Paper Abstract:

This talk critically interrogates the conditions of possibility and the limits of medical humanitarianism. I explore how HIV medicine was supplied to the occupied territories of Ukraine since 2014 and how the full-scale invasion of 2022 changed the situation. Building on ethnographic data, archival research, and document analysis, I trace the changes in the on-the-ground processes of supplying HIV medicine to the non-government-controlled areas. I start by discussing the limits of contemporary states to care for their citizens. Then, I zoom in on the small-scale activism of resistance humanitarianism that was maintained by the communities of people who use drugs and people living with HIV both on Ukraine controlled and occupied territories. I argue that the need for a humanitarian intervention is a built-in feature of contemporary sovereignty. By shifting scales of inquiry and focusing on resistance humanitarianism, I show that sometimes humanitarian acts may be accomplished only by disavowing humanitarian identity. Finally, I consider the current situation of people living with HIV on the occupied territories. I conclude by discussing the limits of the humanitarian enterprise in the face of imposition of biological citizenship on HIV patients by the occupying authorities.