In late 2013, thousands of Ukrainians took to the streets to make their voices heard in the Euromaidan protest movement. For months, the peaceful protestors gathered in Kyiv’s Independence Square, demanding closer ties to the European Union, an end to the country’s endemic corruption, and democratic reforms.

Ukrainian human rights lawyer and civil society leader Oleksandra Matviichuk and her team at the Center for Civil Liberties launched the Euromaidan SOS civic initiative to monitor and document human rights abuses during the demonstrations and provide legal assistance to persecuted protesters. But in February 2014, everything changed when the Ukrainian government began killing civilians.

“It was obvious that we had to change our method of work. We sent our volunteers to hospitals, morgues, and churches—all the places where dead bodies were gathered,” she said. “We didn’t know how much time we had to write down everyone who was killed before the regime would destroy all evidence of their atrocities.”

Over 100 people were killed during this period, which became known as the Revolution of Dignity. The revolution led to the ousting of the then-president and a return to the 2004 Ukrainian constitution. But in February 2014, Russia occupied and annexed Crimea, beginning the ongoing war in Ukraine and leading to Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.

Despite the overwhelming challenges facing the country, Matviichuk continues to work tirelessly to promote human rights, build democracy, and foster global solidarity with Ukraine. She knew early on that this was what she wanted to do with her life–through a school program, she became acquainted with Soviet dissidents, who had given everything up to speak out against the USSR.

“Because of their courage, and their honest fight for freedom and human dignity, we got a chance to restore our independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union,” Matviichuk said. “I had the privilege to be brought up surrounded by people from my history books.”

She studied law and took up the fight herself, far beyond Ukraine. Matviichuk is a member of the World Movement for Democracy’s Steering Committee, where she works with leaders around the world to promote democratic values.

“Everything that we face in Ukraine, it’s just a reflection of negative global trends in the region and in the world,” Matviichuk said. “That’s why, if we want to be effective, we have to unite our efforts with other human rights organizations and civil society leaders from different countries.”

Despite the immense pain she feels each day that the war drags on, she still considers herself lucky, describing the chance to fight for freedom and democratic values as a luxury.

“There’s previous generations of Ukrainians that had no chance,” Matviichuk said. “We still have a chance–we have networks, we have experience, we have a lot of examples of courage in different countries. We can rely on people who support each other, ordinary people who are doing extraordinary things. We have a chance to win.”