INDEX is proud to introduce the first recipient of the INDEX Veterans Fellowship — Yevhen Shybalov.
About the Fellow
Yevhen is a professional journalist who spent over eight years as a Donetsk-based correspondent for the weekly Dzerkalo Tyzhnia. He is also a humanitarian expert and a veteran of the Russian-Ukrainian war. In 2015, Yevhen left journalism to focus on humanitarian and peacebuilding work in Eastern Ukraine, including with the Geneva-based international NGO The Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue. There, he studied the impact of war on the region and developed training materials for peacebuilding initiatives.
On 24 February 2022, Yevhen voluntarily joined the Ukrainian Armed Forces as a grenadier. He took part in combat operations in the Kyiv, Donetsk, and Luhansk regions. In May 2022, he was captured and spent seven months in Russian captivity. After being released in a prisoner exchange, he returned to the front as a UAV operator. In 2023, he was demobilised and went on to lead the European Integration Department at the Ministry of Veterans Affairs of Ukraine, working on aligning veteran policy with European and NATO standards.
Today, Yevhen works as an independent consultant on security, humanitarian action, and veteran policy. He is a recipient of the Honor of the Profession journalism award (2015) and was awarded the For Resilience medal in 2024.
About the Project
As part of the fellowship, Yevhen will spend September to November in Lviv working on a literary project:
“With the support of INDEX, I’d like to organise and prepare for publication a collection of short stories titled Veterans’ Fables (working title). These stories are drawn from my own experiences as well as those of my fellow soldiers — both men and women. They are diverse: some are humorous, others tragic, heroic, or harrowing. Collecting such a wide range of episodes is a deliberate choice — it’s the only way to even try to capture the truth. Propaganda is monochrome. Truth is always messy — and rarely pleasing,” says Yevhen Shybalov.
Jury Feedback
Yurii Vovkogon:
I deeply respect how calmly and clearly Yevhen writes about his complex experiences as a defender, prisoner of war, and veteran — and how clearly he understands the importance of telling his story. Because an untold story remains a wound. A shared story becomes a legacy.
Aliona Karavai:
I read Yevhen’s texts about captivity, and I was struck by how he writes about traumatic experiences — including imprisonment — with clarity and honesty, without embellishment or excessive emotion. It’s not didactic, but it’s full of empathy. I hope the INDEX Fellowship in Lviv gives Yevhen space not only to continue writing these powerful stories but also to breathe and begin to heal.
Liana Mytsko:
It’s incredibly valuable that Yevhen proposed a project focused on therapeutic writing. This is a well-established method not only for documenting and sharing stories but also for personal healing — for processing and releasing emotional burdens that even conversation can’t always address. I sincerely hope his exploration of this methodology will be helpful to others, especially those who have seen combat or endured captivity.
Olesya Yaremchuk:
Yevhen’s idea to publish a collection of war stories is especially important in light of the need for reflection and historical record. The book will include stories not only from his own experience but also from his comrades. I’m moved by his desire to listen to others and — as he puts it — to tell the truth, “which is always messy and rarely pleasing.”
Sasha Dovzhyk:
In an essay for London Ukrainian Review, Yevhen Shybalov wrote about justice:
“For us, it’s like air. We don’t think about it every minute. But we feel its absence instantly. We suffocate. We fight desperately to live. And we will, without hesitation, kill the one who is choking us. That’s how it is for Ukrainians and justice. We don’t know exactly what justice is. But we feel we can’t live without it.”
INDEX works in pursuit of historical and epistemic justice. There is much we can learn from a veteran who risked his life for it.
Learn more about the INDEX Veterans Fellowship via this link.
