Join us for an evening with the recipient of the 2025 Václav Havel Prize, journalist and human rights defender Maksym Butkevych as he shares his experiences of fighting for justice on and off the battlefield, and of the Russian imprisonment, as well as reflections on his lifelong work defending the rights of migrants, refugees, displaced, and stateless persons, and commitment to solidarity with those living under oppression globally.
This event is free and open to the public. This lecture is part of the Slavic Department lecture series: Narratives of Power and Resistance in Central and Eastern Europe, Russia and Eurasia.
The event is also available to watch online via Zoom.
Maksym Butkevych is a Ukrainian journalist, human rights activist and a war veteran. He holds a degree in philosophy from Kyiv National Taras Shevchenko University, and MA in anthropology from the University of Sussex. Butkevych has worked extensively in the media: at Ukrainian TV channels, BBC World Service in London, and co-founded independent Ukrainian radio station Hromadske Radio. He was also advocating for human rights and social justice, assisting refugees, protesting war, discrimination and racism, supporting freedom of speech and assemblies. After the beginning of Russian full-scale invasion into Ukraine in February 2022, he joined the Ukrainian Armed Forces and was later captured by Russian forces. Within few months he was sentenced by Russian “court” to 13 years of imprisonment in the fabricated criminal case. He was eventually released from captivity in October 2024, after spending 2 years and 4 months in Russian captivity. In 2025 Maksym co-founded a Charitable Foundation “Principle of Hope”. Also in 2025 he was awarded Václav Havel Prize by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Collection of his essays has been published in French and German when he was in captivity, furthering his impact on the international stage.
- Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures
- Otto V. Čapek Fund
- Razom for Ukraine
- The Center for East European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies