I just got back from another research visit to Ukraine, my tenth since Russia’s full-scale invasion of February 2022. I’ve been visiting Ukraine for ten years for Human Rights First, working with and writing about local human rights defenders (HRDs).

I focus mostly on the north-eastern region of Kharkiv, close to the front line and home to Ukraine’s second-biggest city, and I write reports about HRDs working on a range of issues including war crimes, LGBTQ rights, medical aid, and government corruption.

After these visits I often get asked the same sorts of questions about the practicalities of researching in a war zone, especially in extremely cold temperatures. Here are answers covering some of the most common things I get asked.

Getting There, Getting Around

You can’t fly into Ukraine now, so the best bet is to fly to Warsaw or Krakow and get the train. In early 2022 it was more chaotic and trains were full, so I had to go in and out on long bus journeys, sometimes sleeping on the bus overnight at the border.

Now the train from Warsaw is the best option - 17 hours on the same train (in a bunk if you’re lucky enough to get one) direct to Kyiv without having to get out at the border. Via Krakow you have to change trains at the border town of Przemsyl and stand around in the cold for a few hours to get through passport control and security, before getting another train to Kyiv.

In Ukraine transport is generally comfortable and efficient. You book tickets on an app, they don’t sell more seats than they have bums to fill, so you’re guaranteed a seat. Trains from Kyiv east to Kharkiv take about five hours. There’s a cafe car, and they’re warm and modern. In the big cities the underground metro systems work well, though the platforms get full when there’s an air raid alarm and people rush down from the street for cover. In Kharkiv the metro is still free, in Kyiv you just tap your credit card. For car journeys a local version of Uber, BOLT, is very efficient.

What to Wear

This depends on the season - this month I was in temperatures as low as minus 18 Celsius, while the summer gets really hot. Generally the more pockets the better - jackets and cargo trousers with zipped pockets for phones, cameras, notebooks, pens, ID, etc. It’s best to avoid green or anything that makes you look in any way military. Near the front line, you don’t want to look like a soldier to another soldier looking at you through binoculars.

Close to the fighting I wear a flak jacket and helmet. They’re very heavy and hard to run in. I also always have a white flag in case I need to wave it at someone with a gun. I use a pillowcase for this - it doubles as an emergency bag, and on long train or bus rides I stuff it with clothes to sleep on.

Bomb Shelters

Kyiv is very different from Kharkiv. In Kyiv you usually get 10-15 minutes from missiles being fired at the city until they arrive, enough time to hear the air raid alarms and find shelter. Kharkiv is only about 25 miles from the Russian border, and warnings can be a matter of seconds, or can even be announced after the missiles hit. If you’re outside the best thing is to find a shelter in the underground metro, or under shops or car parks with basements. There’s an overnight curfew in both cities, and things are quiet from about 10 pm.

I stay mostly in hotels, occasionally in an empty house if near the front line. Hotels have decent bomb shelters, with kettles and tea, chairs, and even bunks. The air raid alarms are announced on phone apps which tell you which regions are being targeted. Then when the air raid alert is over, Star Wars’ Mark Hamill’s voice comes over the app announcing it’s clear and says May The Force Be With You. The apps are essential - a friend of mine in Kyiv was without a phone for a few days this week and realised how much she depended on the alerts for safety.

The air raid alerts can happen a few times the same night, and last between 15 minutes and several hours.  Several times in Kharkiv this month I heard the loud, huge S300 missiles explode fairly close to me, both during the daytime when I was out on the street and when I was in bed.

Working near the front line

Some of the most important - and unreported - work being done by HRDs is at the front line of fighting. They are bringing food and medicine to civilians left stranded in the combat zone, and document missile attacks on civilians and other war crimes. I never go alone to the front line villages, or to cities like Kupiansk - I always go with a small team of journalists or medics from Kharkiv.

The streets in the towns and villages are largely deserted, with most houses damaged or destroyed by missiles.  In most places there is the near-constant sound of shelling, with white plumes of smoke when the shells hit.

It’s best to drive fast through these places, and not hang about outside when you get out of the car. But this month the weather meant I had to drive very slowly for hours on icy roads, which was an added complication.

Reporting

I produce a report soon after I return, with recommendations for governments and others on how to better support Ukraine’s civil society. After this month’s visit I wrote a report with my colleague Maya Fernandez-Powell focused on the need for more psychological support in Ukraine.

People are generally willing to talk to me, although I clear quotes with them before I make them public. Interpretation is an issue, but a combination of local English speakers and translation apps generally work well enough.

Day to Day Frustrations

It can be challenging to plan meetings or make firm arrangements - everyone is at the mercy of air raid alarms and everything depends on what happens that day. There are many hours waiting around in underground stations or basement car parks waiting for Mark Hamill to tell you it’s okay to go outside.

For locals, it is obviously much harder than for someone who only visits every couple of months. Ukrainian men aged 18-60 aren’t allowed to leave the country in case they are called into the army. Ukraine is running low on conscripts - I was stopped in the street several times this month by “mobilisation units” - groups of police and soldiers asking for my ID and checking I wasn’t hiding from joining the military.

Most researchers and visiting foreign diplomats get as far as Kyiv, but not many venture to Kharkiv out of safety concerns. But it’s important to see what local HRDs are doing up close, to highlight the risks they’re taking and the work they’re doing, and to report on what they’re facing in difficult and dangerous places.

 

Dr. Brian Dooley is an Honorary Professor of Practice at the Mitchell Institute and a Senior Advisor at Human Rights First, a U.S.- based NGO. He specialises in working with Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) in conflict and post-conflict contexts, and was senior advisor to the UN Special Rapporteur on HRDs Mary Lawlor 2020-2023. His most recent work has been in the Hong Kong revolution and on Russia’s war on Ukraine. He has also written two books related to the conflict in Northern Ireland, including a comparative study of the civil rights movements in the U.S. and Northern Ireland.