Ukraine

Key priorities to improve the civil society environment

1. The CMU and other central executive bodies should ensure the continued participation of CSOs in the development of programme documents, including those aimed at integrating Ukraine into the EU. Particular attention should be given to involving CSOs whose main activities are conducted at the local level, as well as those that have been displaced from temporarily occupied territories;
2. The Parliament of Ukraine should review the provisions of the Law on Public Consultations, implement its application immediately, and define the obligation of MPs to hold public consultations;
3. The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) should facilitate CSOs' access to banking services on an equal footing with businesses, including for cross-border transactions and lending. It should also ensure communication with international financial institutions, including the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), and foreign banks to mitigate restrictions caused by armed aggression;
4. Law enforcement, including the Prosecutor General's Office, should continue investigating and documenting Russian crimes against CSO representatives and the media to hold Russia accountable;
5. The Ministry of Digital Transformation, and the Ministry of Justice should ensure the functioning of the service for the registration and updating of information on CSOs, including both public associations and charitable foundations, on the Diia portal;    
6. The CMU, through its authorised bodies, should ensure equal access for CSOs to public procurement and promote broad dissemination of information to CSOs regarding access to public procurement; and
7. The Parliament of Ukraine should adopt the Draft Law on the Regulation of the Activities and State Registration of Public Associations (registration No. 8084). 

Ongoing action –  New civil society strategy

ISAR Ednannia supports the Ukrainian government in  the development of a new National Strategy for the Promotion of Civil Society Development for the period 2027–2031, grounded in evidence, inclusivity, and good governance principles.

Past achievements: 

CSO Meter monitoring and recommendations have already delivered the following results:

Advancing public participation:

• Preventing restrictive proposals on Lobby Law and Foreign Funding (2020-2023): Hub members and ECNL played a crucial role in countering restrictive CSO regulations, which would have hindered CSOs’ advocacy, stigmatised foreign-funded organisations and limited their access to state positions. Since 2020, ECNL has provided comparative analyses and international legal perspectives to challenge repeated proposals. In late 2023, when the National Agency on Corruption Prevention introduced a new Draft Law on Lobbying - contrary to European and international standards - ECNL leveraged its past analyses to highlight the risks. In an online meeting organised by ISAR Ednannia, ECNL shared European experiences in lobbying regulation, equipping Ukrainian CSOs with strategic arguments to advocate for transparency without undermining civil society. The current version of the law is much better aligned with international standards on public participation.

Facilitating access to funding:

• Ensuring access to funding during war. In Ukraine, civil society delivers critical humanitarian aid to people in need. To ensure this is done as efficiently as possible, ECNL supported the Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research (UCIPR) to work with institutions and put forward a model to modernise the system of aid registration.
• Organisations supporting people with disabilities are able to receive public funds on a competitive basis (2020): Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research identified the need to extend the competition principle to the funding of CSOs supporting people with disabilities as a priority area for reform. This ensures equal conditions for state support that other CSOs can also access. As a result of UCIPR's advocacy campaign, the Ministry of Social Policy developed a new Decree on competition-based state funding for such organisations. The Resolution №166 on “Some issues of providing financial support to public associations of persons with disabilities” was adopted in March 2020.  This reform ensures a more vibrant and open space for delivery of high-quality services by all disability-focused organisations.

Protecting freedom of association:

• Ensuring that freedom of association and access to funding are not limited by Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) measures. In 2025, to support the National Risk Assessment (NRA) 2025, CEDEM conducted research on AML/CFT risks related to volunteer-based organizations, which informed the work of the State Financial Monitoring Service. CEDEM held a series of advocacy and coordination meetings with the State Financial Monitoring Service, the Ministry of Finance, the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine, the European Commission, and CSOs to support the NRA process and align civil society positions. 
• E-reporting requirements for anti-corruption CSOs and activists declared unconstitutional (2019): In March 2017, a requirement was introduced, obliging members of anti-corruption CSOs to submit electronic income declarations, similar to those required from state bodies representatives. ECNL supported the Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research in challenging the heightened reporting requirements, arguing that anti-corruption civil society activists are not public officials and do not manage public funds from the national or local budgets. The Constitutional Court's ruling upheld the independence of CSOs, removing the discriminatory provisions.

Contributing to long-term civil society development:

• Contribution to civil society development strategy in Ukraine (2021): The Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research developed a chapter on enabling environment for civil society as part of the National Strategy for Promoting Civil Society Development 2021-2026. The Strategy, adopted in September 2021, was developed through a highly participatory approach involving both government institutions and CSOs. It directly refers to evidence from the CSO Meter report and includes the best practices based on ECNL recommendations, such as ensuring monitoring of progress in its implementation. This Strategy will strengthen Ukraine's civic sector and promote partnership between CSOs and authorities. Also, UCIPR and other Hub members contributed to the development of the Action Plans of the National Strategy for Promoting Civil Society Development for 2021-2024 and 2025-2026.

Country context and important trends relevant to the civil society environment:

In 2025, Ukraine continued to live under the conditions of the full-scale aggression of the Russian Federation. The war shapes the key elements of the functioning of the state and civil society, creating both challenges and new opportunities.

The political context is defined by the need to balance between fighting the war, pursuing internal reforms, and advancing European integration. In 2025, Ukraine maintained the stability of its democratic institutions despite ongoing attempts at destabilisation, primarily external, including through hybrid attacks (for example, disinformation campaigns). Alongside military challenges, work continued on anti-corruption policy, judicial reform, and ensuring the proper functioning of state institutions.

In July 2025, the so-called “Cardboard Protests” took place, sparked by the risk of the government backsliding on anti-corruption reforms.1 Society demonstrated a demand for openness and dialogue from the authorities, as the closed nature of decision-making processes under martial law affects the level of public trust.

A significant number of civil society representatives continued to serve in the Defence Forces of Ukraine, including those who joined during 2025. As a result of the war—both due to military service and to Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities—the civic sector continued to suffer losses. In 2025, Viktoriia Hrebeniuk (employee of the NGO “100% Life”) and her two-month-old son, Taras Shput (former employee of the “Come Back Alive” Foundation, serviceman), and Oleksandr Hatiiatullin (human rights defender, founder of the NGO “Ukraine Without Torture,” serviceman) were killed. Following a Russian attack on 3 September 2025, two employees of DRC were killed and eight others were injured. These are only a few of the names of civil society representatives whose lives were taken by the Russian Federation.

Some CSOs remained focused on emergency response (e.g., humanitarian aid, provision of shelter, etc.). The involvement of CSOs in humanitarian response and, at the same time, in recovery measures has not diminished during the reporting period.

In 2025, Ukraine continued the negotiation process on the path towards membership of the European Union, including completing the screening of legislation for accession. Ukraine’s European integration track enjoys significant support from CSOs, although their involvement in some cases bears signs of being more formal than substantive.

Technology remains both a challenge and a resource. On the one hand, digital tools simplify reporting, registration, and fundraising, making CSO activities more transparent and accessible. On the other hand, cyber threats from Russia, large-scale disinformation campaigns, and manipulation through social media pose serious risks to information security.

In 2025, Ukraine saw a change of government, now headed by Yuliia Svyrydenko. The heads of most ministries also changed. Due to martial law, elections in Ukraine were not held.

The situation in Ukraine unfolds against the backdrop of a global crisis of democracy, the rise of authoritarian regimes, and worldwide instability. The war in Ukraine has become a defining point for Europe’s future: whether the democratic model can withstand authoritarianism or must yield to it. Increasingly, Ukraine emerges not only as the subject of aggression but as the frontier of global democracy, capable of providing answers to global challenges—from cyber threats to post-war recovery. 

Video story

How has CSO Meter proven to be helpful in times of war? Find out more from Oleksandr Shapoval, Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research (UCIPR) (Ukraine):