Article by Jerry Folk
From the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainian civil society spontaneously and courageously organized to counter the military occupation through hundreds of nonviolent actions, including civil disobedience, road blockades, civilian evacuation or communication campaigns.
The report Ukrainian Nonviolent Civil Resistance in the Face of War, prepared by Professor Felip Daza, examines the Ukrainian nonviolent civil resistance between February and June 2022. The document analyses 235 nonviolent civil resistance actions shown on an interactive map
This report confirms that some resistance actions contributed to stopping the invasion in the country’s north and hindered the institutionalization of the military occupation in its early stages.
Yuri Fomichev: the mayor of Slavutych (near Chernobyl) was released in March 2022 after mass, nonviolent protests by unarmed local residents who defied Russian gunfire and stun grenades, forcing Russian forces to free him and agree to withdraw from the town The Guardian. [1]
Koriukovka (Chernihiv Region): A large crowd of unarmed civilians gathered in front of a Russian tank east of Kyiv, forcing the armored vehicle to stop and turn around before entering the town of 12,000 people.
Bakhmach: An unarmed Ukrainian man placed his body directly in front of moving tanks, pushing against the armor and forcing the column to retreat as community members filmed and joined the blockade.
Zaporizhzhia Oblast / Energodar: Everyday residents blocked roads and confronted Russian T-90A tanks and troops near Europe's largest nuclear power plant, leading tank crews to pull back rather than open fire on unarmed crowds. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] https://sojo.net/magazine/june-2022/ukraine-civil-resistance-led-unarmed-civilians
These nonviolent acts worked because many Russian tank drivers lacked the authorization, order, or willingness to open fire on unarmed crowds of civilians. [1, 2]
These isolated acts quickly grew into community-wide human blockades that disrupted initial Russian troop movements and delayed territorial control in small towns. [1, 2]
Unfortunately, the increasing violence on both sides of the conflict soon overwhelmed the nonviolent resistance efforts that had shown such promise in the early weeks of the war. It also initiated the vicious cycle of violence still going on. This violenlce is decimating Ukraine and its people and inflicting great suffering on Russians as well
What might have happened if Ukraine and the nations allied with it had supported these courageous nonviolent soldiers in creative ways at least for time as an “experiment in truth” rather than immediately employing the violent and barbaric measures of the outdated institution of war? We will never know
You can read more about these grassroots actions via the Modern War Institute at West Point. [1]
This research is based on fieldwork on the ground, carried out between April 2 and 18, 2022, by the author Felip Daza and the photographer and camera operator Lorena Sopena. During the stay, data and witnesses were collected from interviews with 55 political and social actors in the country, including representatives of public institutions, NGOs, activists, academics and religious institutions.
Information collection has enabled an interactive map with 235 verified and systematized nonviolent actions from February 24 to June 30, 2022. The registered steps are divided into three types: acts of protest and dissuasion (148), movements of nonviolent intervention (51) and measures of non-cooperation (36).
