'Losing our best': activists killed in war seen as blow to Ukraine's
future
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[May 17, 2023]
By Dan Peleschuk
KYIV (Reuters) - Investigative journalist Oleksandr Tsakhniv spent much
of his professional life trying to uncover corruption in Ukraine's
eastern hinterlands where he lived and worked.
He was killed in March, aged 37, fighting Russian forces near Bakhmut.
Now, his employer says his death could have an impact on the local fight
against graft - and on Ukraine's broader efforts to prepare for a future
more closely aligned to Europe.
"I understand it's a civic duty to defend your country, and so they go,"
said Maria Davydenko, director of the online outlet Vchasno where
Tsakhniv worked, referring to activists and other members of civil
society. "But we really are losing our best."
A growing number of civic activists and community leaders, who might be
expected to drive Ukraine's ambitions to build a modern democracy, are
among the thousands of Ukrainians from all walks of life killed fighting
since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.
The European Union offered Kyiv candidate status last year and made
improving governance and fighting corruption key requirements for
membership negotiations.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/May/17/images/ads/current/cindyscottage_sda_SHG_2023.png)
Among the first activists to fall was well-known environmental
campaigner Roman Ratushnyi, who famously tackled illegal construction in
a woodland in Kyiv. He was killed fighting near Izium in the east of the
county last June aged 24.
Another was 28-year-old Mykhailo Alekseyenko, a star political science
graduate from Karazin University in Kharkiv. He was killed last month
near Kreminna.
The pro-European Maidan revolution in 2014 that ousted a pro-Russian
leader inspired young Ukrainians like Alekseyenko, who before the war
helped rebuild homes and took part in youth education programmes after
receiving a Masters degree in 2017.
"Misha was definitely another type of activist, who was ready to act in
many different ways," said professor Yuliya Bidenko, who taught
Alekseyenko political science. Misha is shorthand for his first name.
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![](../images/051723PIX/news_z26.jpg)
Friends, family, fellow soldiers and
others honor soldier Roman Ratushnyi, a well-known activist, during
his burial service in Kyiv, Ukraine, as Russia's attack on Ukraine
continues June 18, 2022. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/May/02/images/ads/current/guzzardo_lda022609.png)
In different circumstances, Bidenko believes Alekseyenko could have
sought a political career. His death, and those of other young
idealists, could undermine the country's drive toward greater
self-rule across its regions, she said.
Decentralisation was a key post-Maidan reform to empower local
administrations.
The mass flight of millions of refugees after Russia's invasion has
also dealt a blow to Ukraine's potential political class, Bidenko
added.
'EXTREMELY NECESSARY'
In some cases, the war may also be forging future leaders,
especially among the military and humanitarian volunteer
organisations that are now trusted by 88% of Ukrainians, according
to the Razumkov Centre think-tank in Kyiv.
Away from Kyiv, in far-flung places like Pokrovsk, about an hour's
drive west of the besieged city of Bakhmut, people like Tsakhniv,
the journalist, will be missed.
There, in 2018, he investigated an allegedly rigged tender process
involving more than $10 million of European Investment Bank money to
rebuild local schools and hospitals damaged after Russia's previous,
covert, invasion of 2014.
His report led to a review by the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP), which scrapped the tenders, said colleague
Davydenko. The UNDP confirmed to Reuters that new tenders were held
and contracts awarded to different builders.
"People like this are just extremely necessary for us after the
war," Davydenko said of Tsakhniv.
(Reporting by Dan Peleschuk; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel)
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