Themes by tag: occupation
Before the full-scale invasion, Yurii Yahusevych worked in music and organised festivals, while also keeping horses. Among the animals he acquired was one of the Polissian breed, which he later discovered was nearly extinct. He decided to revive the breed in Ukraine.
Yahusevych established his Shcherbati Tsuhli farm in northern Kyiv region, where there was enough space for a small herd. Shortly before February 2022, he and a team of enthusiasts relocated young horses farther from the border, while seven adult animals remained behind. After the start of the full-scale russian invasion, the horses ended up under occupation.
Following the liberation of Kyiv region, the animals were left without pasture, as the area was contaminated with remnants of explosives and, in some places, mined.
A year ago, Yahusevych and the horses relocated to Khmelnytskyi region, where he has since rebuilt the farm. Some animals were entrusted to local residents, while he continues to care for the rest.
Journalists can arrange interviews with Yurii Yahusevych both online and in person in Khmelnytskyi region by prior arrangement.
Before the full-scale invasion, 29-year-old Mykola Petrovskyi lived with his father and grandmother in Kherson. Mykola is disabled — after a car accident, part of his left foot was amputated and he now wears a prosthesis.
When Kherson was occupied by russian forces, Mykola became a volunteer, helping people in the city. One day, russian security forces abducted him from his home.
In September 2023, the so-called “Supreme Court of Crimea” sentenced Mykola Petrovskyi to 16 years in a maximum-security penal colony, falsely accusing him of “espionage”.
Letters from Mykola reveal that he was tortured in captivity, beaten, denied proper medical care, which is crucial for a person with a disability, and starved. According to the Center for Civil Liberties, Mykola’s health condition has deteriorated.
Read his full story here.
Journalists can arrange interviews with Mykola’s mother (online) and with his lawyer and human rights experts in Kyiv (in person).
Halyna Hlobchasta is the head of the villages of Makiivka and Hrekivka in the Luhansk region. For more than 30 years, she worked as a teacher of mathematics and physics in her hometown of Makiivka. She later became the village head.
On March 3, 2022, russian forces occupied her village. Halyna categorically refused to cooperate with the occupiers. In mid-April of the same year, russian forces abducted her. She was interrogated and brutally tortured. In her yard, the occupiers found a hiding place with Ukrainian flags and blue-and-yellow ribbons. During one of the interrogations, they brought in her husband and ordered them to say goodbye.
Eventually, the couple was released, and they decided to flee the occupation. They managed to reach the Kharkiv region, where they met Ukrainian soldiers.
Journalists can arrange to speak with Halyna Hlobchasta both online and offline in Lviv, by prior arrangement.
Since the beginning of last school year, schoolchildren in the village of Bohdanivka, Kyiv oblast, have been able to study in a modular Temporary Educational Space (TES). The space is accessible, with a generator for uninterrupted power supply, comfortable furniture, modern tablets and multimedia panels. The TES has six classrooms and now serves more than 200 schoolchildren who previously had to travel to a neighboring village.
Bohdanivka was occupied in 2022. russian soldiers set up camp in the local school and burned it down when they withdrew. They also blew up the kindergarten, where they had stored ammunition, leaving the village without any educational facilities.
By prior arrangement, journalists can cover the work of the modular temporary educational space in Bohdanivka.
Background: This project is being implemented by IREX in partnership with the SavED Charitable Foundation and the GoGlobal NGO. They work in close cooperation with local communities who have lost their educational institutions due to russian aggression.
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.
A North Korean cluster munition that hit the window of the Kherson Regional Museum has been added to the exhibition “Unbreakable Kherson Region.” The exhibition features exhibits about the defense of Kherson, the occupation, the liberation of the city from russian troops, and life under shelling. The Korean munition got stuck right in the window of the exhibition hall. A fragment of a russian shell warhead was also found in the museum courtyard.
In addition, museum staff created an exhibition called “When War Loses Its Power” from the remains of weapons used by russian troops to shell the city. Fragments of various types of weapons became parts of works of art.
Due to constant enemy shelling, the Kherson Regional Museum is closed to visitors, but virtual tours are available.
Before the full-scale invasion and occupation, the Kherson Regional Local History Museum had one of the largest collections of antiquities in southern Ukraine. In October 2022, russian occupation forces stole more than 23,000 exhibits from the museum’s collection. Among them were archaeological finds, Scythian gold, antique icons, ethnographic collections, and archival materials. After the de-occupation of Kherson, the museum resumed its work. More than 160,000 exhibits were evacuated to safer regions.
For reference: The museum was founded in 1890 at the suggestion of Ukrainian archaeologist and local historian Viktor Ivanovich Goshkevich. The buildings that house the museum’s exhibition are architectural monuments of the 19th century.
Yuriy Shapovalov is 61 years old. He is a neurophysiologist from Donetsk with 30 years of experience. He was also the head of a local cactus club and had a large collection of these plants.
After the russian occupation began in 2014, Yuriy did not leave the city and, under the pseudonym “Zalyshenets Donetskyi,” reported on Twitter about how Donetsk was changing. In January 2018, when he was returning home from work, he was detained by security forces of the so-called “Ministry of State Security of the DPR.” Yuriy was accused of “spying” for Ukraine and ‘sentenced’ to 13 years in prison.
In particular, he spent 100 days in the “Izolyatsia” prison in occupied Donetsk, where he was beaten, intimidated, and tortured.
In total, he spent 7 years, 7 months, and 3 days in enemy captivity and was released on August 14, 2025, during a prisoner exchange.
By prior arrangement, journalists can talk to Yuriy in Kyiv.
Nadiya Zharkikh is a coffee art teacher. She moved to Kherson with her family from Mykolaiv. This happened two months before the start of the full-scale russian invasion. Nadiya wanted to open a barista school in the city. The official opening was scheduled for February 26, 2022, but the war changed everything.
When Kherson was occupied by russia, Nadiya started working at her friend’s coffee shop and volunteered, in particular, preparing food. When threats from the occupiers began to pour in, she decided to flee. She had to pass through 70 checkpoints. From Zaporizhzhia, she went to Kyiv, where she started all over again. On August 7, 2023, on the anniversary of her departure from the occupation, she was able to open a coffee shop near Kyiv with the help of a state grant.
Today, the Navzayem coffee shop continues to operate and develop, despite all the challenges of full-scale war. As a result of the russian attack on September 28, 2025, the windows of the establishment were blown out. The coffee shop team supported the residents by treating the people who had suffered. They also provided a place to stay overnight. During power outages, the establishment operates with the help of a generator.
In general, Navzayem operates in several areas:
- as a coffee shop that supports the local community;
- as a barista school — teaching adults and children the art of coffee and the basics of entrepreneurship;
- as a social support space for IDPs, military families, children, and people in need;
- as a platform for master classes in the Kyiv region (including mobile ones), in cooperation with inclusive branches, schools, orphanages, and community initiatives.
On March 9, the coffee shop will host a master class called “Little Barista” for children with special educational needs.
In addition, Nadiya and her close circle have created a charitable foundation in Mykolaiv called “Welcome to Ukraine,” which supports military personnel and civilians. It currently operates throughout Ukraine. In particular, it helps with the reconstruction of damaged and destroyed housing.
By prior arrangement, journalists can talk to Nadiya in the Kyiv region.
For reference: On the night of September 28, 2025, russia launched a massive strike on the Kyiv region (three dozen victims) and Kyiv (four people were killed, including a child. More than 10 people were injured. One woman also died of stress in a shelter).
The russians occupied Kherson at the beginning of the full-scale invasion (March 1, 2022). The Armed Forces of Ukraine liberated the city from russian troops on November 11, 2022. The occupiers continue to shell the city regularly.
Valeriia Vershynina was born and raised in Donetsk. In 2014, when russia first attacked Ukraine and occupied her hometown, she and her family evacuated to Kyiv.
In the capital, Valeriia joined the Charitable Foundation “Stabilization Support Services”, which supports internally displaced persons. She worked in a group that developed legislation concerning IDPs. In 2024, Valeriia became the head of the foundation. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the foundation has restored 1,964 facilities damaged by the war and provided legal and social assistance to more than 216,000 people.
In 2025, “Stabilization Support Services” faced challenges due to the suspension of funding from American donors. However, the team managed to secure support and continue its work. The foundation’s current priority is to find partners to support people affected by russia’s aggression. For example, over two years the team has completed 350 light repairs of homes damaged during hostilities in the Kherson and Mykolaiv regions.
Interviews with Valeriia Vershynina can be arranged online or offline in Kyiv by prior arrangement.
Background: The Charitable Foundation “Stabilization Support Services” is a Ukrainian charitable organisation that, since 2016, has been addressing the social consequences of war and providing comprehensive support to internally displaced persons. The foundation delivers humanitarian and legal assistance, repairs damaged housing, strengthens the social protection system and develops the network of IDP Councils established by the foundation in 2019–2020. The foundation operates nationwide, focusing on the recovery of affected communities and improving access to social services for the most vulnerable groups.
An equestrian sports complex in the Kharkiv region survived occupation and was left without management: in 2022, the owner abandoned it on the eve of the region’s liberation from russian forces. Criminal proceedings were opened against the owner. The horses were cared for by stableman Oleksii Boliukh despite the absence of salary.
The complex was placed under arrest, which prevented volunteers from evacuating the horses to a safer location for several years. However, this year the situation due to ongoing shelling worsened, and the stableman’s house was destroyed by a russian strike. As a result, the animals were evacuated.
The operation was planned to be completed in four days but lasted ten due to constant shelling. Military personnel, the police evacuation unit “White Angels,” volunteers, and humanitarian organizations joined the rescue effort. Ultimately, the 19 horses were transported to the Kharkiv Hippodrome, where they are now under the care of the animal welfare organization “Animals 911 Ukraine.”
Interviews with the volunteer team are available both online and offline in Kharkiv by prior arrangement.
