Razom Advocacy is one of the directions of the Razom for Ukraine public initiative, which is engaged in promoting the politics of Ukraine’s victory and community participation in the USA and Ukraine. Its representatives work on a volunteer basis with experts, politicians and voters to help build more democratic and prosperous Ukraine.
In order to promote policies that strengthen Ukraine, ensure its victory, and bring Ukrainian-American voices to the forefront of political debate, activists work in the U.S. Congress, the White House, and the executive branch. Razom Advocacy also coordinates actions of a coalition of various mass organizations that support Ukraine all over the USA and promotes pro-Ukraine policy in social networks and the press.
The American team of the Advocacy Razom for Ukraine told about how this work is carried out during a press conference at Ukraine Crisis Media Center, organized by the non-governmental organization “Center for Transatlantic Dialogue.”
Political analyst Doug Klein noted that the initiative arose 10 years ago. At the beginning, it was focused on providing medical and humanitarian aid to Ukraine, however, in the spring of 2022, a lot has changed.
“We’ve built a full-time advocacy team in Washington. The team is divided into two groups: one for working with the governmental agencies, the other – foe encouraging civic involvement. Our group advocates Ukraine’s interests in the U.S. Congress and the White House. We are pushing for changes to the policy so that the necessary documents are passed and Ukraine receives the much-needed assistance,” he explained.
Director of Advocacy at Razom for Ukraine Mykola Murskyi named the factors that create certain difficulties in advocacy work. According to him, many Americans not only fail to understand what is happening in Ukraine, but are not interested in international issues at all and do not trust the media. Such people are particularly vulnerable to Russian propaganda, and see Russia as a bastion of conservative values.
Besides, certain legislators also remain distrustful.
“How can I support, vote positively for aid to Ukraine, if we do not have a detailed list of where this aid goes? – this is the question that the U.S. Congress’ members ask us. We have to explain them that there are general inspectors. They check all this activity and make sure that the aid to Ukraine goes exactly where it is needed. These inspectors issue very detailed reports in hundreds of pages. We bring it into the office, we show them this file, and they still say, ‘Yeah, okay, but does it go where it needs to go?’ However, they do not even open this document, and this is very disappointing,” Mykola Murskyi admits, characterizing the features of advocacy work.
The process is complicated by a certain fatigue of the Americans from this war. Deputy Director for Government Affairs and Strategy Greg Kulchytsky recalls how low the emotional threshold was in the early days of the invasion to help engage the Americans.
“Ukraine was a circle. Everyone consumed a lot of information, worried; there was a lot of tension in terms of the fact that Ukraine is defending itself from an extremely brutal invasion. However, unfortunately, that has changed now. There are other conflicts in the world to which attention is diverted,” the expert noted.
In this regard, he was asked about the prospects. Will the mood in Washington change?
“The USA is a reliable partner for Ukraine, and I think it should be so. We have made a commitment and people at a high level in the US recognize that there is a responsibility to support Ukraine. We can see that putin became a weaker leader when he went against Ukraine. On the other hand, President Zelenskyy’s Peace Summit has shown how great Ukraine’s victory will be and how widespread it will be throughout the world. Both parties in the US see the value of supporting Ukrainian democracy. Only 10 years have passed since Euromaidan. Ukraine is still young, it needs reliable partners abroad in order to promote growth,” emphasized the Deputy Director for Government Affairs and Strategy of Razom for Ukraine.