Колабораціонізм як вибір
Collaboration as a Choice

Summary/Abstract: The article explores the contentious issue of collaboration with Russian occupiers in Ukraine, focusing on the motivations and fates of collaborators. It argues that for the majority, collaboration was a choice driven by personal gain, resentment, or a desire for power, rather than solely by coercion, citing observations from occupied Kherson region. The author details how opportunists, disillusioned individuals, and even criminals seized "positions" under Russian rule, often fueled by local grievances accumulated before the full-scale invasion. The article emphasizes the particular harm caused by educational collaboration. It concludes that the fate of collaborators is generally one of "brief illusions and prolonged decline," as Russia uses them temporarily and then discards them, denying them genuine power, status, or integration into Russian society. Examples show collaborators losing their new roles, fleeing to Russia only to face distrust, or being unable to rebuild their lives, highlighting that Russia "does not build careers; it uses."

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