Themes by tag: occupation

Anzhela Slobodian is a Kherson journalist who lived under enemy occupation for four months. She spent a month in captivity. The journalist continued her work despite the extreme risk to her life. The film she created based on the results of those months is called Invasion and tells the story of a family from the Kherson region. The widow of Leonid, a local resident, and her daughter share their memories. Leonid died in the first days of the Russian invasion in 2022. Anzhela filmed, among other places, in the hospital, where she talked to the wounded Leonid. In order to talk to him, Slobodian changed into a white cost and mask and get into the medical facility.

The journalist plans to show this film to the general public. She is currently adding English subtitles and submitting an application to one of the film festivals in Berlin.

Important: Anzhela Slobodian lives in Vinnytsia and comes to Kyiv every weekend. She is ready to give an offline and online interview to journalists. 

• occupation
• women

In Ploske village, Kyiv region, savED charity fund is creating a Digital Education Center with the support of U-LEAD program. It will serve as a learning environment equipped for extracurricular activities for children of all ages.

The Digital Education Center is being set up in the premises of a kindergarten (renovations are currently underway there), next to a school that was damaged at the beginning of the full-scale invasion. Occupants stayed in it, and put their tanks near its walls. During the battle with the Ukrainian troops, tank ammunition detonated. A part of the school burned down to the ground.

For reference: Digital Educational Centers are locations for learning and leisure, which are set up in school premises (with some exceptions). There is comfortable furniture, necessary equipment, gadgets, books, board games, and creative materials. The work of the centers is organized by mentors. The centers, in particular, host entertainment and relaxation activities.

savED is an international charity fund that restores access to education in communities affected by russia’s war against Ukraine.

• children
• occupation
• reconstruction

Lyceum No. 3 will be opened in Irpin, Kyiv region, on September 16. The institution suffered the greatest destruction at the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion. The Lyceum building and the surrounding area were hit by 30 enemy shells and mines. The level of damage was about 75%.

The restoration of the building of Irpin Lyceum No. 3 is currently being completed. The work was funded by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Ukraine. Foreign and Ukrainian philanthropists have also contributed to the reconstruction of the lyceum, and funds have been raised from the local budget.

The opening ceremony will be attended by:

– Oksen Lisovyi, Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine;

– Ruslan Hurak, Head of the State Education Quality Service of Ukraine;

– Serhii Babak, Chair of Verkhovna Rada’s Education, Science, and Innovations Committee;

– Ruslan Kravchenko, Head of Kyiv Oblast Military Administration;

– Danylo Mavlianov, Head of Bucha District Administration;

– Oleksandr Markushyn, Mayor of Irpin.

Event accreditation is required.

For reference, Irpin Lyceum No. 3 is one of the largest general secondary education institutions in the community and the only one located in a densely populated city neighborhood. Before the start of the full-scale war, about 2,000 students took morning or evening classes. 

• children
• occupation
• reconstruction
• russian crimes
• Kyiv

Olha Lekova first faced the war in 2014, when Russia attacked Ukraine in the East. The woman fled Donetsk almost on the last available train going to Kyiv. Here, she started her own business, an interior design studio. When the enemy stepped to the capital’s outskirts in 2022, she decided to stay and fight. She started to equip shelters that were in a poor state. Together with her team, Olha creates shelter furniture from recycled plastic collected by ordinary Kyiv residents and donated by businesses: chairs, tables, and folding beds. So far, they have managed to equip 15 shelters in 8 country regions.

• casualties
• occupation
• women

On September 11, a presentation of a VR exhibition about the crimes of russians in the temporarily occupied territories will be held in Kyiv. During the presentation, the authors of the exhibition will show a clip from the documentary film, photos, as well as a VR-video with testimonies of Ukrainian citizens from de-occupied territories.

The VR video of the documentary project “Deoccupation ” will allow “transporting” the viewers to the de-occupied territories and, with the stories of eyewitnesses, viewers will be able to experience everything that happened there more fully. It will be possible to “visit” Kharkiv, Kukhari village (Kyiv Polissia) and settlements of Sivershchyna.

Participants:

• Oleksandra Romantsova, Executive Director at the Center for Civil Liberties
• Vitalii Poberezhnyi, Producer of the docuseries “Deoccupation”
• Karina Piliugina, Producer and Author of Ukraïner projects
• Spokesperson for the National Resistance Center of Ukraine

• casualties
• occupation
• russian crimes
• Kyiv

Anton is 27. He is a surgical oncologist. The man was born in Donetsk region, since 2014 he has lived in Kharkiv. In order to help people who suffered as a result of the war, in August last year he joined the Ukrainian-Israeli mission of medical volunteers FRIDA Ukraine. And since in September 2022 the Armed Forces liberated the occupied territories of Kharkiv oblast, Anton participated in the first field medical missions to settlements de-occupied from the enemy. He recalls that he was most stricken by the sight of broken houses and burnt down tanks between them. And while helping people, he heard that fighting was still going on somewhere nearby.

In general, the medical volunteer managed to visit almost all the de-occupied settlements of Kharkiv region.

For reference: on September 6, 2022, Ukrainian troops launched a major counteroffensive in Kharkiv region. Subsequently, Kharkiv oblast was completely de-occupied.

The Ukrainian-Israeli medical volunteer movement FRIDA Ukraine has been helping civilians since the beginning of russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Volunteer doctors (of various specialties) travel to the frontline and de-occupied regions (for example, Kharkiv, Kherson, or Donetsk regions), where they help local residents who complain about their health. In particular, they consult locals, perform surgeries, evacuate and distribute medicines.

• casualties
• doctors
• occupation
• volunteers
• Kharkiv

On September 8, a press marathon on the situation in the temporarily occupied territories will be held in Kyiv.

Some of the participants include: 

• Dmytro Lubinets, Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights
• Andriy Yusov, Defense Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine
• Oleg Nikolenko, Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine
• Aaro Ylitalo, Political Officer at the EU Delegation to Ukraine
• Anatolii Stelmakh, Deputy Minister for the Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine
• Ihor Solovey, Head of the Centre for Strategic Communication and Information Security
• Ivan Fedorov, Mayor of Melitopol
• Oleksandra Romantsova, Executive Director at the Center for Civil Liberties

Accreditation required (registration ends on September 7 at 6:00 p.m.). The location will be disclosed after accreditation for the event.

• occupation

A team of beauty industry professionals will visit one of the de-occupied villages in Mykolaiv region on September 10. The beauty volunteers will give free haircuts and massages and do eyebrows to the villagers.

For reference, the idea of beauty volunteering belongs to makeup artist Olha Belytska. Together with like-minded people, Olha comes to the de-occupied settlements of the Kyiv region, as well as to the other areas of the country, to help people who have faced the horrors of the occupation feel beautiful again.

• casualties
• occupation
• volunteers
• Mykolaiv

In Kharkiv region, the Kharlamov family (mother Halyna, father Serhii, and son Yevhen) were evacuating people from under shelling since the beginning of the full-scale war. They became the founders of “Volunteer-68 Humanitarian Aid Center” NGO.

In particular, the volunteer family helped evacuate people across the Pechenihy dam in 2022, when part of Kharkiv region was still under occupation. Halyna recalls that it took people 5-6 hours to get to this dam alone, getting through more than 20 enemy checkpoints. Women with children, elderly people were completely exhausted. Almost every woman cried after reaching a safe place. And after the liberation of the region, “Volunteer-68” team drove into populated areas in ambulances and picked up people with limited mobility as well as everyone else who wanted to evacuate.

Recently, “Volunteer-68 Humanitarian Aid Center” NGO and Vostok-SOS Charitable Foundation initiated the opening of a temporary shelter in Kharkiv for low-mobility population groups and people with disabilities who are being evacuated from front-line communities.

For reference: on September 6, 2022, Ukrainian troops launched a major counteroffensive in Kharkiv region. Subsequently, Kharkiv region was completely de-occupied.

• casualties
• occupation
• volunteers
• Kharkiv
• evacuation

The Ukrainian VR project “FIRST DAY” directed by Valeriy Korshunov and produced by Svitlana Korshunova will be presented for the first time at the 80th Venice International Film Festival.

FIRST DAY is a fully immersive first-person VR experience that transports the visitor to the first day of russia’s full-scale invasion, and allows them to experience the internal transformation that Ukrainians went through on February 24, 2022.

The project is based on the stories of real people. The viewer will be able to see the houses of Borodyanka and Bucha destroyed by invaders’ shells. Along with a large number of other artifacts of the war, the buildings were scanned and then reproduced in virtual space.

The project will be presented in Ukraine on September 7. At the closed press event, journalists will have an opportunity to visit the project’s virtual location in VR helmets, talk with the authors of the project and the founders of Venice Immersive in a live virtual format. Residents of Borodyanka and Hostomel, who witnessed the occupation and who can share their experiences, are also invited to the project presentation.

Prior accreditation is required.

For reference: The 80th Venice International Film Festival began on August 30 and will last until September 9.

• culture
• occupation
• russian crimes