Themes by tag: occupation
The meeting between the leaders of the two nations in Alaska made it clear that, despite hopes for Western support, Ukraine must develop its own strategy to ensure the country’s resilience amid constant threats from Russia. At the same time, broad international support and steadily increasing pressure on the aggressor remain crucial for successfully implementing such a strategy.
In light of this evolving context and new challenges, the Crimea Platform Expert Network has initiated the Fourth International Forum. During the event, leading Ukrainian and international experts, alongside government representatives, will analyze the current situation and develop recommendations for Ukraine and its international partners.
Forum participants include representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine, the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, international analytical centers, non-governmental organizations, independent experts, human rights defenders, and representatives from the diplomatic corps.
The Media Center Ukraine is the information partner of the forum.
The event will take place on August 28. Registration for the event is required. The location will be confirmed upon accreditation approval.
Organizers: The Crimea Platform Expert Network, with the support of the Office of the Crimea Platform, the Representative Office of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People.
The Lavka Deokupatsii (De-occupation Shop), a volunteer initiative based in Kharkiv, offers vegetables and other goods cultivated by residents of the de-occupied territories in the Kharkiv region.
The project’s primary aim is to help revive local agriculture and foster economic self-sufficiency in the village of Studenok, located in the Izium district on the border of the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions. Studenok remained under russian occupation for more than three months, beginning on May 31, 2022. As part of the effort, the initiative provides residents with seeds, greenhouses, and assistance in marketing and selling their produce in Kharkiv.
Currently, two retail locations operate under the project, where customers can purchase cucumbers, green onions, young garlic, carrots, zucchini, new potatoes, and fresh honey sourced from farmers in the de-occupied areas. The stores also offer canned vegetables, jam, and cheeses from the village of Khotimlia, which has also been liberated.
Beyond local sales, the produce is regularly shipped to other parts of Ukraine, with items available at partner-run fairs. The project has also established partnerships with restaurants in Kharkiv and Kyiv.
This September, project co-founders Nataliia Artiushenko and Meriam Yol are scheduled to present the De-occupation Store at Young Chefs, an event in Kyiv that brings together chefs, restaurateurs, and culinary startups.
Journalists wishing to report from Kharkiv can schedule a visit in advance.
The De-occupation Shop is a project of the Volunterska Charitable Foundation.
Before the full-scale invasion, Capital Tours agency operated in Kyiv, Lviv, and Odesa, with Svitozar Moiseiv as one of its guides, showcasing the capital’s landmarks. After February 2022, the business came to a halt.
In 2023, Svitozar received requests from foreigners for tours of de-occupied areas near Kyiv. He developed a six-hour excursion through the region’s most affected towns, including Bucha, Irpin, Borodianka, Hostomel, and Moshchun. Svitozar primarily offers private tours. He begins by sharing his personal experiences from the early days of the full-scale invasion, then takes visitors to sites that bear witness to the occupiers’ crimes.
According to Svitozar, most participants are foreigners who came to Kyiv for work or family visits. So far, no one has traveled to Ukraine solely for this tour. The six-hour experience costs around €150, with part of the proceeds donated to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
You can arrange to speak with Svitozar Moiseiv — online or in person in Kyiv — by prior appointment.
Yevhen Neskreba, a champion kettlebell athlete, has experienced two forced relocations. Originally from a village in the Donetsk oblast near the front line, he moved to Volnovakha, 20 kilometers away, in 2017. There, he coached at a youth sports school, while still traveling home twice weekly to train local children. When the full-scale invasion began, Yevhen had to leave again — three days into the invasion, Volnovakha lost all utilities.
The day after he evacuated, Yevhen learned that his home in his village had been destroyed by russian shelling — along with his life’s work: six hundred medals and three hundred championship cups.
After finding out what had happened to his awards, Yevhen thought he would never lift weights again. The first training sessions in a rented apartment in Lutsk were difficult for the athlete. He went two weeks without touching a kettlebell, and tears came to his eyes during warm-ups as he remembered what he had lost.
After the evacuation, Yevhen participated in his first international competition in December 2022. He placed third. He now has 15 kettlebells that were given to him by fellow athletes. He managed to recover about 70% of his destroyed awards — though some remain irreplaceable.
You can contact Yevhen Neskreba online or in-person in Lutsk by arrangement.
Artem Yakovlev is both a serviceman and president of the Kherson regional club of traditional Okinawan Goju-ryu karate-do.
He signed a contract with the Defense Forces even before the full-scale invasion, inspired after one of his students enlisted.
Artem first saw combat in Donetsk oblast. Meanwhile, his karate club became a shelter for locals during occupation. Among those hiding there were eight conscripts from the Skadovsk garrison. Artem’s wife convinced russian occupiers they were merely athletes.
After Kherson’s liberation in fall 2023, Artem resumed training. He now teaches 18 students, holding sessions twice weekly – though he always confirms availability, as military duty sometimes interrupts.
You can contact Artem Yakovlev online or in-person in Kherson by prior arrangement.
Kariakin was just 17 when russian-backed forces seized his hometown of Kadiivka, formerly known as Stakhanov, in Ukraine’s Luhansk region in 2014. While most of the world’s attention had shifted elsewhere, Artem began documenting life under occupation on an anonymous Twitter account. He posted maps showing the location of russian forces, tracked their movements, and shared dispatches from behind enemy lines. Eventually, his work caught the attention of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and he began secretly collaborating with the military.
For years, Kariakin led a double life. He avoided friendships, shut himself off from romance, and trusted no one. “Anyone could report me to the occupiers,” he said.
The losses mounted. In 2020, his mother passed away. The following year, he lost both his grandmother and father. With his immediate family gone, Artem moved to Kyiv, hoping for a fresh start. But his time in the capital was short-lived. When russia unleashed an all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Kariakin joined the Territorial Defense Forces just weeks later. By June, he was fighting near Bakhmut, one of the war’s fiercest battlegrounds.
Now serving officially in Ukraine’s military, Artem continues gathering intelligence from occupied territories, a task he once carried out in secret. He receives data from spotters and artillery correctors working in the field. critical information that helps the Armed Forces target russian positions.
In February 2023, after nine years of resistance, Kariakin made a bold decision: he revealed his identity publicly on social media. With that move, he launched a new campaign #FreeCivilResistance aimed at drawing attention to Ukrainian civilians imprisoned by russian forces. He added that this cause is deeply personal to him because he knows people who have been thrown into russian prisons.
Artem Kariakin remains stationed near the front lines and continues to serve actively. He is available to speak with journalists, online and in person by prior arrangement.
A pre-premiere screening of the documentary People of Freedom’s Color will take place on June 30 in Kyiv, followed by a discussion.
The film chronicles the non-violent resistance of Ukrainians living under russian occupation, tracing events from 2014 to the present day. It highlights the personal stories of those who stood their ground in Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Novoazovsk, Melitopol, and Kherson.
The documentary features accounts from participants in the Yellow Ribbon and Zla Mavka grassroots movements, as well as testimonies from individuals still living in occupied cities who continue to resist. Despite the risks, they paint Ukrainian flags, hang yellow and blue ribbons, distribute posters with national symbols, uphold cultural traditions, and teach others the Ukrainian language.
Following the screening, a discussion will be held with members of the creative team, individuals featured in the film, human rights advocates, and representatives of government institutions and civil society organizations.
Pre-registration is required to attend.
For reference: People of Freedom’s Color was produced by the creative team at The Locals (Tuteshni) NGO, with support from Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces and the International Renaissance Foundation.
Svitlana Matsiuta is an artist from Kherson. For the past 20 years, she has worked as an assistant set designer in a theater.
She experienced the full-scale invasion in her hometown. During the occupation, Svitlana and her son avoided leaving home out of fear of russian soldiers. Despite financial hardship, she rejected all offers to work in the theater under russian control. In March 2022, reports began circulating in media and social networks claiming that wild geese had “downed” an enemy military plane. Inspired by this story, Svitlana created her own toy battle geese.
These toys symbolize Kherson’s unbreakable spirit and resistance. Svitlana says the battle geese are especially popular among Kherson residents who have relocated to other parts of Ukraine or abroad. She has received orders from the U.S., the Netherlands, Germany, and Italy.
In addition to geese, the artist makes roosters inspired by the folk art of Maria Prymachenko and Polina Raiko. Creating these toys helps Svitlana distract herself from the shelling and keeps her dream of victory and the liberation of the rest of the Kherson oblast alive.
Svitlana Matsiuta is available for interviews online or in person in Kherson, by prior arrangement.
A herd of nineteen horses and foals remains at an abandoned equestrian complex in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, where stable hand Oleksii Boliukh, unpaid and undeterred, has been caring for them since the owner fled during the russian occupation.
The facility, once a bustling hub for equestrian sports, was left without management in 2022. Its owner disappeared just a day before Ukrainian forces reclaimed the territory. With no one left to oversee the complex, Boliukh stayed behind, feeding and tending to the animals amid shelling and shortages.
When the full-scale invasion began, there were 28 horses at the complex. They endured months of bombardment, occupation, and hunger. Some were wounded. Lacking proper nutrition and care, the animals’ survival depended on the resolve of Boliukh and the help of a few volunteers, including a local community police officer.
Now, more than three years into the war, the herd has shrunk, some horses have been evacuated to safer areas, but 19 still remain. Several were born during the fighting, under the thunder of nearby artillery. The surviving animals are under legal arrest, as criminal proceedings have been launched against the absentee owner, who left them without proper documentation.
Volunteer Robert Sargsyan has become one of Boliukh’s most crucial allies. He built a stable 60 kilometers away from the abandoned complex and has been helping evacuate and care for the horses, ensuring they receive food, shelter, and medical treatment.
Despite the chaos of war and the legal limbo surrounding the horses’ status, Boliukh and Sargsyan continue their efforts to protect the animals.
Interviews with Oleksii Boliukh and Robert Sargsyan are available in person by prior arrangement.
Oleksii Polukhin, a 21-year-old openly LGBTQ+ activist from Kherson, joined the resistance movement in the first days of russia’s occupation, coordinating with Ukraine’s Security Service, Armed Forces, and intelligence units.
Until May 2022, Oleksii was gathering critical intelligence for Ukrainian special services. On May 9, during a reconnaissance mission, he stumbled upon a newly established russian checkpoint. He is certain that someone informed the occupiers about his activities, as they were already waiting for him at the checkpoint. They confiscated his phone and passport, forced him to strip, blindfolded him, and drove him around the city for hours before taking him to a detention center for interrogation.
When his captors discovered Oleksii was queer, they subjected him to psychological torture — forcing him to wear a dress, denying him showers, outdoor time, medical care, or legal assistance. Though they avoided physical violence, the relentless psychological abuse lasted two months before his release. Even after, Oleksii remained in Kherson and only left his hometown after it was de-occupied. Now, he undergoes therapy and continues to volunteer for the Ukrainian army.
Journalists can communicate with Oleksii Polukhin online or in person in Lviv by prior arrangement.
