EPD Network’s Support for Ukraine
Three years after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we are still at a critical juncture for the future of the European Union and democracy globally. The Russian regime’s war of aggression shows that authoritarian consolidation is a global security problem affecting all spheres of life, with derivative effects all over the world.
As the EU opened accession negotiations with Ukraine in December 2023, Ukraine remains engaged in structural reforms consolidating democracy despite the war. However, more steps need to be taken in the areas of combating corruption, increasing transparency and press freedom, to both make advancements towards EU accession and to strengthen its democratic resilience.
The EPD Network remains committed to supporting these processes.
Below we provide an overview of the tireless efforts of our members to advance democracy, peace and recovery in Ukraine for the past two years.
ALDA
- Strengthened local democracy and recovery coordination through major international events and partner gatherings in Brussels, Wrocław, Vicenza, Kyiv, and Lviv, contributing to dialogue and partnerships ahead of the Ukraine Recovery Conference 2025 in Rome;
- In partnership with the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, coordinated the Local and Regional Dimension of URC 2025.
- Mobilised over €134,000 in humanitarian support, providing emergency relief, shelter refurbishment, healthcare equipment, electricity generators, and psychosocial services for IDPs and veterans in Dnipro, Odesa, Vinnytsia, and Poltava;
- Developed strong institutional cooperation with the U-LEAD with Europe Programme, implementing local democracy and municipal partnership initiatives (including Bridges of Trust, TIPS4UA internships in Barcelona, and follow-up recovery and governance activities) that reinforced capacity-building, peer exchange, and EU-Ukraine municipal cooperation;
- Engaged with EU institutions and governments, including participation in the Committee of the Regions’ Alliance for the Reconstruction of Ukraine and coordination with the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on local and regional democracy actors;
- Expanded and consolidated the Local Democracy Agency (LDA) network in Ukraine, advancing LDAs in Kharkiv, Vinnytsia, Odesa, Mariupol, Dnipro, and Ovruch, and strengthening cooperation between Ukrainian and European municipalities, with more than 30 partners from Europe and as many as members in Ukraine:
- Disseminate information in the monthly newsletter in English and Ukrainian;
- Supported municipal partnerships, youth exchanges, and social cohesion initiatives, including hate-speech prevention actions, youth mobility in Italy and France, and community-level resilience projects;
- Within the MATCH project, the Local Democracy Agency Mariupol organised an exchange in Italy for Ukrainian youth affected by the war, promoting learning, resilience, and empowerment;
- Contributed to participatory governance, green reconstruction, and rural development, notably through the LEADER pilot initiative (G.R.A.I.N.) and citizen participation initiatives in Ukrainian communities;
- Organised the Post-URC 2025 Forum in Lviv (November 2025), highlighting decentralisation and local governance as key pillars of Ukraine’s reconstruction;
- Continued delivering targeted humanitarian assistance, including electricity generators for critical infrastructure such as the Odesa Regional Children’s Hospital;
- Maintained a strong commitment to ensuring that local democracy, community resilience, and European partnership remain central to Ukraine’s recovery and European integration;
- Participated and engaged with key civil society events to work on local communities and supported local civil society actions;
- Organised a series of webinars on Green Reconstruction of Ukraine ALDA Talks.
Club de Madrid
- Strongly condemned the full-scale military invasion of Ukraine and called on President Putin to pull back from the abyss;
- Published an article supporting China’s position in facilitating the dialogue between Russia and Ukraine;
- Published a statement urging dialogue and diplomacy to solve the conflict and ensure peace and security in the region;
- Together with EPD members, presented 10 recommendations for a European response to the invasion of Ukraine with a democracy-focused approach;
- Released a podcast with the reflections of Alexander Stubb, President of Finland and Mircea Geoanã, Deputy Secretary-General of NATO, on the effects of topics such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022;
- Published a statement condemning the Russian Decision on the annexation of Ukrainian territory;
- Divulged a video calling on the end of the war in Ukraine and the restoration of its territorial integrity, while enabling its economic and social reconstruction;
- Published a statement reiterating its call for an end to the war in Ukraine;
- Launched a video message with former President of Ukraine and Club de Madrid Member Viktor Yushchenko to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
elbarlament
- Implemented a project to educate Ukrainian refugee women living in Germany on the German political system and provided knowledge and skills on political participation opportunities;
- Coordinated internships in the German parliament for Ukrainian women and organised networking events to exchange ideas and plan joint initiatives between Germany and Ukraine beyond the duration of the project mentioned above;
- Implemented a modular workshop series that aimed for politically engaged refugee women from Ukraine to acquire theoretical and practical knowledge about German democracy and the related political and civil society structures. The project ended in May 2024 with a final networking event, bringing together participants to connect with representatives from other NGOs and political parties.
Netherlands Helsinki Committee
- Continued its work with well-established NGOs and grassroots initiatives working on the protection and promotion of human rights in Ukraine. By 2024 emergency support disbursed by the NHC to the CSOs across Ukraine reached 315K EUR. In total, 29 organisations working on the protection and promotion of human rights benefited from this support. This support aimed to help these organisations become more resilient and better adapt to the evolving needs of those affected by the ongoing war. The grants also supported initiatives of local CSOs in documenting war crimes on the ground. See more about the project here. In addition to the emergency support, we offered our local partners the following:
- Tailored capacity strengthening in risk management for CSOs during the war;
- Advocacy Accelerator for Ukrainian CSOs: customised expert advice on advocacy planning, including M&E strategies and an external communications audit and two online events to facilitate experience-sharing among grantees at different advocacy levels;
- Advocacy trip of the Ukrainian CSOs to The Hague and Brussels, 20-24 May 2024: At the culmination of the Advocacy Accelerator, the NHC hosted representatives from eight funded organisations, who expressed interest in enhancing their international advocacy skills in The Hague and Brussels. During the week, the team engaged with various stakeholders to advocate for accountability and justice for Ukraine.
- Continued documenting the “intent” of war crimes committed supporting an initiative focused on documenting the subjective element (intent) of crimes against humanity, war crimes, and crimes of genocide committed in Ukraine since February 2022, and published a report: Towards Justice for Victims: A Case of Deportation and Forcible Transfer Against the Russian Authorities;
- Continued to support the Ukrainian penitentiary system within the Justice and Accountability for Ukraine project by:
- Ensuring psychological support for prisoners and prison staff through the expansion of the online platform Samopomich, developed by the Federation Global Initiative on Psychiatry (FGIP);
- Developing next steps and raising awareness of resocialisation in Ukrainian prisons as a means to strengthen the penitentiary system;
- Facilitating accountability and a victim-centred approach via implementing and expanding the systems of restorative justice;
- Enhancing the feasibility of alternative sanctions and increasing support for probation among the general public.
- Is currently contributing to strengthening institutional capacity in the field of rule of law within government organisations in Ukraine by offering hybrid training courses for civil servants as part of the Matra Rule of Law Training programme, together with Leiden Law School and The Hague Academy for Local Governance.
Kofi Annan Foundation
- Co-organised an open discussion on “The Role of Youth in Ukraine’s Peacebuilding, Recovery and Reconstruction” with the European External Action Service (EEAS) in 2023 in Brussels;
- Participated in the Global Cities Hub’s “What Reconstruction for Ukraine?” conference in 2023 in Geneva. As a speaker in the panel discussion on the engagement of the international community, the Kofi Annan Foundation shared youth needs and perspectives that emerged from a series of consultations led by young Ukrainians in the fall of 2022 on new priorities for the country’s National Youth Plan, in which the Foundation also participated;
- Participated in consultations and key-policy discussions on Ukraine, including as a speaker at the International Expert Conference on the Recovery, Reconstruction and Modernization of Ukraine, convened by the EU and the G7, in the ‘‘Institutional Transformation, Good Governance and Inclusiveness’’ session.
CFI Media Development
- Provided shelter to 25 Ukrainian journalists exiled in Romania with their families within the framework of the project Yak Vdoma since the beginning of the project in September 2022. The project offers them material, financial, logistical and psychosocial support, as well as training and an environment in which these journalists can work. The residency Yak Vdoma in Bucharest also aims at facilitating exchanges and cooperation between journalists from Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia to debunk disinformation. The residency launches a quarterly call for projects to support regional editorial productions, up to 5,000 euros;
- Currently implementing the project MediaFit, which aims to improve information integrity in Ukraine and the resilience of the Ukrainian media in this context, especially in the southern and eastern regions. CFI supports the UA:PBC, the national public broadcaster of Ukraine, so that it can continue producing independent high-quality programmes providing Ukrainians with better access to relevant and reliable information; Has a specific Facebook page in Ukrainian language to ensure quality content for the Ukrainian audience.
Danish Institute for Parties and Democracy (DIPD)
- Published a statement condemning the full-scale invasion of Ukraine and expressing solidarity with the Ukrainian people’s fight for democracy;
- Signed the #GlobalDemocracyCoalition statement in solidarity with Ukraine and its people;
- Hosted an event for Ukrainian and Danish politicians to discuss the country’s democratic future, marking one year since the full-scale invasion;
- Supported financially the Danish party Red-Green Alliance and The Alternative in partnering with the Ukrainian organisation Social Movement to strengthen the organisation’s position as a political actor through capacity building;
- Co-organised events supporting a democratic Ukraine at the Danish democracy festival, ‘The People’s Meeting’, for the past three years;
- Facilitating an upcoming multi-party collaboration among Danish political parties to support democracy in Ukraine;
- Marking the two-year date for the brutal full-scale invasion with an event focusing on the consequences of Western fatigue;
- Bringing Danish and Ukrainian politicians and stakeholders together to share perspectives on future collaboration between Denmark and Ukraine.
Democracy Reporting International
- Solidarity actions – Helped evacuate contacts, resettled our staff, and travelled to Kyiv to meet with partners (including a field visit to Bucha at the request of Parliamentary leadership);
- Fostered discussions on democracy during war, including a conference in Kyiv with local partners: ‘’Preserving and Developing Ukraine’s Democracy: Current and Future Challenges of Democratic Transformation’’;
- Produced numerous op-eds and social media commentaries, raising the profile of Ukraine and highlighting critical issues related to the invasion, negotiations, rule of law, and Russia sanctions:
- Op-ed: Why wartime elections in Ukraine are a risk to democracy and security;
- Stitching laws with golden thread;
- Billions for Ukraine: how the EU can turn aid into strengthening democracy;
- What I learned in Kyiv: any ‘political solution’ will be brutal;
- Beware a ceasefire in Ukraine;
- Strength is better than resilience – my lessons from Lviv;
- Sprechen wir über deutsche Sicherheitsgarantien;
- Orbán vs. Zelenskyy: EU Showdown Over Ukraine.
- Comprehensive analysis of Ukrainian and Russian war-related discourse on social media;
- A week-long symposium with Verfassungsblog on the impact of the war on the rule of law in both Ukraine and the EU;
- Published a paper on how Russian disinformation efforts on Ukraine fit into the overall global picture of cutting-edge disinformation tools, tactics and narratives;
- Co-organised with local partners and media a high-level public discussion in Kyiv on preserving and developing Ukrainian democracy during wartime, timed with the Ukrainian Constitution Day;
- Hosted an international roundtable to discuss concrete proposals for better integrating democracy into national-level security strategies, and published international recommendations on the issue;
- Supported an event on Ukraine’s security challenges and religious freedom, focusing on the sensitive issue of regulating religious organisations (particularly the Russian Orthodox Church);
- Reopened office in Kyiv to further support democracy under war conditions, assist the Ukrainian government in the EU accession process, and promote youth participation and the integration of internally displaced persons in the regions;
- Supported the conference ‘Building Internal Resilience: Corruption Prevention in Ukraine’s Recovery’ in Berlin, dedicated to Ukraine’s efforts to fight corruption during the war and its path to EU integration;
- Organised the forum “Through Reforms to the Stars: Parliament, Government, and Civil Society“ in cooperation with the Reanimation Package of Reforms Coalition and the Center for Political and Legal Reforms, bringing together stakeholders crucial for Ukraine’s European integration;
- Implemented two editions of the “Democracy School for Youth“, equipping young leaders with the tools to turn democratic ideas into action;
- Launched a youth internship program within central and local government bodies to strengthen young people’s understanding of governance and support wartime personnel capacity;
- Delivered the “Democracy in Action“ mini-grants program, supporting grassroots democratic initiatives by graduates of DRI’s training programs;
- Introduced the “Mobile Youth Work“ initiative, bringing democratic education and civic engagement opportunities to youth in Ukraine’s most remote and frontline areas;
- Developed and launched Roadmap for “Implementing Mobile Youth Work in Ukraine’s Territorial Communities, Including Frontline and De-Occupied Areas”;
- Organised a public discussion and a series of workshops in Berlin on the resilience of Ukrainian democracy;
- Organised a high-level public dialogue in Berlin with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Oleksandra Matviichuk on the resilience of democracy under war, justice, and the role of civil society in defending democratic values;
- In 2024, DRI produced the report “Ukrainian Democratic Institutions During Wartime“, analysing the state and future of Ukraine’s democratic governance, followed by the interim update in 2025;
- Launched the project “ACCESS – Ukraine“, with the support of the Finnish Rule of Law Centre, aimed at strengthening Ukraine’s legal capacity to meet EU rule of law standards;
- Supported the Ministry of Justice and negotiation groups in preparing Ukraine’s EU accession positions, including technical input for the Roadmap on the Functioning of Democratic Institutions;
- Established Rule of Law Clinics as a platform for high-level exchange between Ukrainian policymakers and Finnish experts;
- Provided legal analysis, expert consultations, and translation/interpretation to enable direct work with the EU acquis and implementation of the Rule of Law Roadmap.
European Exchange
- Since November 2024, published 13 issues of the newsletter “Monitor Luftkrieg Ukraine” (Air raid monitor Ukraine), which analyses Russian air raid capacities and strategy against Ukraine’s cities and civil infrastructure based on a unique database of all 70.000+ air raids since September 2022. Based on the analysis, recommendations are prepared for Ukraine’s Western allies on how to support Ukraine’s defence effectively, taking into account empirical evidence of trends and needs, as well as assessing broader threats to Europe;
- Hosted the 20th Kyiv Dialogue Annual Conference (18-19 November 2025) on the topic “Resilience and Reforms in Ukraine at Wartime: The Role of Local Self-Governance” in a trilateral (German-Polish-Ukrainian) format. Key lessons from the conference resulted in the policy paper offering recommendations for improved support of local democracy in Ukraine;
- Contributed to a panel “Ensuring Europe’s security: Germany, Ukraine, and the evolving Russia threat” at the Cafe Kyiv Conference on 11 March 2025. The panellists underlined the necessity for improved support for Ukraine under limited US support and called for a coherent European security strategy amidst growing threats by Russia;
- Continued to support local partners in five regions of Ukraine in promoting social integration of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and providing mentoring for volunteer organisations and activists; a mini-grant competition was conducted,which supported 14 hyper-local projects and initiatives focusing on social integration of IDPs and social cohesion;
- Hosted a round table on the sidelines of the 2025 Ukraine Recovery Conference in Rome on the topic “Successful and Inclusive Recovery of Ukrainian Communities” in cooperation with the Black Sea Trust of the German Marshall Fund, connecting leaders of local governance bodies with international decision-makers and donor structures;
- Hosted a round table series on the financial architecture of reconstruction and recovery in Ukraine in the run-up to the 2024 Ukraine Recovery Conference;
- Published two Policy Alerts on “Ukrainian authorities’ legitimacy when elections are impossible”, part I explaining the legal aspects of why elections during the war are not feasible, part II looking into maintaining (political) legitimacy amidst the ongoing war;
- Organises German-Ukrainian annual conferences in Berlin, dedicated to Decentralised Democracy and Local Resilience, highlighting the need to maintain the successes of decentralisation reform, which proved crucial during the war and in recovery efforts;
- Published the Policy Papers “How to strengthen decentralized democracy and local resilience in Ukraine”, “Local democracy and social integration of IDPs in Ukraine during the Russian full-scale invasion” and “Tensions, expectations and ways to strengthen German-Ukrainian relations”.
MEMO 98
- Co-produced the “War on Ukraine / Media Insights” bulletin series with IFES between May and November 2022, monitoring Russian state television, news agencies, and online sources, and distributing analysis of propaganda and disinformation narratives through newsletters, short videos, and a dedicated Telegram channel;
- Led the UNESCO- and Government of Japan-funded project “Support for Ukrainian Refugees through the Media” (2023–2024) in partnership with Slovak media outlets, enhancing ethical and inclusive reporting on refugee issues and integrating Ukrainian journalists into Slovak newsrooms;
- Conducted a baseline survey among hundreds of Ukrainian refugees to identify key information needs and supported the production of tailored content in Ukrainian on education, housing, healthcare, and employment;
- Partnered with media outlets including TA3, SME/The Slovak Spectator, and regional LOToS broadcasters to produce refugee-focused news and programs, amplifying Ukrainian perspectives and improving the information environment;
- Co-organised professional workshops in Bratislava on ethical and conflict-sensitive reporting (August 2023) and on Solutions Journalism (November 2023), engaging Slovak editors and international experts to strengthen standards in coverage of refugee issues;
- Contributed to regional implementation of the UNESCO project in Slovakia, Moldova, and Romania (2023–2024), aimed at improving access of Ukrainian refugees to reliable information, strengthening resilience, and supporting peaceful integration into host communities.
People in Need
- Direct humanitarian aid as a response to the war;
- Distributed over 45,880 hygiene kits to individuals facing ongoing attacks on their homes and evacuees in 7 front-line oblasts;
- Supported 38 institutions (25 collective centres and 15 social institutions) with works and equipment in Lvivska, Poltavska, Dniprotpetrovska and Zaporizka oblasts, benefiting almost 34,000 individuals with improved living conditions;
- Supported over 18,900 individuals on PIN’s mental health hotline, which is the last generalist hotline functioning 24/7 and staffed by certified psychologists and coordinators;
- Has been establishing and organising remedial learning classes to provide additional support and tutoring to students living in frontline oblasts, particularly in the frontline regions of Sumska, Kharkivska, Dnipropetrovska and Donetska oblasts. Over 6100 students benefited from these classes;
- The “Courage to Business” programme, organised jointly with the Lviv City Council, is an integrated programme covering business grants, entrepreneurial training and an MHPSS component to support veteran business owners or their family members to engage or re-start their businesses. Over 150 subgrants were distributed to veteran businesses in Lvivska oblast;
- Provided 9 grants to CSOs and the T4P Coalition to document war crimes, including crimes against the LGBTQ+ community, attacks on educational institutions, violence against journalists, and advocacy/protection for “civilian hostages”;
- Awarded 20 grants to media outlets (12 emergency, 7 institutional strengthening, and 1 emergency/reconstruction), enabling them to continue operations, restore infrastructure, and strengthen organisational resilience under wartime conditions;
- Provided 5 grants to investigative and regional media organisations, strengthening independent journalism and regional accountability;
- Organised 6 in-person holistic organisational development sessions for regional anti-corruption actors to enhance overall security, including mental health support, institutional sustainability, strategic planning, and team resilience;
- Organised 3 psychosocial retreats in safe locations: for 15 HRDs; for 19 HRDs and their family members; and for 16 regional media representatives and their family members;
- Implemented 4 Individual Psychosocial Support and Rehabilitation (IPSR) programmes (3 for HRDs and 1 for a released political prisoner) and provided 51 individual psychological consultations to HRDs, journalists, and activists;
- Participated in Forum 2000 (October 2025, Prague) by organising a panel discussion titled “Freezing US Support for Ukrainian Media: A Threat to Democracy and Freedom of Speech?” featuring representatives of Jnomics, LMF, IMI, and Cukr;
- Contributed to the nomination of Maksym Butkevych, laureate of the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize 2025;
- Organised a two-day networking event (7–8 October 2025, Kyiv) for regional anti-corruption NGOs and media organisations, bringing together 47 civil society representatives and 7 donors.
Westminster Foundation for Democracy
- Organised the Forum “Veterans as a New Political Actor: Rules of Engagement for Post-War Ukraine” in Kyiv. The forum aimed to foster mutual understanding among key stakeholders and establish principles for responsible, ethical, and non-discriminatory integration of veterans in decision-making processes while preventing their political instrumentalisation;
- Conducted a nationwide poll in Ukraine to explore public expectations, pressing societal issues, levels of trust, and attitudes toward political leadership during wartime. WFD team presented the findings from the poll to key stakeholders in London and Brussels, and at an event organised in partnership with the European Endowment for Democracy;
- Conducted the research “The gendered impact of the Russian full-scale invasion on the priorities of Ukrainian MPs”, which sought to determine the extent to which the priorities of Ukrainian MPs have changed, including with regard to gender equality and inclusion. WFD partnered with Ukrainian MPs for an online launch of the research and discussion on the topic;
- In February 2025, WFD brought a delegation of Ukrainian mayors and local government officials to Manchester to deepen participants’ understanding of local governance structures in the UK, with a focus on the dynamics of multi-mayor cities and effective regional management models;
- Organised the Forum “Democratic Resilience of Ukraine During the War and Recovery Period” in February 2025 in Kyiv, where representatives of political parties, government bodies, civil society, international organisations and experts discussed strategies that would support the country’s democratic development and serve as a foundation for its effective recovery during and after the war;
- Supported Ukrainian MPs to improve how they engage with their constituencies, address the needs of their constituents and work on policy issues. A group of Ukrainian MPs partnered with UK MPs to exchange experiences in constituency outreach and build linkages between their constituencies;
- Enhanced the oversight capacity of the parliament by promoting post-legislative scrutiny (PLS) practices, which, alongside other innovative practices, provide for meaningful involvement of the public in making oversight decisions and supporting PLS inquiries over recovery legislation of the parliamentary committees;
- Assisted Ukraine’s EU accession process by providing expert support to parliamentary committees on aligning draft national legislation with EU acquis, and by delivering a training programme on EU accession for Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (VRU) members and staff to better prepare them to work on the EU agenda and cope with related challenges;
- Worked with the Parliamentary Research Service (PRS) to provide better quality research support to members of parliament;
- Helped the VRU to improve its Cyber Security Strategy by providing expert advice and connecting the VRU with the cyber security network community;
- Promotion of AI instruments in PLS: WFD trained parliamentary staff to use AI instruments while developing PLS questions to the public, in processing responses from the public and for analysing information and data that is relevant to the subject of PLS inquiry;
- Supported the VRU in enhancing financial oversight over public spending as it is prescribed by the Roadmap for Public Administration Reform;
- Provided institutional support for political actors of Ukraine through:
- Study visits to the UK as observers and participants at the Labour and Conservative political parties’ conferences;
- Conducting polling research to assess the level of trust in political actors in Ukraine and expectation of citizens regarding recovery priorities;
- Trainings, analytical support, focus groups and strategic sessions for political parties, focused on their activities in the context of recovery and interaction with veterans;
- Organising a conference for political parties and civil society on democratic resilience to improve unity between different stakeholders;
- Supporting veterans, who enjoy the highest level of trust in Ukraine’s society.
- Leading pilot initiatives to support municipalities on inclusive recovery and development of local democracy at local and regional levels;
- Provided institutional support for municipalities on project management, fundraising, and feasibility studies;
- Organised a study visit to the UK for experience exchange and development of international cooperation for three pilot municipalities and other representatives of local self-governance.
Photo: © Sandor Szmutko on Adobe Stock.