WWF Nonprofit Organization
Brian Milakovsky
Co-founder
moved to Severodonetsk, Luhansk region, Ukraine
From Somerville, ME USA
2010-present
2015-2018
Mercy Corps Nonprofit Organization
2015-2017
Former Director at Ресурсы. Допомога. Розвиток. NGO
2019-present
DAI Global
2022-present
Volunteering with refugee aid organization in Eastern Ukraine
Brian works on international projects focusing on economic recovery in the Donbas and writes about the economy of that region for the Kennan Institute, the National Interest and the OpenDemocracy Russia, the Foreign Affairs. He has been working in Ukraine since 2015. Prior to that, he worked in Russia in 2009 on the ecological and development issues.
Milakovsky was born in Somerville, ME and graduated from the University of Maine with a degree in forest ecology. He moved to Russia in 2009 to work with the World Wide Fund for Nature. He spent several years in the country’s far east, but left after Russia annexed the Crimea and invaded the Donbas region of Ukraine in 2014.
He eventually settled in Severodonetsk, an industrial city of 100,000 in the Luhansk region of Eastern Ukraine. The city became an administrative capital of the region after the official capital Luhansk, was taken over by Russian and separatist forces in 2014.
Milakovsky worked for Mercy Corps in eastern Ukraine for three years, then ran a small NGO doing economic recovery projects before joining a long-term development program to restore economic resilience in the region. He became closely acquainted with numerous activists and civic organizations in the region in this time.
Milakovsky left Severodonetsk in January, 2022 as the risk of war increased, and left Ukraine with his family on the morning of February 24th when Russia’s invasion begins. He is currently based in Latvia and gathers donations from the EU and US to assist local activists and organizations delivering humanitarian aid and evacuating civilians in eastern Ukraine. He assists Bee Involved on a volunteer basis.
