Roman Melnyk is a citizen activist, political scientist, data journalist and co-founder of the Ukrainian NGO Wikipatrol, among others. He was able to bring his family, who are from Kyiv and Russia, to safety in the EU. He participated in the M100YEJ in 2014.
Twitter: @Rom_Melnyk
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, my life has changed. Before that, I worked in consulting, supporting Ukrainian politicians and international companies. I also founded a citizens’ initiative called “Wikipatrol”, which aims to fight Russian propaganda and Russian neo-imperial narratives on Wikipedia. Thanks to my experience as an editor and my years of working in the public sphere, in 2020 I founded a volunteer team with my friends to write articles about Ukraine in different languages on Wikipedia, exposing and correcting manipulations and inaccuracies.
Wikipatrol’s core team consisted of five people and around a dozen volunteers worldwide. When the full-scale war with Russia broke out, we shifted our focus to covering the conflict on Wikipedia, highlighting the heroism of the Ukrainian defense forces and spreading information about Russia’s crimes in Ukraine.
As a result, I nearly quit my consulting work entirely and focused on writing and publishing materials on Wikipedia. I was approached by representatives from the Ukrainian government, military, and security services, as well as ordinary military personnel. Together with my Wikipatrol team, we added verified and accurate information to Wikipedia about tragic events such as the massacre in Bucha, the killing of civilians in Russian-occupied territories such as Mariupol, Kherson, and Izium, among others.
In the summer, I had more time for my main job and, with the help of my friends, was able to save up enough money to purchase a pickup truck for the Ukrainian military and order a large amount of underwear for Ukrainian soldiers In October, I also ordered several Starlink internet stations, which I sent to the southeast of Ukraine to help our soldiers drive out the occupiers.
My initiative, Wikipatrol, has since developed a team of editors who, like me, continue to write and create new, important pages on Wikipedia about Russia’s war against Ukraine, as well as Ukraine’s victories on the information, diplomatic, cultural, and other fronts.
Recently, I’ve been focusing on helping reform the Ukrainian government and combating political corruption. To achieve this, my team of volunteers and I have been disseminating information about corruption schemes and possible abuses of power by Ukrainian politicians. Wikipatrol and I personally continue to monitor key Wikipedia pages about the Russian-Ukrainian war and make changes as needed, ensuring that the international dimension is not forgotten.
