Themes by tag: occupation

On May 20, 2022, the last Ukrainian defender left the territory of the Azovstal steelworks. Following 86 days of heroic defense, the formerly flourishing city by the sea found itself under complete occupation. According to preliminary data alone, more than 22,000 citizens of Mariupol died, 90% of the city’s infrastructure was destroyed, and thousands of Mariupol residents were forced to leave their homes.

On May 19, 20 and 21, the exhibition “Mariupol. 86 #Live,” public lecture “Unbreakable” about the lost ethnic groups of Mariupol and performative literary event “#Live” will be held in the territory of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War.

So, for example, the exhibition “Mariupol. 86 #Live” will tell how the world watched the struggle of the city during the 86-day-long siege via social networks and mass media. Photographs, artifacts, and video materials connected to the defense of Mariupol, its heroic defender, and the lives of people under occupation will be presented, as well as a film about the blockade of the city.

Visitors will have an opportunity to talk to the participants and witnesses of the events in Mariupol and the defenders of the city.

• culture
• military
• occupation
• Kyiv

On May 18, a “War crimes against Crimean Tatars – the signature of those found guilty committing the 1944 deportation” press conference will be held at the Media Center Ukraine – Ukrinform. The current actions of the russian occupiers in Crimea largely repeat the ethnic cleansing the Soviet secret police NKVD on the peninsula was responsible for in 1944. The russian occupiers are persecuting local activists and leaders of the Crimean Tatar people. Speakers at the press conference will include Crimean Tatars who know firsthand what it is like to be persecuted on the peninsula.

For reference: On May 18, it’ll be 79 years since the forced eviction of Crimean Tatars from the peninsula, an egregious act that was recognized by Ukraine as genocide of the Crimean Tatar people.

• occupation
• russian crimes
• Kyiv

At 1:00 PM, on May 11, Media Center Ukraine — Ukrinform will host a presentation of educational programs for training the personnel required for reintegration of Crimea.

In order to ensure the functioning of state and law enforcement agencies, avoid chaos and solve security, medical and humanitarian issues, public administration will have to be restored immediately after the de-occupation of Crimea. Therefore, it is very important to train future workers now. In order to fully restore this talent pool and even grow it, Ukraine will need to train about 50,000 specialists.

Participants:

–         Tamila Tasheva, Permanent Representative of the President of Ukraine to the Autonomous Republic of Crimea

–         Volodymyr Bugrov, Rector at the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv

–         Natalia Aliushyna, Head of the National Agency of Ukraine for Civil Service

–         Iryna Vereshchuk, Vice Prime Minister, Minister for the Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine

–         Oleksii Kuleba, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine

• occupation
• Kyiv

On May 13, a new modular town will be opened in Irpin, Kyiv region. It was put up on the territory of Lastivka health resort. 36 houses will accommodate people whose homes were destroyed as a result of the war, as well as displaced persons. Each house is designed for one family. Temporary housing was put up due to the efforts of the Finnish government.

• occupation
• reconstruction
• Kyiv

In the de-occupied village of Hrakove, Oleksandr, a farmer, kitted out his ordinary tractor to clear his fields of mines. The vehicle travels through the dangerous ground without a driver, as it operates by remote control.  Among other things, the sides of the tractor were reinforced with panels stripped from abandoned russian infantry fighting vehicles and wooden bars to protect it from shrapnel.

Important notice: photo and video recording can be dangerous. The tractor has already hit explosive devices twice.

For reference: Due to russia’s full-scale invasion, a third of Ukraine’s territory is heavily mine-contaminated. The explosive devices still remain in agricultural lands. Therefore, there are often reports of people being injured or killed while working in the fields.

• casualties
• occupation
• Kharkiv

Oleksii Surovtsev is a Ukrainian actor. At the beginning of the all-out russia invasion, he responded to a request to save a cat in Irpin. Since then, people have been asking him to take to safety their pets (cats and dogs) now and again.  Despite all the risks, he took the animals out of Irpin daily. And after the Ukrainian Armed Forces liberated the Kyiv region from the invaders, he set up a cat shelter and is now building a veterinary clinic.

• animals
• occupation
• volunteers
• Kyiv

In the occupied territories of Ukraine, russians most often resort to electric shock torture and beatings while tormenting civilians. The russian army mostly detains and abuses former military personnel and Joint Forces Operation participants, volunteers, civil and political activists, as well as government officials and entrepreneurs. These are the results of the ZMINA Center for Human Rights researchers study conducted from February 2022 to March 2023. 345 cases of torture of Ukrainian civilians were recorded. Media covering this topic will have the opportunity to talk to victims of russian crimes.

• casualties
• occupation
• russian crimes

On May 4, 2023, Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, will hold a large press conference in Kyiv.

The Commissioner is ready to speak about the atrocities he saw with his own eyes: torture chambers in the liberated regions of Ukraine, mass burials in Izyum, testimonies of people who were in occupation and who know from their own experience what the conditions in the torture chambers were like, the return of Ukrainian children kidnapped by the russian federation, communication with the russian Commissioner for Human Rights regarding humanitarian issues, the results of this communication, the return of Ukrainian soldiers who were in russian captivity, problems with the return of civilian hostages currently held by the russian federation.

Accreditation is required.

• children
• military
• occupation
• prisoners
• russian crimes
• Kyiv

On April 27, in Lviv, experts of the Heritage Emergency Response Initiative will present the results of their work. Experts spent over six months going on dozens of expeditions in Chernihiv, Sumy, Kyiv, and Kharkiv regions to record the damage caused to Ukrainian cultural heritage as a result of the russian invasion. The collected information includes: photographs of damage, documentation carried out in accordance with the methodology of the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property, eyewitness accounts, aerial photography, 3D models, etc.

Detailed program of the conference is available at:  https://bit.ly/3N2HLZX 

Awareness raising events will be held in Kyiv —  with a focus on looted museums, and in Kharkiv —  with a focus on war crimes against cultural heritage.

For reference: in February, Oleksandr Tkachenko, Minister of Culture and Information Policy, said that about 1,500 objects of cultural heritage and cultural infrastructure had been damaged or destroyed as a result of russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

• culture
• occupation
• russian crimes
• Lviv

At the beginning of the full-scale invasion the occupiers heavily shelled Yasnohorodka village near Kyiv. Houses and infrastructure were destroyed. People in the village were left without a medical facility. However, a modular urgent care center was recently put up there. The building was installed by Reinvent Ukraine Charity Organization, which specializes in the restoration of housing and social infrastructure. (The funds for the project were donated by a benefactor from the Czech Republic). The area of the modular urgent care center is 48 m². It is made of metal structures. The center has two doctor’s offices, a waiting area and a technical room.

• doctors
• occupation
• Kyiv