisted by activist networks. These groups are unusual in the post-2022 context in that they, by necessity, operate across both the Russian Federation and Ukraine. Not only do their testimonies expose the terror of Russian power, but they also shed light on what has been referred to as ‘civicness’ as a type of mutual obligation that has undergirded Ukraine’s resistance. This essay advances our understanding of civicness as a transversal phenomenon that crosses territorial divides and makes the case for viewing the contemporary fragmentation of the global order through the lens of conflicting logics of authority.

This article was originally published open-access in Europe-Asia Studies.