It is inherent in Ukrainians not to trust the authorities because the state has been hostile to its citizens for centuries. Society is used to relying not on institutions, but on individual heroes. And that’s OK. But after February 24, 2022, Ukrainians realized that in conditions of full-scale aggression, only the army can oppose the army, it is impossible to save the victims solely by volunteer efforts, and to have water and electricity, you nedd infrastructure. For the first time, Ukrainians felt that their state could serve them. Meanwhile, the business helps both the government and the civil society. Have we moved to the stage where the state can rely on its citizens, and they can rely on it? Those who were volunteers and activists at different times, but were in power during the great war, are invited to this conversation. What is the difference between these roles, and what is the best interaction?

The international security system is showing its inability to save the lives of people who are being killed by crazy dictators. Meanwhile, many Ukrainians believe that by defending their country, they are defending civilization as such. While debates about geopolitics operate with the concept of negative solidarity (‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’), the values that are talked about so much in speeches and lectures are going through the reality check on the Ukrainian frontline. Is the world able to restore the original meaning to the principles and ideals that we consider fundamental to the survival of humanity?

Timothy Snyder is an American historian and co-head of the Documenting Ukraine project at the Institute of Human Sciences in Vienna.
For centuries, Ukrainians have fought against various prohibitions, and now they give their lives to protect themselves from enslavement. For people who are kept in torture camps, residents of cities and villages who found themselves under occupation, freedom is not an idea, but something perceivable. However, in general, in post-authoritarian societies, people most often talk about ‘freedom from’, and discussions revolve around the choice between freedom and security. But why are these things mutually exclusive and not mutually dependent? Ukraine’s protection of its borders proves that only a safe territory can be a space of freedom. Ukrainian society also shows the practical effectiveness of freedom. Can such an interpretation of it be unifying for the modern world?