Themes by tag: occupation
For more than three years, history teacher Oksana Struk has been living in anticipation of her husband, Kostiantyn, to come home from russian captivity. The couple, both teachers, have been together for over two decades and lived in the border village of Mala Vovcha in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, just three kilometers from the russian border. When russia launched its full-scale invasion, the village was among the first to fall under occupation.
Oksana and the couple’s son managed to flee to Ukrainian-controlled territory in August 2022. Kostiantyn, a physical educator, stayed behind. Soon after, Oksana learned that russian forces were targeting teachers who refused to cooperate with occupation authorities. One day, they came for her husband – he was arrested, and their home was searched.
According to Oksana, a colleague who was made principal of their school under the occupation denounced her husband to the russians. When Ukrainian forces liberated the village in September 2022, the collaborator fled to russia.
The International Committee of the Red Cross later confirmed that Kostiantyn is being held in russia. In all the time since his abduction, Oksana has received only one letter from him.
Today, she joins peaceful rallies alongside other families whose loved ones remain imprisoned in russia, demanding their release and urging international attention.
Journalists can arrange to speak with Oksana in Kharkiv or online by prior appointment.
Before the full-scale invasion, Nataliia Havrylenko was an entrepreneur in Kherson. She was preparing for war and planned to join the Territorial Defense with her beloved. On February 24, 2022, the couple went straight to the military enlistment office. Soon, the Kherson Territorial Defense fighters, of which Nataliia was a member, received weapons. However, they only managed to serve for two days.
Nataliia recalls how a battalion commander entered the office of the newly formed unit, ordered them to lay down their weapons and flee home through the fields, and then left. In that moment, she and her husband, along with the other civilians, realized that they would have to defend their hometown on their own. Thus began the partisan movement in Kherson. Nataliia and her comrades set up a field hospital and established cooperation with the Special Operations Forces.
On July 7, 2022, russians broke into Nataliia’s home, where she was staying with her daughter-in-law, son, and grandson. She was taken to a temporary detention center, where she was held for several months. Although she was not physically tortured, she was interrogated using a polygraph and forced to give an interview to russian propagandists. Nataliia was released on November 1, 2022, without documents, money, or a phone.
Today, she continues her volunteer work supporting Ukrainian military personnel.
Nataliia Havrylenko is currently in Kamianske, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. She is available for interviews, both online and in person, by prior arrangement.
Background: Kherson was occupied by russian forces 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.
Three years and seven months of waiting: The story of Iryna Shvets, whose fiancé was abducted by russian forces during the occupation of Bucha
For more than three and a half years, Iryna Shvets has been waiting for the return of her fiancé, Oleksandr Kurdin, who was abducted by russian troops during the occupation of Bucha in 2022. Today, she is one of the organizers and hosts of peaceful gatherings held by the NGO Civilians in Captivity, which brings together families of those illegally detained by russia.
Oleksandr, a private entrepreneur, left Kyiv for his apartment in Bucha on February 21, 2022 – just days before russian forces invaded the region. When the city came under occupation, Iryna pleaded with him to flee through a humanitarian corridor. But Oleksandr refused to abandon his neighbors. He told her that many women and children were hiding in basements, and he was bringing them bread and water.
russian soldiers visited Oleksandr’s home twice to check his documents. On March 22, they returned and abducted him near his building. Iryna learned of his disappearance nearly two weeks later, on April 3, when a friend who had witnessed the incident called to tell her what happened.
Months later, in January 2023, Iryna found a photograph of Oleksandr in prison clothing. She discovered that he had been taken first to Belarus, then transferred to a detention center in Novozybkov, russia. He is now being held in a penal colony in the city of Donskoy, Tula Oblast.
Oleksandr has been in captivity for three years and seven months. He has lost 30 kilograms, and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has officially recognized him as an illegally detained civilian. In all this time, Iryna has received only two letters from him.
The couple had planned to marry in June 2022, but the war tore those plans apart. Since they were never legally married, Iryna filed a lawsuit in 2023 to have their long-term cohabitation officially recognized. She needed this status to act as Oleksandr’s legal representative in communications with international organizations. The court ruled in her favor in 2024.
By prior arrangement, journalists can meet with Iryna Shvets in Kyiv.
Serhii Ofitserov was born in Kherson, Ukraine, but his parents took him to russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula as a child. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, his father, Hennadii, returned to Ukraine, and Serhii followed in 1998. While in russia, Serhii received a russian passport and lived in Kherson with a residence permit. He had applied to renounce his russian citizenship to obtain Ukrainian citizenship, but he was unable to complete the process due to the start of the full-scale invasion.
russian forces kidnapped Serhii on August 3, 2022, while Kherson was under occupation. That autumn, his father, Hennadii, learned of his son’s fate: first, a former detainee who had been released from a torture chamber in Kherson reported seeing Serhii there. Later, Ofitserov appeared in a video filmed by russian propagandists about the detention of people allegedly “part of a terrorist group”.
Serhii is currently being held in a pretrial detention center (SIZO) in Rostov. He is one of nine Kherson residents kidnapped by the russians who have been accused of international terrorism under three articles of the criminal code. The trial is ongoing. According to his father, Serhii was held in a Kherson torture chamber for two or three months, where he was tortured and forced to sign everything demanded of him. Consequently, the fabricated case against Serhii is riddled with inconsistencies.
While in captivity, Serhii began drawing with simple pencils. His drawings depict Kherson landscapes, portraits, fantasy scenes, and life as a prisoner, including barred windows. Some of these drawings have been smuggled to Ukraine and are kept by his father who only receives about half of the letters his son sends.
By prior arrangement, journalists can speak with Serhii’s father, Hennadii Ofitserov, in Kyiv, Kherson, or online.
Background: Kherson was occupied by russian forces 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.
Vira Biriuk, originally from the village of Bakhmutivka in Ukraine’s Luhansk region, endured a year as her village fell under russian occupation, followed by another year in enemy captivity. When russian forces seized her village at the start of the full-scale invasion, she decided to stay in her home despite the growing danger.
A year later, in the middle of the night, occupation forces broke into her house and took her away. The russians accused her of murder, but Vira believes the real reason was her Ukrainian passport, and the fact that her late brother had served in the Ukrainian military defending the Luhansk region.
Under torture, she says, she was forced to sign a confession. For the first month, she was held in a temporary detention facility, then transferred to a pre-trial detention center in Luhansk, where she spent nearly a year in harsh conditions.
In September 2024, Vira was released as part of a prisoner exchange. After a brief rehabilitation period, she settled at a social center’s temporary housing facility. Today, she works with a charitable foundation in Chernihiv that assists families of prisoners of war.
Vira Biriuk is available for interviews both online and in person in Chernihiv, by prior arrangement.
Olena Yahupova, a resident of the occupied town of Kamianka-Dniprovska in the Zaporizhzhia oblast, endured captivity and forced labor at the hands of russian forces due to her pro-Ukrainian stance. Olena worked in civil service for over 20 years and was known for her Ukrainian patriotic views. She was denounced for allegedly having a husband who served in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In October 2022, occupiers seized her from her home.
During her detention, Olena was subjected to torture as the russians sought information on her husband’s whereabouts and details about other individuals with pro-Ukrainian views.
She was also forced into labor slavery, compelled by the occupiers to dig trenches alongside other hostages. Olena performed this grueling work while living in inhumane conditions. She managed to secure her release after more than six months in captivity.
Now that she is safe, Olena has filed a report with law enforcement and undergone forensic medical examinations. She has been diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury, cerebral microangiopathy, deteriorating eyesight, and injuries to her hip and shoulder joints. She has been assigned a second-degree disability. As a result of the torture Olena endured, she is scheduled to have surgery to replace two cervical discs with implants.
Olena has been officially recognized as a person deprived of personal liberty as a result of Russian aggression, a victim of human trafficking, and a victim of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV).
Journalists have the opportunity to speak with Olena in the Kyiv oblast online or in person, by prior arrangement.
Folklorist Yaryna Sizyk, animation director Mariia Ozirna, and the Kherson Art Museum named after Oleksii Shovkunenko have launched a project dedicated to the paintings stolen by russians during the occupation of the city. According to the museum staff estimates, the occupiers looted approximately ten thousand works of art.
The project’s goal is to attempt to recreate what the Russians took away. To date, the team has managed to “reproduce” a painting by Mykhailo Bryansky (1830-1908), “Portrait of a Girl in an Embroidered Dress”. The painting was not simply repainted but was modernized and animated. Ukrainian model and singer Daria Astafieva helped “bring it to life”; the artists transformed her into the girl in the embroidered dress from the stolen canvas. For the animation, the team used a shirt that Inna Mykutska, a tour guide from Kherson, embroidered during the occupation.
The team has also recreated the oil painting “Cossacks in the Steppe” by Serhii Vasylkivsky (1854-1917). Servicemen Roman “Dobriak” Kolesnyk and Stanislav “Ref” Zorii of the Armed Forces of Ukraine participated in the reproduction of this artwork. Yaryna and Mariia added the Ukrainian folk song “Oh, There Beyond the Seas…” performed by the band Shchuka-Ryba to this animation.
The project founders are currently working on further recreations.
Yaryna Sizyk and Mariia Ozirna are available for interviews with journalists in Kyiv.
Background: Kherson was occupied by russian forces 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.
Before russia’s full-scale invasion, Olena and Valentyn Bielozorenko had spent 11 years building their Lymanska Koza eco-farm in Stanislav, a village in the Kherson region. The couple raised 30 goats, 11 dogs, and 10 cats, made artisanal cheese, and hosted tours for children and adults. But when the war began, their thriving farm suddenly found itself under occupation.
For eight and a half months, Olena and Valentyn lived surrounded by russian forces, surviving by bartering food with neighbors. When Ukrainian troops liberated the village, they stayed on for another year, enduring relentless shelling. Several strikes hit their property, killing one animal, burning their feed, and leaving Valentyn with a concussion.
By October 2023, the couple decided they could no longer stay. They evacuated to the Kyiv region, where fellow displaced Ukrainians from Donetsk welcomed them and offered a farmhouse and land free of charge. Within a year, their herd had doubled in size, and life began to take root again.
Now, the Bielozorenkos are planning to open a rehabilitation center for Ukrainian soldiers on their new farm, hoping to turn a place once marked by survival into one of healing and recovery.
Olena and Valentyn Bielozorenko are available for online interviews.
For reference: russian forces occupied Kherson early in the full-scale invasion, on March 1, 2022. Ukrainian forces liberated the city on November 11, 2022, but russian troops continue to shell the region regularly.
Oleksii Sivak, a 42-year-old former sailor from Kherson, saw his life upended by russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. Remaining in the city with his wife and disabled mother-in-law, he engaged in acts of peaceful resistance, posting anti-russian leaflets and creating effigies of “dead russians” with like-minded people to make the occupiers feel unwelcome on Ukrainian soil.
On August 24, 2022 — Ukraine’s Independence Day — Oleksii and a fellow resident displayed a Ukrainian flag in the city. The next day, Russian forces captured them both. Oleksii was beaten in front of his wife and held captive for 59 days, during which he was tortured and sexually assaulted (CRSV — conflict-related sexual violence).
After being released, Oleksii started looking for his former cellmates. This effort evolved into the creation of the Alumni Network, which unites men who have survived captivity and torture. He now heads the Alumni NGO, which was established to support Ukrainians affected by russian aggression, including torture and CRSV. The organization provides legal and psychological aid and organizes retreats for its several hundred members, ranging in age from 20 to 76.
Journalists can speak with Oleksii in Kyiv, Kherson, or online by prior arrangement.
Background: russian forces occupied Kherson at the start of the full-scale invasion on March 1, 2022. The Ukrainian Armed Forces liberated the city on November 11, 2022. However, it continues to endure regular shelling by russian forces.
On September 26, the Media Center Ukraine will host the presentation of an analytical report: “How russia is erasing Ukrainian identity under the guise of fighting extremism”.
Participants:
– Mariia Krasnenko, report author, expert at the Centre of Civil Education Almenda;
– Tetiana Lychko, documentarian at the Centre of Civil Education Almenda;
– Valentina Potapova, head of Direction of National Advocacy at the Centre of Civil Education Almenda;
Key topics:
– How anti-extremism laws are being used to suppress Ukrainian culture and enforce a “all-russian identity”;
– Pressure tactics targeting teachers, students, and school communities in occupied territories under the pretext of “countering extremism”;
– Measures needed at the national and international levels to protect the Ukrainian identity of children in occupied territories;
– Examples of successful strategies already in place to counter russian ideological influence on Ukrainian children’s worldview through education.
Background: Since 2014, russia has not only conducted military aggression but also pursued a systematic campaign of ideological control in occupied territories. Under the pretext of “fighting extremism”, moscow has used legislation to target anyone preserving Ukrainian language, culture, and identity, with children and schools among the primary targets.
