Themes by tag: Kyiv

Joint Forces Operation veteran Andrii Nesmachnyi came up with the idea to set up a workshop where servicemen on leave or after getting injured could work few years ago. The BatArt workshop ran successfully in the Kyiv region, producing craft glassware and donating the proceeds to the needs of wounded combatants in eastern Ukraine until the Russians destroyed the workshop, after the start of the full-scale invasion. After it happened its founder Andrii took up arms again and rose in defence of Ukraine.

Recently, a serviceman renewed production. In between the military personnel rotations, he and his fellow soldiers work on craft glasses, shot glasses, knives, and various souvenirs. Bullet casings are used, among other things, for manufacturing. The money earned in the workshop is directed at providing units with drones, night vision devices, and vehicle repairs.

• military
• Kyiv

On October 9, Kyiv will host a presentation of a unique app, in which sport is used to rehabilitate veterans and soldiers who have received injuries and wounds in active service.

The presentation will be interactive: the visitors will be able to compete with veterans and strongmen in rowing. (You need to take sportswear with you). The presentation will include a demonstration and a press briefing.

Accreditation is required and open until 8:00 PM on October 8.

For reference: The public organization “Victory of the Invincible” and the Strongman Federation of Ukraine, led by Serhii Koniushok, Oleksandr Lashyn and Vasyl Virastyuk, present TRENVET – a fitness app that offers veterans and military personnel the opportunity to find a trainer and undergo sports rehabilitation for free. It allows defenders to quickly find professionals using filters and geolocation.

• military
• Kyiv

On October 5, the American artist Colette Miller will create a mural on Arsenalna Square in the capital, which will be followed by an official unveiling.

She came to Ukraine to create a street art installation that will become part of the Global Angel Wings Project.

Her “wings” are already adorning the streets of Kenya, London’s Heathrow International Airport, a refugee camp and an exquisite wall of a modern estate in France.

Prior accreditation for the media is required.

For reference: The American artist also created the mural “Angel Wings” on Sicheslavska Embankment in Dnipro.

• culture
• women
• Kyiv

Anna Pavlus is 38. She is a fashion designer by profession. The woman worked as a custom tailor (she had her own workshop). In 2016, Anna fell and suffered a spinal cord injury and has been forced to use a wheelchair ever since. The woman faced the problem of uncomfortable clothes for people with disabilities. She herself began designing clothes more suitable for the sitting position of the body, since there was no such thing on the market in Ukraine. And then she started making the clothes to order.

With the beginning of the full-scale war, her production stopped for a month. In order to restore and increase the capacity, the woman received a state grant. And since March 2023, a sewing workshop has been operating in Kyiv region, where Anna sews adaptive clothes. Three more people work there, including a person in a wheelchair.

Anna plans to create a social enterprise to train and employ other people in wheelchairs.

• women
• Kyiv

Artur Proidakov is a native of the temporarily occupied Kadiivka, Luhansk region. Since childhood, the man has been fond of the Ukrainian language, literature, culture, music, and everything related to Ukraine. In 2007, Artur chose the profession of a teacher and decided to major in Ukrainian philology. He studied and worked until russia attacked the East of the country in 2014. The man moved to the capital and began to teach refugees, for this he created his own online Ukrainian language course. With the beginning of the full-scale war, Artur also developed an online course “Talk” for those who want to switch from russian to Ukrainian.

For reference: In 2021, Artur Proidakov became the winner of the Global Teacher Prize Ukraine. And this year, Proidakov made the rating of the top 50 teachers in the world.

• Kyiv

The government project “Recovery Army” is already working in Ukraine. It involves unemployed Ukrainians in community service. As of September 18, more than 50,000 people have joined the initiative. People get paid for the work they do.

Kharkiv oblast currently ranks the first in terms of attracting the unemployed to the “Recovery Army” (more than 10,000 people, about 1,000 of whom are IDPs). Kyiv oblast holds the fourth place, after Poltava and Donetsk regions. In particular, the participants from Kyiv region are put to work weaving camouflage nets, improving city spaces, sewing clothes or making dry rations for defenders, setting up shelters, etc.

Journalists are welcome to take a look at how the project is being implemented in Kharkiv or Kyiv regions. They can also get a comment from the authorities on this topic.

• reconstruction
• Kharkiv
• Kyiv

What is more important: a prize in the competition or a participant’s personal achievement? And should we measure the effectiveness of the Games by the number of medals? These and other issues will be discussed on September 29 during a meeting in Kyiv.

Participants:

– Anastasiia Halaiko, Head of the Department of Veteran Sports at the Ministry of Veterans Affairs of Ukraine;

– Ilona Voloshyna, national coordinator of the Invictus Games in Ukraine;

– Alina Frolova, founder of the Center for Strategic Communications “StratCom Ukraine”;

– Taras Kovalyk, head of the Come Back Alive Veterans’ Department 

– Olena Yanovska, head coach of the Invictus Games team;

– Ihor Krytsak, sports manager of the Invictus Games team;

– Maksym Zubov, member of the Invictus Games 2023 team;

– Volodymyr Tovkys, member of the 2023 Invictus Games team;

– Oleksandr Zozuliak, member of the Invictus Games 2018 national team;

• casualties
• military
• Kyiv

Svitlana Humeniuk is now the director of the Kolonshchyna Lyceum, a village in the Bucha district that went through the occupation. At the time of the full-scale Russian invasion, she worked as a Design and Technology teacher and a leisure-time activities teacher. 

At the end of February 2022, the occupiers encircled the village of Kolonshchyna. People were prohibited from leaving. Many civilians who tried to escape the occupation spent the night in the school.

Svitlana and three other teachers risked their own lives to help their fellow villagers: they joined the distribution of humanitarian aid and even delivery. All this was despite the shelling and enemy missiles. To somehow protect themselves from the occupiers, they wore white ribbons on their sleeves. In addition, some families with children, including students of the lyceum she now heads, took refuge in Svitlana’s house.

Ukraine’s Armed Forces liberated Kolonshchyna village in late March 2022.

The journalists are welcome to talk to Svitlana and other Lyceum teachers. Currently, the educational institution has  215 students.

As a reminder, Ukraine celebrates Teacher’s Day on October 1.

• casualties
• children
• occupation
• Kyiv

 On September 27, in Kyiv, the “Tribunal for putin” initiative will present two complaints to the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court: one of them concerns places in Kharkiv region where Ukrainians were held captive and tortured, and the other one – extrajudicial executions of Ukrainians by the russian military. Human rights defenders argue that russia’s actions are crimes against humanity.

Participants:

– Hanna Ovdiienko, expert at the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, co-author of the complaint;

– Maksym Reviakin, expert at the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, co-author of the complaint;

– Vladyslav Dolzhko, lawyer at the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, co-author of the complaint;

– Yulia Polekhina, Coordinator of the Admissions Office of the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union in Dnipro and Human rights group “SICH”;

– Nataliia Yashchuk, Project Management Coordinator at the Centre for Civil Liberties;

• casualties
• dead
• russian crimes
• Kyiv

Mariia Yudina is an artist and designer. The girl comes from Berdiansk city, Zaporizhia region (currently under Russian control). 

Mariia faced the first day of Russia’s full-scale invasion in Kyiv, where she came to bring an art project to life. Later, volunteers approached the artist with an offer to paint the remains of wrecked and damaged weapons. Since then, a one-off project developed into a regular basis art object-making. Mariia donates the painted shell casings, tubes, flasks, and remnants of rockets to charity auctions and fundraisers.

The artist mostly paints flowers on used weapons. Her slogan is: “They launch missiles, and I draw flowers on it.” Now the artist is also working on painting tubes with views of different cities: Zaporizhia, and Melitopol. Maria has also depicted landscapes of her native Berdiansk. She also plans to portray the Crimea landscape. 

• culture
• volunteers
• women
• Kyiv