A liberal future for Ukraine?
Ukrainian liberals are working to create a more liberal, democratic, and economically dynamic Ukraine once the conflict is over
It has been over three years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. As morning dawned on 24th February 2022, most analysts in the West thought Ukraine stood little chance. As Russian troops flooded into Ukraine from the north, south, and east, the talk from media outlets and Western governments was about arming an insurgency, not a conventional defence.
As the Russians neared Kyiv, foreign governments were evacuating their embassies. The United States offered to evacuate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. His response was clear:
“The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride.”
This was the first of several high-profile acts of defiance from the Ukrainians in the opening days of the war. Staring down the barrel of Russia’s now-destroyed flagship Moskva, the small unit of soldiers defending the Black Sea Snake Island showed admirable contempt for their aggressors:
“Russian warship, go f*** yourself”.
That spirit of defiance has powered Ukraine ever since. Their military has proven more battle-ready than anyone expected. The West unified to provide the Ukrainians with lethal and non-lethal aid far quicker than Vladimir Putin anticipated. Russia’s military turned out to be a paper tiger, proving far less of a force than its pre-invasion reputation suggested.
After the Russian military’s initial advances, Ukraine has successfully driven it out of the northern regions surrounding Kyiv, most of Kharkiv Oblast in the northeast, and Kherson Oblast north of the Dnipro river. Partisans in occupied territories continue to make life difficult for their occupiers and Ukrainian weapons have struck deep into both occupied territories and Russia itself. As the brutal war of attrition in the east continues and Russia makes slow gains at astronomical costs, it is important to remember how much progress Ukraine has made over the last three years.
For liberals, the Ukrainian cause should be profoundly inspiring. A small nation has spent the last three years defending its fledgling, imperfect liberal democracy and right to self-determination from an intimidating, authoritarian, nuclear-armed aggressor. In doing so, they have pinned down and significantly weakened one of the most illiberal forces in international affairs.
Even in the midst of war, there are areas of life where something resembling normality has been maintained. For example, political debates about what sort of country the future independent, peacetime Ukraine have continued to some extent. This includes a small but dedicated contingent of Ukrainian liberals working hard on the ground to create a more liberal, democratic, and economically dynamic Ukraine once the conflict is over. Over the course of this year, the IEA’s Whetstone Freedom Fund is supporting one such organisation, Ukrainian Students for Freedom (USF), to translate Eamonn Butler’s 101 Great Liberal Thinkers into Ukrainian and spread the core liberal ideals to students across the country.
The Whetstone Freedom Fund was founded in memory of the late, great Linda Whetstone who worked tirelessly with partners around the world to spread the core ideas of a free society to the places that needed them most. Linda’s partners, particularly those in Africa and the Middle East, often worked in incredibly dangerous circumstances to forge a more liberal future for their countries. USF is doing just that on the frontier of Europe.
USF has already engaged over 30,000 Ukrainians through their events and reached well over one million on social media. Using their impressive base of over 800 activists across 24 Ukrainian regions and network across all of Ukraine's universities, USF aims to reach at least 6,000 more students with the ideas of liberalism’s key thinkers. They are also partnering with a commercial publisher to expand the book’s reach and gain valuable information about the demand for liberal ideas in Ukraine and the groups of people who want to engage with the ideas of a free society.
While the focus of all Ukrainians is, rightly, focused on resisting Russia’s aggression, the debate over Ukraine’s post-war future remains alive. Like most ex-Soviet states, Ukraine has suffered from factionalism, crony capitalism, corruption, and the destructive economic legacy of communism. USF is nurturing a new generation of principled advocates of a liberal Ukraine based on limited government, individual liberty, and the rule of law. I am delighted that the Whetstone Freedom Fund is making a small contribution to building that future.
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