Themes by tag: occupation

In frontline communities, even daily routines become a challenge. The lack of a centralized water supply in Sviatohirsk means that something as simple as doing laundry or taking a shower is a struggle. However, the local community has come up with a solution.

In early 2023, the town’s first sanitation module was installed. The facility includes a 1,200-liter water tank, a toilet, two washing machines, and three shower stalls. The module can operate without electricity thanks to a generator, and it also has the option of using firewood for heating.

There are currently two such sanitation modules in the community, with a third planned for this year. In addition, a social laundry service is operating in the town with the support of the Shoulder to Shoulder: United Communities project.

Journalists can pre-arrange to cover the work of the sanitation modules and the social laundry. Online commentary is also available upon request.

Background: On June 5, 2022, russian forces occupied part of Sviatohirsk in the Donetsk oblast. In September of the same year, Ukrainian forces liberated the town. After the liberation, Sviatohirsk was left without a centralized water supply, as the system had been damaged during the fighting.

• casualties
• occupation

For more than 32 years, Valentyna Hantseva has worked at the library in the village of Soldatske, Sumy Oblast. Just months before russia’s full-scale invasion, the library underwent a modern renovation and received new equipment. But when a russian airstrike hit the village center during the occupation, the library building was left in ruins. Only the roof and walls remained intact, while the blast wave devastated the interior.

Despite the occupation and the constant threat of russian aircraft overhead, Valentyna and her husband began salvaging books, hiding them in grain sacks to keep them safe. In total, she managed to rescue more than 1,000 volumes.

In April 2022, Ukrainian forces liberated the village. With support from a benefactor in Germany, the library was restored, and by the fall of 2022, Valentyna was able to reopen its doors to readers.

For reference: By April 11, 2022, then-Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhnyi announced that Ukraine had fully regained control of its state border in the Sumy region.

• culture
• occupation
• reconstruction
• russian crimes
• women
• Sumy

Twelve years ago, Ihor Tsyba and his family turned their backyard into an ostrich farm. Over time, their farm in the village of Verkhnia Syrovatka, Sumy Oblast, grew to house more than 50 species of birds.

When russia launched its all-out war against Ukraine, the village was occupied, putting the animals in grave danger. In early March 2022, heavy shelling shook the area, injuring many birds in their enclosures. Three ostriches suffered wounds so severe that they had to be euthanized.

Following the village’s liberation, the farm took on a new role—rehabilitating injured wild animals. Among its rescues was a roe deer that lost a leg after being struck by a combine harvester and a swan found trapped in the ice with its wings severed. Tsyba funds the farm’s operations himself, dedicating his resources to caring for the animals.

For reference: Ihor Tsyba, based in Sumy Oblast, is available for interviews with journalists both online and in person by prior arrangement.

By April 11, 2022, Ukrainian forces had liberated Sumy and restored control over the state border in Sumy Oblast.

• animals
• casualties
• occupation
• Sumy

Larysa Zahryva has devoted 25 years to education. She worked as a teacher, and in 2022 she became the head of the Center for the Provision of Social Services in Chernihiv Oblast. When the full-scale war broke out, the village of Mykhailo-Kotsiubynske, where Larysa lived and worked, was under occupation. For 37 days, she continued to go to work and take care of the elderly people who remained in the village. Larysa hid documents from the russians and was shot at five times. The occupiers came to her house in the middle of the night and interrogated Larysa’s husband.

After Ukraine retook Mykhailo-Kotsiubynskyi from russian occupation, Larysa successfully founded the University of the Third Age (U3A) with support from the United Nations Development Program. Today, several areas of study are already available for lifelong learners, including the Healthy Lifestyles Program, the Philosophy Program, and the Arts and Crafts Program Larysa also created a mobile social assistance project: A car with volunteers who help residents with household chores runs around Chernihiv. The University has also recently opened a resilience space where women, children, IDPs, and war victims can work individually with a psychologist or attend support groups.

For reference: By April 6, 2022, the Defense Forces had completely liberated Chernihiv Oblast.

• culture
• occupation
• russian crimes
• volunteers
• women
• Chernihiv

Researchers from the Chernihiv historical museum named after V. Tarnovskyi travel to the village of Yahidne, Chernihiv oblast, to collect eyewitness testimony. (In the spring of 2022, russian occupiers detained over 300 local residents in inhumane conditions in the basement of the school for almost a month).

Since September 2023, historians have been documenting historical artifacts in Yahidne. They have examined and described over 1,000 objects, including clothing, shoes, personal items, backpacks, books, empty russian military ration boxes, antiseptic tubes, russian newspapers, wooden pallets used for sitting and sleeping, plastic water bottles used as makeshift toilets. Experts recorded descriptions of all basement rooms and photographed artifacts found throughout the village, including remnants of enemy equipment, uniforms and ammunition boxes.

At the request of the regional authorities, copies of occupation documents found in Yahidne have been turned over to the museum.

All documented artifacts will remain in place. There are plans to create a memorial complex in Yahidne, including the school basement where civilians were imprisoned.

Journalists can learn more, join researchers on the ground, and see the historical artifacts firsthand.

Background: Yahidne is a village near Chernihiv. At the beginning of the full-scale russian invasion, the occupying forces set up their headquarters in the local school. In its basement they imprisoned 299 adults and 67 children – almost the entire population of the village. The basement was only 197 square meters, forcing people to sleep sitting up, with limited oxygen. Ten people died as a result of the horrific conditions.

In February 2023, a photograph of the Yahidne basement appeared on the cover of TIME magazine.

• casualties
• dead
• occupation
• russian crimes
• Chernihiv

Maryna Kotlobai is a dermatologist who began her journey as a volunteer doctor with FRIDA, the Ukrainian-Israeli mission of medical volunteers. Today she is one of the captains of its field missions.

Maryna is from the town of Khrustalnyi in the Luhansk oblast (occupied since spring 2014). After 2014, she was forced to move to Kharkiv, and later to Siverskodonetsk, Luhansk oblast (occupied since June 2022). When the full-scale invasion began, she had to leave her home again – this time she and her parents fled abroad. But just a few months later, she returned to Ukraine to start a new life in the capital.

Journalists can speak with Maryna in Kyiv, online or during FRIDA’s field missions.

Background: FRIDA Ukraine is a Ukrainian-Israeli mission of medical volunteers dedicated to helping civilians. Volunteer doctors provide quality medical care to Ukrainians affected by the war.

• casualties
• doctors
• occupation
• volunteers
• Kyiv

Serhii Pryschepa considers March 14, 2022, his second birthday. That day, he and his family attempted to escape from russian-occupied territory in Chernihiv Oblast but were caught in an attack. Their car was engulfed in flames, burning to the ground. Miraculously, he survived.

Serhii has been undergoing rehabilitation for over a year. The recovery process has been grueling and slow, yet he remains resolute. Not only has he regained his strength, but he has also grown even stronger—thanks to relentless training, he can now lift more weight than he could before his injury.

Background: Serhii Pryschepa is a participant in the Neopalymi (Unburnt) program, a national initiative providing free external rehabilitation and treatment for war-related injuries, burns, and scars. By April 6, 2022, Ukrainian defense forces had fully liberated Chernihiv Oblast from russian occupation.

• casualties
• dead
• doctors
• occupation
• russian crimes
• Kyiv

Valeriia Vershynina was born and raised in Donetsk. In 2014, when russia launched its first assault on Ukraine and occupied her hometown, she and her family fled to Kyiv.

After settling in the capital, Valeriia joined Stabilization Support Services, a charitable foundation focused on assisting internally displaced persons (IDPs). She became part of a working group responsible for developing legislation related to displaced populations. In 2024, Valeriia stepped into the role of executive director of the foundation.

“Stabilization Support Services received funding from American donors, with one of the foundation’s key programs dedicated to helping IDPs rebuild their homes. However, that funding was recently cut, putting several projects at risk,” Valeriia explained. Now, she is working to secure support from donors in other countries to keep the foundation’s initiatives moving forward.

Interviews with Valeriia Vershynina can be arranged both online and in person in Kyiv by appointment.

Background: Stabilization Support Services is a Ukrainian charitable foundation that has been operating since 2016, working to address the social impacts of the war and provide comprehensive support for internally displaced persons. The foundation offers humanitarian and legal assistance, helps repair damaged homes, strengthens Ukraine’s social protection system, and has built a national network of IDP Councils, launched between 2019 and 2020. Its programs span the entire country, with a focus on restoring war-affected communities and improving access to social services for Ukraine’s most vulnerable populations.

• casualties
• occupation
• reconstruction
• women
• Kyiv

On March 6, a crucial roundtable discussion titled “Media of Occupied Territories: How to Stay Connected with the People” will take place. The media outlets relocated from temporarily occupied areas serve as one of the few reliable, trusted, and open communication channels for those who have been displaced across the front lines, in different countries, and on different continents due to the ongoing war.

However, these newsrooms are facing a perfect storm of challenges: cuts to grant programs, the ongoing war, and economic difficulties. According to a study by the Institute of Mass Information (IMI) in Kyiv, over half of regional media have experienced significant funding losses.

This roundtable, hosted at the Media Center Ukraine, will bring together editors, journalists, media experts, and government officials to discuss potential solutions and steps to help Ukrainian regional media emerge from this crisis.

Speakers:

– Oksana Romaniuk, Director of the Institute of Mass Information (IMI);

– Andrii Dikhtiarenko, Co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of Realna Gazeta;

– Anna Murlykina, Editor of Mariupol local news outlet 0629.com.ua, Project Manager of the Relocated Media Cluster;

– Yevheniia Virlych, Editor-in-Chief of Kherson online media Kavun.city;

– Hanna Bokova, Editor-in-Chief of Bakhmut IN.UA;

– Valeriia Melnyk, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Tribun publication;

– Valeriia Krupoderia, Coordinator of the Eastern Variant hotline. 

This event promises to be a pivotal conversation about preserving the voice of Ukrainian regional media during these challenging times.

• occupation
• Kyiv

On March 1, the Stations of the Cross, a religious processional will take place in Bucha, Kyiv Oblast, along Yablunska Street, to honor the memory of the victims tortured during the russian occupation. The procession will feature 14 stations, each marking a site where civilians were tragically killed. Among the stops, participants will pause to pray for and remember those who suffered at 144 Yablunska St., including the first boys to fall victim to the russians: Andrii Verbovyi, Andrii Matviichuk, Andrii Dvornikov, Vitalii Karpenko, Sviatoslav Turovskyi, Anatolii Prykhidko, Valerii Kotenko, and Denys Rudenko.

The procession will conclude at the chapel of St. Luke Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.

For context: The Stations of the Cross is a prayer tradition centered on meditations about the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ for humanity’s salvation. Originating in Jerusalem, it is observed within the liturgical practices of both the Catholic and Greek Catholic Churches.

• dead
• occupation
• russian crimes
• Kyiv