Ukraine’s chances of ensuring its future unity and territorial integrity are under threat if it doesn’t do more to protect non-combatants caught up in the war with Russian-backed armed groups in the Donbas, a new report reads.
The report, entitled “We Are Afraid of the Silence” was published in Kyiv in early December by the Center for Civilians in Conflict, a Washington-based non-governmental organization.
Joseph Morse, a senior advocate at the center, told the Kyiv Post that Ukraine had to do more to achieve reconciliation with those of its citizens most directly impacted by the war.
“If you want to win, whatever that means, then part of that is ensuring you have a civilian population that is at least not actively opposed to you,” Morse said.
“In order to do that, you need to make sure you treat them fairly and that you treat them right, and that if you cause harm, whether unintentionally or intentionally, then you take some steps to recognize that.”
The report details the hardships experienced by Ukrainians who have been unable to leave the conflict zone and who, as a result, often find themselves in the middle of exchanges of artillery fire between Ukrainian troops and the Russian-backed forces. One such episode was related by a woman living in Krasnohorivka, a town in government-held territory. The report states: “the shockwave knocked her unconscious, the blast filled her home with smoke and shrapnel tore through her entire apartment.”
The publication draws particular attention to those living in “gray zones” – areas that are not controlled by either Ukraine or Russian-backed forces. In such areas, apart from the danger of being caught in the crossfire or stumbling upon a mine or booby trap, residents must contend with “destroyed roads and other infrastructure, as well as a lack of water, electricity and other basic services.”
Ukrainians who remain in these high-risk localities do so, says the report, largely because they have no other choice. They are “bereft of social and financial assistance” and are often “too old, infirm or financially insecure to risk moving.” The NGO describes its findings as running contrary to the attitude of “some Ukrainian government and military officials, (who) expressed the view that civilians who stayed along the contact line did so by choice, and thus are pro-separatist.”
Here to help?
But as the report notes, in the more than two-and-a-half years since the war with Russia began, there have been encouraging moments in the Ukrainian government’s response to the humanitarian challenges. These include “a robust National Guard and positive steps to curb the worst excesses by paramilitary organizations operating in the conflict zone.” New national organisations such as Civil Military Cooperation and the Ministry of Occupied Territories are praised as “encouraging first steps to building institutions willing and capable of protecting civilians.”
But such initiatives should be treated with caution, Federico Borello, the Center’s Executive Director, told the Kyiv Post.
“It remains to be seen how effective they are,” Borello said. “They don’t have the necessary political and financial backing yet, but they are setting up the infrastructure. That’s why we think it’s promising – these are the first steps. It could go either way; It could be disappointing but I think that the conditions are there to make things better.”
The center’s findings show that up to now, where there has been support for Ukrainians living in the war zone, it has usually come in the form of ad hoc initiatives implemented inconsistently by local officials. In many cases, however, residents in both government-controlled and areas seized by Russian-backed forces find there is simply no one to turn to.
One man interviewed for the report—named as Yurii—is described as a businessman from Donetsk who had his two houses destroyed. He has appealed to the European Court of Human Rights for assistance after exhausting locally available options. “For two years I have been looking for an organization or institution in Ukraine that could help me and I haven’t found it,” Yurii is quoted as saying in the report. “I am not even asking for compensation, but I want at least that someone register the fact of destruction,” he says.
Timing is everything
In spite of past shortcomings, Ukraine now finds itself with an opportunity to make amends. The country’s armed forces are far stronger than at the outbreak of the conflict, and the line of contract with the Russian-backed militants is no longer shifting. With the immediate needs of self-defense met, a unique chance to catch up to the world’s more advanced militaries has appeared.
“The American military, when it started its Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns, despite having had many campaigns before, had virtually nothing (on civilian protection), ” said Borello. “We started working with the U.S. and NATO in 2006-2007 on the adoption of standing policies. Both the U.S. and NATO adopted framework policies on the protection of civilians in July 2016. So it took ten years. So we are telling the Ukrainians they can be very progressive. They can adopt something that they don’t have any legal obligation to adopt.”
With the Ukrainian government stating that one of its major goals is to reach NATO standards by 2020, working now to adopt policies on civilian protection could help contribute to progress on this front.
But aside from national-level ambitions, a more pressing need comes in the form of regaining the trust of Ukrainians who have been left alienated by their experiences in the Donbas conflict zone. Counted among those are internally-displaced persons or IDPs, the roughly 1.7 million people who have fled the fighting in the hope of making a new life elsewhere in Ukraine. For many such a transition has been far from easy, with volunteer efforts replacing assistance many would have expected to come from the state. As one woman quoted by the center in its report puts it: “Ukraine doesn’t care about IDPs. I have a feeling that they just want to get rid of us.”
Such attitudes will undoubtedly present major challenges when—and if—Ukraine regains control of the areas currently occupied by Russian-backed armed groups and looks to reintegrate these areas with the rest of the country. The center’s report seeks to emphasize this aspect of the war. Morse told the Kyiv Post that if nothing is done now to address the needs of non-combatants, the problems being seen today could undermine the state for many years to come.
“In general in these types of conflicts, if you don’t do a better job of taking care of civilians you always run the risk of the exact same thing happening again,” he said.
“Whether it happens a year from now or ten years from now, by not ensuring that you are taking care of non-combatants in the area, you are basically setting some conditions for you to face the exact same thing again.”
