Mykhailo Amrosiev, a young war veteran and activist from Ukraine, will receive the 2023 Ion Ratiu Democracy Fellowship (IRDF), the Ratiu Family Charitable Foundation and Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars announced. Amrosiev is the founder of the public organisation Young Veterans Ukraine, which provides practical assistance to soldiers and members of their families.

The IRDF aims to support individuals worldwide working on behalf of democracy as activists or intellectuals. Recipients have the opportunity to engage with the Washington policy, media and scholarly communities and find time for reflection and writing on democratic activism, often not possible in the day-to-day struggle in their home or exile country. 

"In this sense, the IRDF seeks to replicate the type of life-changing experience that Ion Ratiu encountered as a Romanian democracy activist in Washington in the 1970s and 1980s," reads the press release.

Mykhailo Amrosiev, born in Kyiv in 1994, was nominated for the fellowship "for his contribution to the social and political life of modern Ukraine, his dedication and courage." In November 2013, he was one of the organisers of a group of students who went to Independence Square at the beginning of the Euromaidan wave of demonstrations.

After the Russian invasion of eastern Ukraine, Amrosiev defended the country as part of a volunteer battalion. He was injured, however, and left the battlefront. Together with his brothers, he founded and headed the public organisation Young Veterans Ukraine, where he independently supervises the rehabilitation of the wounded abroad.

Amrosiev currently defends Ukraine as part of the 93rd Separate Mechanized Brigade "Kholodny Yar", holding the position of a chief sergeant and commanding a platoon of military material support, the same source said. From Bakhmut, he establishes connections with Ukrainian and foreign volunteer organisations, securing charitable funds to meet the needs of fellow citizens. In addition, he helps residents and abandoned animals in the war zone.

"Mykhailo Amrosiev is the personification of a large category of young Ukrainians who are aware of the importance of the development and establishment of democracy in Ukraine. They promote democratic ideas and implement them in the everyday life of the modern Ukrainian society," said Nicolae Ratiu, Chairman of the Ratiu Family Charitable Foundation.

The Ion Ratiu Democracy Award expresses the deep commitment to democracy of the late Ion Ratiu (1917-2000) through his contributions as a Romanian politician and intellectual, as well as his interest in democratic change worldwide.

The Ratiu Family Charitable Foundation was established in London in 1979 by Ion and Elisabeth Ratiu to promote and support projects which further education and research in the culture and history of Romania, both in Romania and the UK. It offers up to 100 annual grants, principally for projects, postgraduate courses, conference participation, travel grants, and other short-term courses including academic research. It also offers annual seed funding for innovative projects, principally in Romania, which foster Romanian arts and civilisation, heritage, civil society, democracy, and environmental protection.

irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Ratiu Family Charitable Foundation)