Themes by tag: russian crimes

Skeiron has digitally documented damage to the Bernardine Monastery complex in Lviv. This was necessary to record the condition of the site immediately after the strike, as some information could have been lost during cleanup and restoration.

Skeiron was founded in Lviv in 2016 by a group of enthusiasts. Its main goal is to preserve and promote cultural heritage through digitalization. The team documents both preserved and destroyed landmarks with the aim of supporting their future restoration.

Over the years, the team has digitized and reconstructed more than 270 sites, including those destroyed during the war. Among them is a 3D reconstruction of the Mariupol Drama Theatre destroyed by Russia. The largest sites digitized include Chernivtsi University and the Odesa Opera House.

Journalists can arrange interviews with Skeiron representatives both online and offline in Lviv by prior arrangement.

• culture
• russian crimes
• Lviv

On March 30, ahead of the fourth anniversary of the liberation of Bucha from Russian occupation, commemorative events will take place in the Bucha community.

The official program includes:

– A memorial gathering and requiem service, with tribute paid to fallen defenders, including candle lighting and flower-laying at their graves;

– The unveiling of memorial plaques honoring prominent Bucha residents Zhanna and Mykhailo Kamenev;

– The “Light of Memory. Bucha Remembers” campaign, featuring the traditional lighting of candles near the Wall of Memory and the Cross of Memory.

Background: Zhanna Kameneva was a volunteer who had supported the army and orphaned children since 2014 and was shot by Russian forces in March 2022 while evacuating civilians. 

Mykhailo Kamenev (call sign “Kaktus”) was a senior soldier and machine gunner of the 93rd Brigade and the 25th Battalion “Kyivska Rus,” a veteran of the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO), who was killed in October 2023 during the defense of Marinka in the Donetsk region.

Bucha, in the Kyiv region, was liberated from Russian occupation on March 31, 2022. During the fighting and occupation, hundreds of civilians were killed. Since then, the city’s name has become synonymous with war crimes committed by Russian forces in Ukraine.

• russian crimes
• Kyiv

Peaceful rallies in support of defenders of Azovstal and other Ukrainian service members still held in enemy captivity will take place in 31 cities across Ukraine.

On March 21, events will be held in Svitlovodsk, Okhtyrka, Chernihiv, Vinnytsia, Zaporizhzhia, Kovel, Shpola, Volochysk, Dnipro, Pavlohrad, and Lviv.

On March 22, rallies are planned in Kyiv, Krolevets, Pivdennoukrainsk, Kremenchuk, Mykolaiv, Korop, Obukhiv, Ovruch, Korosten, Kharkiv, Dolynska, Cherkasy, Poltava, Uzhhorod, Berdychiv, Kropyvnytskyi, Rivne, Chernivtsi, Lozova, and Odesa.

The events are organized by families of prisoners of war from the Mariupol garrison. Ukrainians who have been released from captivity also often take part.

• prisoners
• russian crimes

Since the beginning of last school year, schoolchildren in the village of Bohdanivka, Kyiv oblast, have been able to study in a modular Temporary Educational Space (TES).  The space is accessible, with a generator for uninterrupted power supply, comfortable furniture, modern tablets and multimedia panels. The TES has six classrooms and now serves more than  200 schoolchildren who previously had to travel to a neighboring village.

Bohdanivka was occupied in 2022. russian soldiers set up camp in the local school and burned it down when they withdrew. They also blew up the kindergarten, where they had stored ammunition, leaving the village without any educational facilities.

By prior arrangement, journalists can cover the work of the modular temporary educational space in Bohdanivka.

Background: This project is being implemented by IREX in partnership with the SavED Charitable Foundation and the GoGlobal NGO. They work in close cooperation with local communities who have lost their educational institutions due to russian aggression.

• children
• occupation
• russian crimes
• Kyiv

On the fourth anniversary of the terrible tragedy that occurred at the Mariupol Drama Theater, journalists are invited to attend memorial events and honor the memory of the civilian and military victims.

In particular, a prayer service will be held in Kyiv on March 15. On March 16, memorial events honoring those killed at the Mariupol Drama Theater will take place in various cities across Ukraine: Kyiv, Vinnytsia, Dnipro, Zhytomyr, Zaporizhzhia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Kalush, Kamensk, Kremenchuk, Kropyvnytskyi, Poltava, Kryvyi Rih, Odesa, Rivne, Ternopil, Uzhhorod, Khmelnytskyi, Cherkasy, and Chernivtsi.

For reference: On March 16, 2022, russian occupiers dropped aerial bombs on the Mariupol Drama Theater. The word “CHILDREN,” written in large letters and clearly visible from the sky, did not stop them. Hundreds of Mariupol families were taking shelter in the theater. Hundreds of innocent people were killed that day, including children.

The russian occupation authorities restored the building, permanently destroying any possibility of conducting a fair investigation into the deaths at the Drama Theater.

• children
• dead
• russian crimes
• Dnipro
• Kyiv
• Lviv
• Odesa

Marking the 4th anniversary of the russian occupation of the village of Yahidne, the Public Interest Journalism Lab (PIJL) has produced an audio guide titled “Yahidne. A Village in Captivity.”
The presentation took place on March 3 in Yahidne itself, in the Chernihiv region, where 368 local residents became victims of russian war crimes.

It was on March 3, 2022, that russian troops herded almost all residents of the village into the basement of the local school, including dozens of elderly people, children, and infants. They were held there for nearly a month and used as a human shield, forbidden to leave the cramped space while russian soldiers set up a military headquarters inside the school building. Under these horrific conditions, ten people died in the basement.

The audio guide is a documentary tour of the site of a war crime — the school grounds and its basement.
The English-language version is narrated by American historian Timothy Snyder, while the voices of Yahidne residents in English are read by American writer and journalist Anne Applebaum, Canadian politician Khrystya Freeland, British journalist and propaganda researcher Peter Pomerantsev, American journalist Sabra Ayres, American-French writer Jonathan Littell, and American historian Marcy Shore.

The audio guide is available in Ukrainian and English on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube.
A QR code with the link is displayed on banners next to the school, which continues to be visited by tourists and foreign delegations.

By prior arrangement, journalists can speak with representatives of the Public Interest Journalism Lab online or in person in Kyiv.

Background: The PIJL team has a unique connection to the village community, as its journalists were among the first to visit the liberated Chernihiv region in April 2022.

Based on testimonies documented from Yahidne residents, the team produced a documentary film, which—together with a written report from the village—was published in TIME magazine in an issue dedicated to the publication’s centennial. In addition to English, the film has been translated into eight other languages: Spanish, Italian, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Turkish, and French.The story of Yahidne was also included in the reportage book “The Scariest Days of My Life”, which became a historical record of the first year of russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine.

• casualties
• dead
• occupation
• russian crimes
• Kyiv

A North Korean cluster munition that hit the window of the Kherson Regional Museum has been added to the exhibition “Unbreakable Kherson Region.” The exhibition features exhibits about the defense of Kherson, the occupation, the liberation of the city from russian troops, and life under shelling. The Korean munition got stuck right in the window of the exhibition hall. A fragment of a russian shell warhead was also found in the museum courtyard.

In addition, museum staff created an exhibition called “When War Loses Its Power” from the remains of weapons used by russian troops to shell the city. Fragments of various types of weapons became parts of works of art.

Due to constant enemy shelling, the Kherson Regional Museum is closed to visitors, but virtual tours are available.

Before the full-scale invasion and occupation, the Kherson Regional Local History Museum had one of the largest collections of antiquities in southern Ukraine. In October 2022, russian occupation forces stole more than 23,000 exhibits from the museum’s collection. Among them were archaeological finds, Scythian gold, antique icons, ethnographic collections, and archival materials. After the de-occupation of Kherson, the museum resumed its work. More than 160,000 exhibits were evacuated to safer regions.

For reference: The museum was founded in 1890 at the suggestion of Ukrainian archaeologist and local historian Viktor Ivanovich Goshkevich. The buildings that house the museum’s exhibition are architectural monuments of the 19th century.

• culture
• occupation
• russian crimes
• Kherson

Myroslav Chornomor is a choreographer by profession who danced and toured abroad with a folk ensemble. In 2016, he received his draft notice, and after completing his mandatory military service, he signed a contract. He then mastered the profession of scout.

Myroslav enrolled at Ostroh Academy to study national security, then at the Security Service of Ukraine Academy, and in June 2022, he was to receive two diplomas.

The soldier met the start of the full-scale invasion at his position near Mariupol as commander of the reconnaissance unit of the 36th Separate Marine Brigade. On April 12, Myroslav, along with his comrades who were defending Azovmash, decided to surrender. For the next two years, the soldier’s family did not know where he was or what had happened to him.

The Ukrainian soldier was one of those whom the russian occupiers illegally sentenced to life imprisonment on fabricated charges of alleged crimes against civilians in Mariupol. In the russian colony where he was serving his sentence, his cellmates included a serial killer, and the cell next door held the perpetrator of the Beslan terrorist attack. Myroslav was returned to Ukraine during a prisoner exchange on February 5, 2026. The soldier plans to seek medical treatment, see his father, who is serving in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and resume his studies to obtain his diplomas.

Journalists can speak with Myroslav Chornomor online or in person near Kyiv from March 20, by prior arrangement.

• casualties
• military
• prisoners
• russian crimes
• Kyiv

Serhiy Petrenko, a soldier with the pseudonym “Bashnya” — Natalia Petrenko’s son — died on the night of July 29, 2022. The soldier encountered a full-scale invasion in Mariupol, defended the city, then Azovstal, and before being taken prisoner on orders, he called his parents and told them to prepare his ammunition so that he could rejoin the army upon his return.

Serhiy Petrenko’s name was on one of the first lists of those killed during the russian terrorist attack in Olenivka. His mother, Natalia, decided not to shut herself away in her grief and to support Serhiy’s comrades. In memory of her son, she created the online platform “Basht,” which helps military personnel find their place in civilian life.

Natalia and her like-minded friends gathered useful information for veterans in one place: from medical, psychological, and legal assistance to courses and training.

Journalists can speak with Natalia Petrenko both online and in person in Kyiv, by prior arrangement.

• dead
• military
• russian crimes
• women
• Kyiv

To remind people about the defenders of Azovstal and other military personnel who are still in enemy captivity, peaceful events are planned in 28 cities.

On March 7, events will take place in Okhtyrka, Chernihiv, Shpola, Volochysk, Zaporizhzhia, Pavlohrad, Lviv, and Dnipro.

On March 8, events are planned in Kyiv, Krolevets, Pivdennoukrainsk, Mykolaiv, Korop, Obukhiv, Ovruch, Korosten, Kharkiv, Kremenchuk, Dolynska, Kovel, Cherkasy, Lozova, Poltava, Uzhhorod, Berdychiv, Kropyvnytskyi, Rivne, and Odesa.

The events are organized by the families of prisoners of war from the Mariupol garrison. Ukrainians who have been released from captivity often join in the events.

• prisoners
• russian crimes