--- title: Olena Shevchenko on Fighting for Ukraine's Most Vulnerable description: Since co-founding a nonprofit to support women and LGBTQI groups, Shevchenko has become one of the most recognizable advocates in Ukraine. canonical: https://time.com/collections/women-of-the-year/6257849/olena-shevchenko-2/ article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-03-02T11:00:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-11T07:46:26.812Z article:section: World og:title: Olena Shevchenko on Fighting for Ukraine's Most Vulnerable og:description: Russia's war in Ukraine has made the work of LGBTQI and women's rights advocates even more difficult, Shevchenko says og:url: https://time.com/collections/women-of-the-year/6257849/olena-shevchenko-2/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde73d3e4f8fd9802/698a3aa986f68e98756f231f/2023-women-of-the-year-olena-shevchenko.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Olena Shevchenko on Fighting for Ukraine's Most Vulnerable og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Olena Shevchenko on Fighting for Ukraine's Most Vulnerable twitter:description: Russia's war in Ukraine has made the work of LGBTQI and women's rights advocates even more difficult, Shevchenko says twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde73d3e4f8fd9802/698a3aa986f68e98756f231f/2023-women-of-the-year-olena-shevchenko.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Mar 02, 2023 # Olena Shevchenko Is Fighting for Ukraine's Most Vulnerable People > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. ## Video: Women of the Year | Olena Shevchenko [Watch (HLS stream): Women of the Year | Olena Shevchenko](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/axcjKBDb.m3u8) (5:03)  _Published 2023-03-02. Olena Shevchenko Is Fighting for Ukraine's Most Vulnerable People_ by [Dayana Sarkisova](https://time.com/author/dayana-sarkisova/) ## Dayana Sarkisova Sarkisova is a senior editor at TIME.  Olena Shevchenko photographed during a remote portrait session in February 2023. Olena Shevchenko photographed during a remote portrait session in February 2023. Dina Litovsky for TIME On an April 2022 afternoon, nearly two months into the war in Ukraine, Olena Shevchenko’s altruism was met with brutality. As she unloaded supplies from Poland to be distributed around a war-torn Kyiv, a man caught her off guard. Attacking her with pepper spray, he screamed, “Pervert, get out of our city!” Shevchenko, 40, is no stranger to this kind of hostility. Since she co-founded the Kyiv-based nonprofit Insight in 2017 to support women and [LGBTQI communities](https://time.com/6156672/lgbtq-ukraine-refugees-russia/), she’s become one of the most recognizable advocates in Ukraine, and has been attacked seven times in the past five years. Before the war, her initiatives were often met with resistance; nowadays, she finds getting people to understand her mission is even more complicated.  Olena Shevchenko photographed during a remote portrait session in February 2023. Dina Litovsky for TIME “Why are you talking just about women? Why not men? Why not everybody?” she says, outlining the arguments she regularly encounters. The reality, she says, is that these communities are especially vulnerable during the war: [LGBTQI people](https://time.com/6156672/lgbtq-ukraine-refugees-russia/) face fierce discrimination from fellow Ukrainians; most humanitarian aid doesn’t account for [those with disabilities](https://time.com/6161800/disabled-refugees-ukraine/); and “the level of [sexual violence](https://time.com/6168330/rape-war-crime-russia-ukraine/) during the war—you can’t imagine.” **Read More:** [_Inside the Basement Where a Ukrainian Village Spent a Month in Captivity_](https://time.com/6255183/ukraine-basement-yahidne-held-captive/) Shevchenko [and her colleagues](https://time.com/spirit-of-ukraine-person-of-the-year-2022/) have pivoted their efforts to fundraising—acquiring everything from first-aid kits to hormones for transgender people. She estimates that in 2022, they collected more than $400,000 from various donors and campaigns. Shevchenko says that conservative groups in Ukraine often accuse LGBTQI people of fleeing, claiming “they are not protecting the country, they are not helping here in Ukraine.” Her goal is therefore to show that these communities are very active “on different front lines. Not just military ones, but in other spheres.” The gender stereotypes she’s worked tirelessly to combat over the years have also taken on another dimension during the conflict. Women have [assumed a variety of roles](https://time.com/6159261/women-ukraine-war-russia/) in war efforts outside the home, including volunteer work and military service. “It’s a daily fight,” she says. “You need to remind people that women are not people who just need to give birth to new soldiers and take care of our heroes.” ## Transcript In 2017 Elena shevchenko co-founded. The key of Base nonprofit insight to support women in lgbtqi communities. She's since become one of the most recognizable advocates in Ukraine, and she's no stranger to hostility before the war. Her initiative were often met with resistance. Now, it is. She finds getting people to understand is even more complicated. we spoke to her from Kiev where Russian attacks have led to widespread power outages and Scattered internet access You have some rice, some protection, but in terms of the violence, especially for the moon to radical groups that was not so possible to hold hands and some Publix to go together to the restaurants, for instance, or even to go to the Metro. Because if you were obvious, if we both can assume that you are from lgbtqi Community, you never know what will happen afterwards. And who will protect you with that. In few years, we will it cheap, at least civil partnership law in Ukraine. So that will be the sign to our society that it is forbidden. To even think that lgbtqi people are kind of sick, you know, perverts abnormal and everything like that, but then the war started. And honestly, I think that's at least a few steps back for us in terms of the human rights in our County. Several communities have become especially vulnerable during the war. Lgbtqi people faced Fierce discrimination from fellow ukrainians. Most humanitarian Aid doesn't account for those with disabilities and reports of sexual assault. Have been staggering now shevchenko and her colleagues have pivoted their efforts to fundraising for humanitarian Aid. Everything from emergency kits to hormones for transgender people. She's also working tirelessly to combat gender stereotypes during the conflict and other bets being also wish game with the word, this gender stereotypes about role of women, its daily fight in each sphere. Then you need to remind people that women are not those people who need you. Now to mostly give birth to the soldiers. We have so many women now who are in the military forces. We need to highlight those women were served in the military for doing volunteer work. What do and everything else, like except home Affairs, just to give this visibility. Even the state police is like, they started from the first day of the work saying, all of our brothers are their husbands are on their front line, trying to protect our country, our nation, and then it took us six or seven months just to put their also like, not just brothers, not just husband's, but also, our mothers are sisters and it's past Monday about men. Many conservative groups in Ukraine, was still here. Of course, fighting with lgbtq people all the time, even during the war and a game is gender equality as well. Of course, they are still active. So they share information that all lgbtqi people left Ukraine because they deceived the international grants in all the support of those International organizations. So they are not protecting the country here, not helping here in Ukraine. So our main idea house and my name is to show that so many lgbtqi casual people, a very active here on the different front lines, not only as a military protects in Ukraine on the front line but also in other spheres. That's why we are doing me any information or complains. Trying to highlight the importance to be in different spheres of why to be present and to be here. 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