Episode

Ukraine’s secret weapon: Civil society at war

Podcast
The World Stage
Published
Jun 19, 2025
Duration seconds
2097
Processing state
not_requested
Canonical source
https://shows.acast.com/the-world-stage/episodes/ukraines-secret-weapon-civil-society-at-war
Audio
https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/61e7dd4277c0270013a926af/e/6853f8e468b0c25e3872fc90/media.mp3
JSON
/v1/public/podcasts/the-world-stage-6616587/episodes/ukraine-s-secret-weapon-civil-society-at-war
Markdown
/podcast/the-world-stage-6616587/ukraine-s-secret-weapon-civil-society-at-war.md

Actions

  • POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-world-stage-6616587/episodes/ukraine-s-secret-weapon-civil-society-at-war/transcription-requests
    Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
  • GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-world-stage-6616587/ukraine-s-secret-weapon-civil-society-at-war.md
    Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

Summary

Come Back Alive and other volunteer organisations is an underappreciated, but important factor in Ukraine's fight against Russia. They are a vital part of Ukraine’s resilience as the war enters its fourth year. Come Back Alive enjoys high trust, legitimacy and cooperates closely with the brigades in the field and the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense. Volunteer organisations show how popular mobilisation works in practice when the whole society wants to contribute to the war effort. As such, they also have important lessons for the Norwegian total defence concept. In this podcast episode we explore the role Come Back Alive and similar organisations are playing, how Norway and other states can increase their support, and what lessons they can hold for the Norwegian total defence concept.   In the studio are Kate Leschyshyn from Come Back Alive, and NUPI researchers Øyvind Svendsen and John Karlsrud. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.