On almost a daily basis since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine we have heard about the brave exploits of the Ukrainian military. Much of the world has rallied around the spirited leadership of Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Largely missing from headlines, however, is an unsung hero: Ukraine’s civil society. From its independence at the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine has built a civil society stronger and more independent than in most ex-Soviet states. Many of this sector’s disparate civic organizations and community groups helped fuel the grassroots protest movements in 2004 and 2014 that turned Ukraine decisively toward its aspirations for democratic governance and an association with Europe.

Ukrainians readily acknowledge that the tasks facing their campaign to build a European-aligned democracy are heavy. They must dismantle systems of political and economic corruption entrenched from the Soviet era that ended 30 years ago. They must build broader human rights protections and systems for transparency and accountability in government.

Even more challenging, after nine years of Russian invasion and 16 months of all-out assault, is that Ukraine must resolve agonizing divisions bred by the war’s traumas. How should communities bear and share the burdens of hosting an estimated 5.9 million uprooted Ukrainians seeking shelter in their towns or villages? (A further 8 million have fled abroad as refugees.) How to avoid conflicts between the Ukrainian-speaking majority and those whose native language is that of the Russian invaders? And critically, as Ukraine recovers territories from Russian forces, how can it avoid recriminations, including violence, between those people who stayed in their homes under the flag of Russian occupation and others who may accuse them of collaboration with the enemy?

Civil Society’s Agile Responses

As international partners support Ukraine’s efforts to solve these obstacles to domestic peace and democracy, its civil society — from non-governmental organizations to non-profits and voluntary associations — have demonstrated their solid grasp of the citizenry’s problems and their ability to respond quickly and effectively.

When international aid was delayed in the early weeks of Russia’s massive assault in February 2022, Ukrainian volunteer groups, particularly faith-based charities, went into high gear. They provided much-needed humanitarian assistance for hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and other victims of the war. In the time since, Ukrainian civil society has responded nimbly to emerging needs. Civic groups have built a vibrant ecosystem of programs and projects, often small and highly local, with shoestring budgets to match. With no time to stop for publicity stunts, they see a problem, they run at it, and they get the job done.

Ukrainian civil society’s astoundingly creative responses to the challenges of war have been vividly demonstrated through the gatherings of a Ukraine Civil Society Forum hosted by international leadership forum the Salzburg Global Seminar. (Aspects of this convening were developed in partnership with USIP.)

Take for example the network of mobile teams that Natalia Bezkhlibna and her colleagues have dispatched across the country to communities where large numbers of war-displaced people have sought refuge. As a conflict resolution expert, Natalia recognizes that the longer such uprooted populations remain in their new location, the more likely tensions and conflict will develop with the host community. Her teams of professional mediators and psychologists counter such risks, notably by engaging with vulnerable displaced people, especially women with young children, as well as host communities to defuse tensions, offer practical information, and provide psychosocial support.

Or consider an innovative project that Ukrainian women launched — only two days after Russia began its all-out assault in February 2022 — to collect video, photo and eyewitness evidence of war crimes and atrocities. Their organization, called Ukraine’s Data Battalion (or DATTALION), crowdsources and verifies a massive and growing database of evidence far beyond the scale that government prosecutors could hope to achieve on their own. This initiative, co-founded by project manager Olha Lykova, significantly reduces barriers to reporting possible atrocities — anyone can do so from their own smartphone — while increasing the eventual prospects of achieving justice for war crimes.

War’s Burdens for Democratization

These brief examples represent just a small fraction of the many predicaments that Ukraine will face in building national recovery and reconciliation. Foreseeable conflicts will arise over the fates of illegal residents and settlers, and issues of language, identity and belonging. A snarl of acute problems will surely arise in territories liberated from Russian occupation. There, residents will accuse others of collaboration with Moscow, an incendiary issue, and one extremely difficult to adjudicate, given the highly complex question of which specific behaviors actually count as collaboration.

For so many of the predictable domestic disputes that will challenge Ukraine’s ability to build a stable, inclusive democracy, and a place in Europe, it is the country’s civil society that is best placed to deliver sustainable solutions. So how can international partners provide the support to Ukraine’s civic sector that might yield faster and better results?

We should be careful not to overstate the extent to which Ukraine’s civil society has been excluded from planning for post-war national reconstruction. The two international Ukraine Recovery Conferences held to date (at Lugano in 2022 and London in 2023) have included some focus on civil society, including a side event in London dedicated to the role of civic sector. Rather, the problem lies in how Ukrainian civil society actors have been integrated into the planning process.

The discussion so far has tended to focus on how Ukraine’s civil society can support the official national reconstruction agenda (shaped primarily by the Ukrainian government and international partners), with its heavy emphasis on rebuilding physical infrastructure and economic development. While these are crucial aspects of recovery, these conversations have largely missed the whole host of thorny challenges the war has created in local communities across Ukraine. These issues, if left to fester, will jeopardize progress on more conventional indicators of reconstruction and reintegration.

Many of these less visible problems — whose solution will be key to sustainable peacebuilding in Ukraine — are ones that civil society is uniquely positioned to see, to understand, and to solve. Those thinking about Ukraine’s post-war future would do well to bring the voices and agendas of the nation’s vibrant and highly capable civil society into the heart of the planning process. To support a new vision for Ukraine after the war, we need to recognize that a genuine partnership with and reliance on Ukrainian civil society will be essential to achieving that future. Ukrainians are confident that their army will win the war. But only their civil society can win the peace.