[5] From 1998 to 1999, Butkevych worked as a methodologist at the Department of Cultural Studies and Archeology at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.

[4] Maksym's career as a journalist began in 1999 as a correspondent and editor at the International Information Department of STB TV channel.

[6] In 2003, Butkevych moved to the United Kingdom, where he worked as a journalist for the Ukrainian Section of the BBC World Service in London.

[6] After leaving the BBC, Butkevych stayed in Brighton for a while, where he studied at the University of Sussex and became involved in the anarchist and anti-globalization movement.

[10] For several years, he worked as a public relations specialist for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Eastern Europe.

[14][15] Since March 2014, Butkevych has been involved as a coordinator in the Resource Center for Assistance to Internally Displaced Persons, a joint project of civic initiatives that provide assistance to internally displaced persons and the Secretariat of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights [uk].

[2] He posted the following message on Facebook: Unfortunately, I have to put my refugee assistance, humanitarian and human rights activities on hold.

[19] Subsequently, the Russian Ministry of Defence confirmed that Butkevych was a prisoner of war and as of 9 August was in the Russian-occupied Luhansk region.

[20] Due to his support for IDPs during the war in Donbas and because of his history as a journalist for the BBC, Butkevych was respectively labelled as a "neo-Nazi" and a "British spy" by the Russian media.