Civil Society And State Relations Beyond Protest: The Case Of Defense Volunteer Movement In Ukraine

In March 2014, the Ukrainian Autonomous Republic of Crimea was annexed by Russia. Soon afterward, Russia-backed separatists took control of several regions within the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts in the East of Ukraine, thereby prompting the Ukrainian government to launch the so-called Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) against the insurgents. As these were supported by regular Russian military units, the conflict developed into an undeclared war2 between Russia and Ukraine. The Ukrainian government faced severe problems in conducting military operations against the separatists due to widespread corruption in the military sector and insufficient military investment over the last 20 years (BBC 2014; Gorelov, Korniyevskyi 2015).