“Our collaboration with Legalife-Ukraine is a strategic partnership for us. We’re always here to help you!”, Oleg Dymaretskyi, NGO “VOLNA”

We are supplementing the SERIES OF INTERVIEWS “ON WAR AND SEX WORK”, in which we talk about the life of Ukrainians, the fate of sex workers and the sphere of sex services in Ukraine during the war, with a new series of conversations. This time we decided to talk to the leaders of our partner public organizations, with whom we share all the difficulties and challenges of protecting the rights of sex workers in different corners of our Ukraine during the war.

We present an interview with Oleg Dymaretskyi (Олег Димарецький), director of the All-Ukrainian Association of People living with Drug Addiction “VOLNA” (НУО «ВОЛНА»)

“Legalife-Ukraine” (L-U): Welcome to our portal! We are always happy to communicate with our long-standing partners in the protection of human rights in Ukraine. Please tell us, what changes have taken place over the last four years of the war in your life and in the life of the NGO “VOLNA”?

Oleg Dymaretskyi: Thank you very much for your trust and for inviting me to answer questions about the organisation that looks after the interests of the community of people who use drugs and live with drug dependence in Ukraine, namely the organisation ‘VOLNA’. In answering the question of what has happened in the organisation’s life over the four years of the war, I don’t think I’ll be saying anything new when I say that over the past four years our country has changed, our people have changed, structures have changed, and legislation has changed. But despite everything, we are still here in Ukraine; we haven’t gone anywhere, and we haven’t stopped our activities for a single day, from February 2022 to the present day.

When it comes to changes—specifically changes within the organisation—the focus of our strategic priorities has shifted.

Firstly, there were changes to the legislation in Ukraine, and this was a strategic priority for us. Now, this strategic advocacy has shifted more towards responding to critical challenges from people who consider themselves to be part of the community of people who use drugs. What am I talking about? I am talking about the fact that paperwork and legislation are ok, but the main thing is how to save people’s lives during evacuation, during internal migration, during migration abroad, and migration between communities to preserve and ensure access to essential services.

In particular, regarding preventive needle exchange and the provision of substitution maintenance therapy. The provision of humanitarian aid has changed; our people have become three times poorer, and people who use drugs have also lost both their jobs and their sources of income. Therefore, our key focus is on something that was not there before – ensuring at least basic needs are met: food, hygiene products, a reliable electricity supply, in particular, providing the opportunity to charge a gadget to always stay in touch.

However, there is one priority that has not changed but has been reinforced. Our work has been placed on an equal footing with government bodies – this involves developing healthcare systems, restoring or expanding healthcare facilities, providing preventive services for people who use drugs, and treatment programmes, in particular, substitution maintenance therapy.

L-U: What can you call the main achievements in the work of the All-Ukrainian Association of People living with Drug Addiction ‘VOLNA’ over this 4 years?

Oleg Dymaretskyi: We have several major achievements, which cannot be summarised in a single statement. Well, firstly, in August 2025, with the active participation of the ‘VOLNA’ community, Ukraine adopted a drug policy strategy and plans to implement it by 2030.

We spent five years working on the strategy, which has five strategic directions, two of which were adopted directly with the community’s involvement. These include decriminalisation, the development of healthcare systems, the provision of services, the expansion of services, and the expansion of research and access to the latest approaches to ensuring treatment and prevention processes.

We also opened the Substitution Supportive Therapy Office in places of deprivation of liberty, pre-trial detention centers, namely in Chernihiv, which belongs to the front-line border network of Ukraine, where people serve their sentences without being provided with the necessary medications and programs. We have also achieved something that the state had been unable to do for 13 years, even in peacetime: the opening of the Substitution Supportive Therapy Office in the Lukyanivskyi detention center (Лук’янівський СІЗО), that is, in the city of Kyiv.

In other words, no one had been able to address this issue, and many people who use drugs were in places of detention and remained without treatment. However, the community advocated, did all the necessary things even during the war and opened such access. In particular, this achievement is not limited to places of detention; in fact, the All-Ukrainian Association of People living with Drug Addiction has advocated for, provided technical support to, and assisted in the opening of 9 substitution maintenance therapy clinics across almost the whole of Ukraine. These include Kozelets (Козелець), Vorzel (Ворзель), Dnipro (Дніпро) – and many other regions where clinics have been opened with the direct involvement of the All-Ukrainian Association of People livng with Drug Addiction.

L-U: How has your interaction with the authorities, social services, medical and other institutions changed over the years of the war?

Oleg Dymaretskyi: It has deteriorated, becoming more problematic. Today, there is a critical lack of face-to-face communication and round-table discussions, as events and round-tables have been moved online. This is not a positive development, because the central government bodies—in particular the Ministry of Health, which is rebuilding medical and social services through the Public Health Centre, and which interpret regulatory changes and advocate for human rights in this country - must now once again directly rebuild cooperation and an equal partnership with the public. In particular, with key communities, which include sex workers, men who have sex with men, people who have been convicted of crimes, HIV-positive women and HIV-infected people in general, people who have had tuberculosis, and people who inject drugs.

So it has indeed become difficult, but we must remember that we understand the reasons why it has become harder to communicate with central government bodies, particularly to rebuild or develop cooperation across various platforms. There is a war in our country, and so we understand that the burden on the Ministry of Health, following the ‘COVID period’, has shifted to supporting frontline areas, for reconstruction, provision, supplying medicines, and addressing procurement barriers, because state funds are being channelled into the country’s defence and there is a shortage of funds for healthcare.

We understand all this, but I must emphasise once again that communication and coordination across platforms remain a major problem. And this is truly lacking.

L-U: Please tell us more about the programs through which activists from the NGO ‘VOLNA’ are currently working most closely with Ukraine’s sex worker community.

Oleg Dymaretskyi: I’d like to be clear about this – we are strategic partners with the CO ‘Legalife-Ukraine’.

We don’t just work on joint cases, legislative changes, and providing joint services to clients within the community. Let me remind you, for example, that VOLNA has five resource centres – effectively five communities – where, alongside the sex workers’ organisation, we are building systems to provide information services, support services, document restoration, legal advice, legal aid and access to humanitarian programmes. That is why we remain strategic partners and have never for a single day considered any changes or, shall we say, issues of mistrust. We work side by side and will continue to do so.

L-U: Our activists, the regional leaders of the ‘Legalife-Ukraine’ community, speak very highly of their collaboration with activists from the NGO ‘VOLNA’ across various regions of Ukraine. In your view, how important is cooperation and mutual support between NGOs today?

Oleg Dymaretskyi: Right now, setting aside the broader historical context, the fact is that as a country we only become stronger when we unite, when we support one another, when we implement joint programs, and when we hold certain, shall we say, convictions that run counter to the vision of state institutions. Only together can we advocate effectively. And there are countless examples of this, such as changes to prevention programs and responding to those changes. Changes are currently underway in the verification process, which carry the risk of losing services and people altogether. We are uniting in order to respond to this and to stand stronger.

I truly believe that without partnership, without expanding our partnerships, and without joint action, it is impossible to make progress or move forward.

L-U: Who are your key allies in the non-governmental sector, and with whom do you collaborate?

Oleg Dymaretskyi: I might not have enough time to list them all. We currently have 48 national organisations and 12 international organisations among our strategic partners. I would, however, like to mention the key Ukrainian organisations.

Firstly, there is the charitable organisation CO ‘Positive Women’ (БО «Позитивні жінки»). They provide gender-oriented services, specifically for women living with HIV and AIDS. Then there is the All-Ukrainian Association of Women Living with Drug Dependence, the organisation ‘VONA’ («ВОНА»). ‘VONA’ also focuses on women, their issues, and changes to the legislation in the Family Code.

There is organisation ‘Frizona’ («Фрізона»). It takes care of convicts and people who have been released from prison. There is organisation ‘TB People Ukraine’, which deals with the issues of people who have had tuberculosis, or who belong to the community of people living with tuberculosis.

There is ‘Alliance Global’, the main organization that takes care of the legal hub, which takes care of LGBT communities and people with non-traditional sexual orientations, or those who identify as transgender. We must take into account the many organisations that are very close to our community. These include ‘Doroga do domu’, ‘Parus’ and ‘Svitla Nadiya’ («Дорога до дому», «Парус», «Світла Надія»). There are also five branches that are part of our community: ‘VOLNA West’, ‘Your Home’, ‘Meridian’, ‘VOLNA South’ and ‘VOLNA Donbas’ («ВОЛНА Захід», «Твій Дім», «Меридіан», «ВОЛНА Південь», «ВОЛНА Донбас»).

We should also add ‘Convictus Ukraine’, ‘Drop-in Centre’ and ‘ENEY’. I could go on listing the organisations with which we have reliable partnerships. It should be noted here that we are not merely co-implementers of Global Fund programs; a certain part of our activities is linked to specific memorandums with well-known organisations that are the main recipients in Ukraine. I am referring to the Public Health Centre of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, the ‘100% Life’ network, and the Public Health Alliance (Альянс Громадського Здоров’я).

L-U: What do you think could help us strengthen our cooperation even more in the future?

Oleg Dymaretskyi: I truly believe that if we are open, if we support each other’s strategic priorities, if we share opportunities and resources, and implement joint projects (in particular, humanitarian projects, legal projects, paralegal projects, advocacy projects on changing the legislation, for example regarding the decriminalisation of sex work in Ukraine) – we will have strength, and we will achieve our goals. This cooperation, I remind you once again, was, is and remains a strategic priority of the association of people living with drug addiction "VOLNA" from the beginning of our work.

L-U: We thank you for the frank conversation. Finally, we have our traditional question: what advice would you give to new activists who are just planning to get involved in helping vulnerable communities, and what would you like to wish for the sex workers’ community in Ukraine?

Oleg Dymaretskyi: There’s a saying: ‘By helping myself, I help others’. This means that if I am nearby, then I will already know the assistance system and will be able to accompany the person, and the specialist will have time to help and will be able to save his life. So I’ll start with the last question, and this is my wish for sex workers: have faith in yourselves, and faith in the people around you.

If I were to offer advice to help new activists, I’d like to remind you: attend as many information sessions as possible, delve deeper into the topics there, even when you’re told that a particular topic doesn’t concern you. Understand that when we’re talking about helping people from vulnerable communities, there are no topics that do not concern you. You need to talk to people during initiative group meetings and ask questions, even if you’re told they’re irrelevant.

Be there, and things really will change. Remember, nobody’s perfect. My name is Oleg Dymaretskyi. I used hard drugs for 14 years, suffered two cardiac arrests, and in 2002 I weighed 52 kilograms. Now I am a married man, I have two higher education degrees, I lead the largest organisation of the largest vulnerable community in Ukraine, and I communicate with members of the Verkhovna Rada. That’s how it works, and no other way.

So believe in yourselves, believe in those around you, and do your thing, no matter what.

Interview prepared by the team at the ‘Legalife-Ukraine’ portal