Themes by tag: occupation

The “Postcards from Ukraine” project was established to capture and demonstrate the damage caused to Ukrainian culture by russian invaders as a result of bombing and shelling during the full-scale war. Among other things, the postcards feature how the outstanding buildings, museums, monuments look like before and after destruction. For example, the list includes the tallest building in Ukraine — the Kyiv TV Tower, and one of the oldest country’s zoos — Mykolaiv Zoo. To make the world aware of invaders’ destruction of Ukrainian culture, the project organizers call for sharing the postcards via social media and sending them to influencers. 

• culture
• occupation
• russian crimes
• Kyiv

Owners of a cafe in Bucha in Kyiv Oblast tried not to close their establishment till the last moment: They even tried doing business as usual on February 24, accompanied by sounds of explosions and artillery fire, striving to be a place of calm and comfort. Later, Oleksandr and Yulia saw the invaders leaving their tanks and stealing cakes from the cafe on security cameras. The russians almost razed it to the ground; all windows were broken, and the ceiling was damaged. After Kyiv Oblast had been liberated, the couple reopened their cafe. Initially, they worked in the neighboring building while diligently restoring their own. Everyone who drinks coffee in the cafe can contribute to restoring this once cozy cafe.

• occupation
• reconstruction
• russian crimes
• Kyiv

At the start of russia’s full-scale invasion, the small village of Moshchun became the site of heavy fighting and an obstacle on the invaders’ path to the capital. The Ukrainian forces fully liberated Moshchun on March 21, but the village still comes to its senses after the fierce battle. Most houses were destroyed, so locals have to live in modular homes. B50, a volunteering initiative, helps restore Moshchun. The Ukrainian volunteers clear the debris of buildings destroyed by the war brick by brick. As the rainy season approaches, volunteers restore roofs and help patch the windows with plastic film. Volunteers come to clear the debris every weekend. You can join the volunteering community and find out more about its activity on social media at B50.

• casualties
• occupation
• reconstruction
• russian crimes
• volunteers
• Kyiv

Tymko III, the groundhog from Kharkiv Oblast who has traditionally forecasted the weather, is now back from russian captivity. Together with other animals, Tymko survived the occupation in Nesterivka until Ukraine’s Armed Forces liberated the village during the counterassault in Kharkiv Oblast. Tymko, together with 38 other groundhogs living in the area of the biological research station of Kharkiv’s Karazin University, got under the russian occupation in the spring. Two biological research station employees, Volodymyr and Halyna, stayed to keep an eye on the animals. Volodymyr Hrubnyk, the head of the Eastern Steppe Laboratory of the Department of Biology of Karazin University in Kharkiv, told that the groundhogs were safe and sound and received a shipment of humanitarian aid.

• animals
• occupation
• Kharkiv

Tetiana Hladysh, an artisan and writer from Kherson Oblast, has suffered from a rare disease affecting her bones since she was born and has to get about on crutches. In mid-March, Tetiana with her family left her village in Kherson Oblast due to fighting all around and with the necessary medicines running out. Tetiana left her cat and dog to her aunt, who promised to take care of them. Later, the aunt was evacuated, and the pets were left unattended behind.

Eventually, volunteers managed to bring the pets to Odesa, while Tetiana, having been injured a day earlier and supposed to stay in bed, drove through half a country to bring her pets to their new home. The entire family lives in Ternopil Oblast now. When Tetiana Hladysh becomes homesick after Kherson Oblast, she works and creates to manage her emotions.

• animals
• casualties
• occupation

A Ukrainian journalist has lived in occupied Kherson for almost half a year. In his interview with a media outlet, he told how he became a guerrilla fighter and how he fought. For instance, he even had to disguise himself not to be recognized.

• occupation

The russians abducted 47-year-old Serhii Hrypun from Nove village of Zaporizhia Oblast, where he worked for an agrarian firm. The russian military personnel entered the premises of Serhii’s firm and established their headquarters there. Getting in touch with him became impossible, and his relatives had not received any information about him for several weeks. His daughter Yulia, who is searching for her father, told the Media Initiative for Human Rights that she found out about his whereabouts in April from a released hostage who had seen Serhii in russia. Serhii Khrypun is held captive in Kursk pre-trial detention center. The kidnapped Ukrainians are subjected to torture; for instance, they were beaten with a stun gun and truncheons on the day they arrived at the detention center. The released hostage also told Yulia about Serhii’s condition, who had broken ribs and bruised legs.

• casualties
• occupation
• russian crimes

Stefan Vorontsov returned to Ukraine on the eve of the all-out invasion. He studies in Poland but decided to visit his parents. The war caught him in Nova Kakhovka; Stefan’s life has been closely connected to his native city since that time. Within 40 days under the occupation, he managed to set up a volunteering headquarters and establish HUMANITY, an NGO that supplied food and medicines to residents of Nova Kakhovka. The organization also evacuated city residents from the occupation. Stefan decided to leave Kherson Oblast when a local resident told russians about his activities.

• occupation
• volunteers
• Kherson

On September 12, beauty volunteers from Kyiv will visit the village of Dymer in Kyiv Oblast. Nail technicians, hair stylists, makeup artists, and massage therapists will work with locals for free. The idea of beauty volunteers for the liberated villages came from Olha Belytska, a makeup artist. This spring, she worked for patients at Okhmatdyt Hospital in Kyiv, where she heard some women complaining about lying there without hairdo and makeup, having just come to after barely escaping projectiles and cluster bombs. Thus, Olha and her friends come to the de-occupied towns and villages of Kyiv Oblast every week to help people feel beautiful again after the horrors of the occupation.

• casualties
• occupation
• volunteers
• Kyiv

In March, Oleksandr Kryvosheia, a farmer, called the Ukrainian artillery fire onto his warehouse in Kozarovychi village in Kyiv Oblast, where russian invaders were based. The russians occupied his farm on February 25 and lived there for more than a month. Over this period, the invaders ate more than a hundred sheep, half of his livestock. The building’s roof, seed grain, and equipment burned down due to the Ukrainian artillery strike on the farm. However, Oleksandr does not begrudge the property destroyed by the Ukrainian missiles. On the contrary, he says, chasing away the enemy was the most important thing.

Now, he is restoring his farm from scratch. The Keep Going project raises UAH 600,000 for Oleksandr to install the new roof on the warehouse. Half of the target amount has already been raised.

• casualties
• occupation
• reconstruction
• russian crimes
• Kyiv