Development of social enterprises as way of mitigating the social situation in the Donbass

The aim of the paper is to investigate the European experience of social enterprises disseminating, i.e. the definition of social enterprises, their legal forms, forms of social enterprises support, as well as to explore how this experience could be applied in Ukraine, especially in the Donbas region. The findings from the research provide a more holistic understanding of growth of social enterprise sector in the OECD countries. This detail adds to an understand the researched topic in the local context, puts forward recommendations on what is required to legitimize social enterprise in Ukraine, and allows to determine what measures are appropriate for fostering social enterprises sector growth in Ukraine and in the region Donbass which is suffering from military conflict. Outcomes facilitates forthcoming research and practical activity connected with social enterprises by overcoming the handicaps caused by the lack of legal recognition commonly acceptable in EU definitions of social enterprise, social entrepreneurship as well as the absence of a national statistics of social enterprises and state policy for development of social enterprises, even in case of the Donbass that is urgently needed this sector growth.