Themes by tag: prisoners
On November 15, the human right action ‘Empty Chairs’ will take place in Kyiv in support of journalists, writers, cultural artists and human rights defenders who have gone missing, been imprisoned or are in captivity due to the russia’s war against Ukraine. The event is organized by PEN Ukraine and Center for Civil Liberties.
The event aims to unite the efforts of all those who support Ukraine and fight for the release of civilians and prisoners of war illegally detained as a result of russia’s war against Ukraine.
During the event, stories will be told about missing, illegally detained, and imprisoned Ukrainian authors, artists, and human rights defenders. Former prisoners will also join the event:
- Maksym Butkevych, Ukrainian human rights activist, journalist, public figure, and military officer who was held captive from June 2022 to October 2024;
- Dmytro Khilyuk, a UNIAN journalist who was held captive in russia from March 2022 to August 2025;
- Leniie Umerova, a Crimean Tatar activist who was held captive in russia from December 2022 to September 2024;
- Yulia “Taira” Paievska, a soldier, volunteer, poet, and public figure who was held captive in russia from March 16 to June 17, 2022;
- Vladislav Yesipenko, a freelance citizen journalist and correspondent for Radio Liberty’s Crimean service, who was held in captivity by the russian occupation authorities from March 2021 to June 20, 2025.
The event will be hosted by Maxim Sitnikov, Executive Director of Ukrainian PEN, and Alexandra Romantsova, Executive Director of the Center for Civil Liberties.
During the event, the organizers will set up a symbolic installation of empty chairs bearing the names of illegally imprisoned, captured, and missing authors, media workers, artists, and human rights defenders.
Event organizers: Ukrainian PEN, Center for Civil Liberties.
Imprisoned Writers Day, or Empty Chair Day, is observed on November 15 at the initiative of International PEN. Empty chairs at human rights events on this day symbolize authors who cannot be with us due to imprisonment, persecution, disappearance, or murder.
Since 2018, Ukrainian PEN, together with the Center for Civil Liberties, has been organizing a human rights event on this day to remind Ukrainians and the world about writers, artists, and all Ukrainians who cannot be with us on this day due to russian aggression.
A peaceful march titled “Our People Are Not Home Yet” will take place in Kyiv on November 8. The march is organized by the families of missing and captured military personnel from the 32nd Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The march aims to raise awareness about the fate of Ukrainian defenders who are missing or in captivity, and to draw attention to their situation among society, state institutions, and the international community.
Around 500 people, including family members of the missing and captured, government officials, fellow soldiers, volunteers, civic activists, and concerned citizens, will march through central Kyiv. They want to remind everyone that the fight for freedom continues not only on the front lines but also in the hearts of those waiting for their loved ones.
The march will go through the central streets of Kyiv.
Objectives of the event:
- To publicly acknowledge that thousands of Ukrainian soldiers are still in captivity and that tens of thousands are missing.
- To support families who have lived in uncertainty for years while waiting.
- To call for active state and international efforts to bring every defender home.
- The event will demonstrate society’s unity around the goal of ensuring that no hero is forgotten.
The organizers invite representatives of Ukrainian and international media outlets to cover the “Our People Are Not Home Yet” march.
Leonid Kondratskyi is 66 years old. He is a resident of Nova Kakhovka, a town in the Kherson oblast that russian forces occupied on the first day of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Prior to the war, Leonid was a pensioner who worked as the deputy head of the municipal guard for the Nova Kakhovka town council. During the occupation, he provided assistance to civilians in Beryslav, a nearby town.
The russians detained Leonid several times. On October 7, 2022, russian soldiers came to his home in Nova Kakhovka, took him away, and transported him to an unknown location. It was later revealed that Leonid had been taken to Crimea. He is currently being held in a pretrial detention center (SIZO) in Kamyshin, a village in the Volgograd region of russia.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has confirmed that Leonid is being held captive. In total, he has been held captive for over three years.
By prior arrangement, journalists can speak with Leonid’s daughter, Iryna, online.
Oleksii Polukhin is a resident of Kherson and an open representative of the LGBTQ+ community. In the first days of the russian occupation, the 21-year-old Oleksii joined the resistance movement in Kherson and began establishing contact with the Security Service of Ukraine, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and intelligence units.
By May 2022, Oleksii was gathering information in the city that was crucial for Ukrainian special services. On May 9, during one of his missions, he encountered a new enemy checkpoint. He is certain someone had informed the russians about his activities, as they were already waiting for him at the checkpoint. The occupiers took his phone and passport and forced him to undress. They then blindfolded him, put him in a car, and drove him around the city for several hours before taking him to a pre-trial detention center (SIZO), where interrogations continued.
When the occupiers learned that Oleksii was queer, they forced him to wear a dress. He was denied showers, prohibited from going outside, and was provided with no medical or legal assistance. While his captors did not use physical violence, they subjected him to constant psychological pressure. Oleksii was released after two months of this psychological torture. Despite this, he remained in Kherson for a long time afterward and only left his hometown after its liberation. Oleksii is currently receiving psychological support and continues to volunteer in support of the Ukrainian military.
Oleksii Polukhin is available for interviews, both online and in person in Lviv, 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.
Oleksandr Yarovyi, 22, worked as a salesman at a hardware store in Dymer, near the village of Kozarovychi. [Kozarovychi, located in the Kyiv oblast, was occupied by russian forces at the start of the full-scale invasion.] The young man lived with his grandparents. When the war began, Oleksandr used a work vehicle to evacuate construction and hardware goods from the store. He also delivered food and transported medicine to the hospital.
On March 2, 2022, Oleksandr was on a Viber call with his mother. According to her, Oleksandr was at home with friends. The next morning, a neighbor called the woman and reported that russian soldiers had arrived. The soldiers interrogated the young men, simulated executions, threw Oleksandr into a basement, and beat him in an attempt to extract a confession. They later took everyone’s phones and left. Fifteen minutes later, they returned, ordered Oleksandr to raise his hands. They took the young man with them and ransacked the house.
Oleksandr’s mother conducted her own investigation to find out where her son was taken. She discovered that he was first held in a warehouse in Kozarovychi and then in Dymer, where the russians held everyone they kidnapped from the surrounding villages. On March 10, Oleksandr was taken to Belarus and then to russia, specifically the city of Novozybkov. In 2023, he was transferred to the russian settlement of Pakino, where he remains detained to this day.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has confirmed that Oleksandr is being held captive. In total, the young man has been held for three years and eight months. During this time, he has only received one short letter: “I am alive, healthy, and fine.” His mother now participates in peaceful rallies with other families whose loved ones are in russian captivity.
By prior arrangement, journalists can speak with Oleksandr’s mother, Inna, in Kyiv or the Kyiv oblast.
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.
When russia’s full-scale invasion broke out, Maksym Levchenko, known by his callsign “Roger,” didn’t think twice about joining the Ukrainian army. In the early days of the war, he and his comrades defended the Kyiv region. Later, when he learned there was a chance to reach the besieged city of Mariupol by helicopter, Maksym volunteered without hesitation.
He says his decision was simple, his friends were fighting there, and he wanted to stand by them. Maksym went on to defend Mariupol until May 2022, when, acting on his commander’s orders, he surrendered to russian forces and was taken into captivity.
He spent the next 13 months in captivity. During that time, he and a fellow soldier often talked about what they would do once they returned home. Their shared dream was to open an airsoft club, a place for camaraderie, training, and purpose beyond the battlefield.
In June 2023, Maksym was finally freed in a prisoner exchange. While waiting for his comrade’s release, he decided to bring their idea to life. He launched an airsoft club in Lviv, turning their wartime dream into a reality. Part of the club’s mission, he says, is to support Ukraine’s Armed Forces by raising funds for the military.
Maksym Levchenko is available for interviews online or in person in Lviv, by prior arrangement.
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.
A peaceful march titled “Our People Are Not Home Yet” will take place in Kyiv on November 8. The march is organized by the families of missing and captured military personnel from the 32nd Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The march aims to draw attention to the fate of Ukrainian defenders in captivity or missing in action, and to raise awareness among society, state institutions, and the international community.
Approximately 500 participants, including relatives of the missing and captured, representatives of state bodies, fellow soldiers, volunteers, civil activists, and concerned citizens, will march through central Kyiv to remind everyone that the fight for freedom continues not only on the front lines, but also in the hearts of those waiting for their loved ones.
Objectives of the event:
- To publicly acknowledge that thousands of Ukrainian soldiers are still in captivity and that tens of thousands are missing.
- To support families who have lived in uncertainty for years while waiting.
- To call for active state and international efforts to bring every defender home.
- The event will demonstrate society’s unity around the common goal that no hero should be forgotten.
The organizers invite representatives of Ukrainian and international media outlets to cover the “Our People Are Not Home Yet” march.
