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A screening of the documentary “Dance With Fire” will take place at the War Museum in Kyiv on May 12.
The film tells the story of Vadym Khlupianets — a ballet performer with the Kyiv National Academic Operetta Theatre who traded the stage for the battlefield and was killed defending Ukraine’s independence.
After the start of russia’s aggression against Ukraine in 2014, Khlupianets was forced to leave his hometown of Donetsk and relocate to the Zhytomyr region. A graduate of the Kyiv Choreographic School, he worked at the Kyiv National Academic Operetta Theatre before joining Ukraine’s defense forces following russia’s full-scale invasion.
He first served in the ranks of Ukraine’s Territorial Defense Forces before later joining the Freedom Legion of the National Guard of Ukraine. Vadym Khlupianets was killed at the age of 26 on Nov. 15, 2022, during battles near Bakhmut in the Donetsk region.
The event will also feature a meeting with the film’s creators, including Memorial Platform co-founder Haiane Avakian and the film’s director, Diana Zhvinklis.
Journalists are required to obtain accreditation.
Background: The screening is organized jointly with the Memorial Platform.
Olha and Serhii Hrianyk’s son, Oleksandr Hrianyk, joined the Azov Brigade shortly after graduating from university. From 2015, he served near Mariupol.
Later, Oleksandr joined a sniper unit known as “Znaky.” In early February 2022, he left military service and set off for the Carpathian Mountains, as he had always loved hiking.
However, when russia launched its full-scale invasion, he immediately returned to the military. He took part in battles in the Kyiv region and sought to rejoin his comrades in Mariupol. When Ukraine’s military intelligence (HUR) offered him the opportunity to join a special operation in the besieged city, he agreed immediately. Oleksandr was wounded on his first day in Mariupol but continued defending the city for another month.
He was killed when russian forces used white phosphorus munitions against the Azovstal steel plant, where Ukrainian defenders were holding out. His mother learned of his death through social media.
On the anniversary of his death, his father, together with Oleksandr’s friends, climbed Mount Hoverla. Around 150 people responded to the call to join the hike, leading his parents to realize that the initiative was needed, as it supports those who have lost loved ones in the war.
Today, families of fallen service members continue to join Olha and Serhii on these hikes.
Interviews with Serhii and Olha can be arranged online or in person upon request.
Oleksii Naidenko joined Ukraine’s defense in 2014, serving in the 28th Separate Mechanized Brigade. Prior to that, he had worked for more than 15 years as a boatswain on gas carriers. After the start of the full-scale invasion, he returned from abroad to defend the country again, this time serving in the 67th Separate Mechanized Brigade (DUK PS).
In 2023, he was discharged from military service due to health reasons. On November 25, 2024, he died in hospital as a result of complications from his injuries.
His wife, Olena, has been involved in volunteer work since 2016. She founded the initiative group “Cherkasy Charivnytsi,” which prepares dry rations and ready-to-eat meals in retort pouches for soldiers on the frontline and visits wounded defenders in hospitals.
The couple has a 13-year-old son, Matvii Naidenko. He is an eighth-grade student and actively participates in sports, including competitions under the “Side by Side” initiative (rugby, football, handball). Since 2020, the family has also taken part in charity runs and marathons in support of the military.
According to his mother, Matvii was very close to his father. While his father worked at sea, the boy helped at home, and after his loss, he became a strong support for his mother and actively participates in volunteer work.
The family has remained in Cherkasy. Matvii is a beneficiary of the “Children of Heroes” Charitable Foundation.
In 2025, one of Matvii’s dreams was to receive an autograph from Ukrainian footballer Artem Dovbyk. This wish was fulfilled with the support of Daniel Salem and Lida Lee. He is now focused on football and preparing to enter a football academy.
Journalists can arrange interviews with the family online by prior arrangement.
A memorial run in honor of Hero of Ukraine and Azov fighter Maksym Kahal will take place in Kyiv on March 29. The event is organized by the NGO “Association of Azovstal Defenders’ Families.”
Maksym Kahal, call sign “Piston,” was a Hero of Ukraine and served as a senior lieutenant in the Azov Regiment (now the 12th Special Forces Brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine). He was also a professional athlete and a world champion in ISKA kickboxing among adults.
Maksym Kahal was killed on March 25, 2022, during the defense of Mariupol.
Registration is required to participate.
Dafna Sosnovska is the co-founder of the “Zavdyaky” project. The idea for the initiative emerged from her frustration with how Ukraine has commemorated those killed since the beginning of the russian-Ukrainian war in 2014. In 2023, she decided to take action, bringing together a team of like-minded people, and the project began to take shape.
“Zavdyaky” aims not only to honor those who died for Ukraine, but also to tell the stories of their lives, dreams, values, and contributions to the fight for freedom. Anyone can contribute to the project, as the team’s main priority is to preserve every memory of the fallen.
The platform combines a database, documentary films, and personal profiles that allow relatives, friends, fellow service members, and acquaintances to share their memories. The team is currently working on an ambitious goal to collect information on everyone who has been killed since 2014 and to create documentary films telling their stories.
Journalists can speak with Dafna Sosnovska and the project team both online and in person in Kyiv, by prior arrangement.
Daria Ulman is the wife of soldier Kirill Ulman, who was killed on February 15, 2024. At the start of the full-scale invasion, her husband joined the ranks of the Territorial Community Volunteer Unit in Dnipro, which was formed by veterans of the 12th Brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine “Azov.” In December 2022, he joined the Third Separate Assault Brigade as part of an anti-tank battalion. Kirill was killed by a sniper’s bullet.
Daria says her husband was passionate about military affairs. After his death, she regretted not having started training alongside Kirill. Over the course of a year, Daria completed six courses and underwent two full training programs. She later founded her own community dedicated to military training for women. She named it Community Ulman in honor of her fallen loved one.
Over 80 women have already completed the training, and thanks to the project, 115,000 hryvnias were donated to Kirill’s comrades-in-arms.
Journalists will have the opportunity to cover the training on March 22.
Media can arrange interviews with Daria Ulman both online and in person in Kyiv by prior arrangement.
Hanna is the mother of two sons and the wife of a soldier who died in the war. Their family first lost their home back in 2014. Before that, the family lived in Olenivka in the Donetsk region. After hostilities began, the family left with their four-year-old child, leaving their home and all their belongings behind in the occupied territory. After several moves, they settled in the town of Bilozerske in the Ukraine-controlled part of Donetsk Oblast. They bought a home, her husband won a grant and started his own business, and the couple had a second son.
In 2022, due to the full-scale russian invasion, they were forced to leave everything behind once again. The family donated their home to the Ukrainian Armed Forces—Ukrainian soldiers lived there for a time.
In the summer of 2024, the husband joined the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. He completed training and served as an operator of a multiple launch rocket system. He was listed as missing in action as of October 23, 2024. Four months later, the family was informed that the DNA of a body repatriated during an exchange matched his samples. He was buried in March 2025.
After her husband’s death, the woman was left with her children in a new city without the support of relatives. The hardest part, she said, was telling her sons about their father’s death.
The family received psychological support from the “Children of Heroes” charitable foundation. The support of specialists became a crucial part of helping the children and their mother adapt to their new reality.
The family currently lives in Kyiv, renting an apartment. The older son spent almost his entire childhood moving from place to place, while the younger one was born during the war.
By prior arrangement, journalists can speak with the family online.
Before the full-scale invasion, brothers Ruslan and Valery Pelekhaty lived ordinary lives. Valery worked at the post office, and Ruslan was a barista. He dreamed of opening his own coffee shop, but the war put all his plans on hold.
From the very first days of the russian full-scale invasion, both brothers were already at the military registration office. Due to the long lines of people eager to enlist, only Valerii was able to join the army; Ruslan was asked to stay with his family.
After a year of service, Valery died from shrapnel wounds. His brother’s death completely devastated Ruslan—they had been the closest of friends their entire lives. Looking through their shared photos, Ruslan decided to open a coffee shop in Valery’s honor, making his photo the centerpiece of the interior. Today, the “Remember” coffee shop in Ternopil has become not only a symbol of remembrance for his brother and a defender of Ukraine, but also a place of support for other soldiers.
Ruslan Pelekhaty is available for interviews online or in person in Ternopil, by prior arrangement.
On the fourth anniversary of the terrible tragedy that occurred at the Mariupol Drama Theater, journalists are invited to attend memorial events and honor the memory of the civilian and military victims.
In particular, a prayer service will be held in Kyiv on March 15. On March 16, memorial events honoring those killed at the Mariupol Drama Theater will take place in various cities across Ukraine: Kyiv, Vinnytsia, Dnipro, Zhytomyr, Zaporizhzhia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Kalush, Kamensk, Kremenchuk, Kropyvnytskyi, Poltava, Kryvyi Rih, Odesa, Rivne, Ternopil, Uzhhorod, Khmelnytskyi, Cherkasy, and Chernivtsi.
For reference: On March 16, 2022, russian occupiers dropped aerial bombs on the Mariupol Drama Theater. The word “CHILDREN,” written in large letters and clearly visible from the sky, did not stop them. Hundreds of Mariupol families were taking shelter in the theater. Hundreds of innocent people were killed that day, including children.
The russian occupation authorities restored the building, permanently destroying any possibility of conducting a fair investigation into the deaths at the Drama Theater.
Marking the 4th anniversary of the russian occupation of the village of Yahidne, the Public Interest Journalism Lab (PIJL) has produced an audio guide titled “Yahidne. A Village in Captivity.”
The presentation took place on March 3 in Yahidne itself, in the Chernihiv region, where 368 local residents became victims of russian war crimes.
It was on March 3, 2022, that russian troops herded almost all residents of the village into the basement of the local school, including dozens of elderly people, children, and infants. They were held there for nearly a month and used as a human shield, forbidden to leave the cramped space while russian soldiers set up a military headquarters inside the school building. Under these horrific conditions, ten people died in the basement.
The audio guide is a documentary tour of the site of a war crime — the school grounds and its basement.
The English-language version is narrated by American historian Timothy Snyder, while the voices of Yahidne residents in English are read by American writer and journalist Anne Applebaum, Canadian politician Khrystya Freeland, British journalist and propaganda researcher Peter Pomerantsev, American journalist Sabra Ayres, American-French writer Jonathan Littell, and American historian Marcy Shore.
The audio guide is available in Ukrainian and English on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube.
A QR code with the link is displayed on banners next to the school, which continues to be visited by tourists and foreign delegations.
By prior arrangement, journalists can speak with representatives of the Public Interest Journalism Lab online or in person in Kyiv.
Background: The PIJL team has a unique connection to the village community, as its journalists were among the first to visit the liberated Chernihiv region in April 2022.
Based on testimonies documented from Yahidne residents, the team produced a documentary film, which—together with a written report from the village—was published in TIME magazine in an issue dedicated to the publication’s centennial. In addition to English, the film has been translated into eight other languages: Spanish, Italian, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Turkish, and French.The story of Yahidne was also included in the reportage book “The Scariest Days of My Life”, which became a historical record of the first year of russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine.
