Themes by tag: russian crimes

To raise awareness about the defenders of Azovstal and other soldiers still held in enemy captivity, a performance entitled “Third Christmas in Captivity” will be held in Lviv, accompanied by peaceful rallies in 24 cities across Ukraine.

Scheduled events:

December 21: Peaceful rallies in Okhtyrka, Pivdennoukrainsk, Chernihiv, Irpin, Vinnytsia, Kolomyia, Zhytomyr, Obukhiv, Poltava, Pavlohrad, and Zaporizhia.

December 22: Peaceful rallies in Kyiv, Uman, Krolevets, Korosten, Ovruch, Cherkasy, Uzhhorod, Mykolaiv, Korostyshiv, Kovel, Kropyvnytskyi, Odesa, Ostroh, and Lviv.

The events are organized by the families of POWs from the Mariupol garrison. The rallies are often attended by Ukrainians who have been released from captivity.

• military
• prisoners
• russian crimes
• Kyiv
• Lviv
• Odesa

Mariia Vasylchenko, a 42-year-old from Sloviansk in the Donetsk oblast, worked as a shop assistant in the nearby town of Lyman. On May 29 this year, she was at work when russia launched a missile and bomb attack on the town. Mariia remembers seeing blood and rubble all around her and trying to stand up, but not being able to. Ukrainian soldiers pulled her from the rubble and took her to the hospital.

Glass shards had cut her entire body, requiring 80 stitches. A large piece of metal pierced her chest, leaving a significant wound that was difficult for doctors to heal. The injury left a massive 7×3 cm scar on her chest. For a month, Mariia avoided looking at herself in the mirror.

Now, specialists at the UNBROKEN Center in Lviv are helping her regain her confidence. As part of a joint social project with the L’Oréal Group called “(Un)Broken Beauty”, Lviv surgeons have performed several plastic surgeries to gradually erase the scars of war from her face and body.

Journalists can arrange to speak with Mariia, who is currently in Sloviansk.

Background: Any Ukrainian woman injured by the war can participate in the social project “(Un)Broken Beauty”. All assistance is provided completely free of charge.

• casualties
• russian crimes
• women

Andrii Leinveber has been passionate about horses since childhood, and bought his first horse at the age of 14. In 2022, he founded his own equestrian club in Melitopol, a city in southern Ukraine. The club offered riding lessons for adults and children, and Andrii also taught jigiting – the art of trick riding.

After russia’s full-scale invasion began, Andrii’s stable was in danger. russian shelling damaged one of the buildings, and Andrii and his friends had to round up frightened horses scattered throughout the city. He took five horses to his home, while the others were cared for by friends.

When Melitopol was occupied by russian troops, the horses faced a new threat: hunger. The city lacked fodder, as the occupiers forbade travel to other settlements for supplies and deliberately destroyed the hay meant for the horses. One day, Andrii himself was captured by the russians. He was held in a cell for two weeks without contact with the outside world. After his release, Andrii decided to evacuate. He managed to take three horses with him, although it took three attempts to leave – twice he was turned back at russian checkpoints.

Now, Andrii has established a new equestrian club in the Odesa oblast, where he takes care of five horses and a pony. He also invites soldiers to participate in equine therapy.

• animals
• occupation
• prisoners
• russian crimes
• Odesa

On December 21, the War Museum in Kyiv will host the presentation of Chernihiv During the War – 2022: Voices of Living Witnesses, a bilingual collection of firsthand accounts detailing the russian occupation and siege of Chernihiv and its surrounding region between February and April 2022.

The project was initiated by Kateryna Lytvyn, a historian and candidate of historical sciences. At the outset of russia’s all-out invasion, Lytvyn fled Chernihiv to a nearby settlement that remained under occupation for 36 days. Following the region’s liberation, she sought to document the personal stories of Chernihiv residents. Her efforts were supported by the Chernihiv City Council’s Department of Culture and Tourism, along with a group of researchers who have since formed the Chernihiv Research Center for the Anthropology of War. The project’s archive now contains over 350 interviews, 24 of which are featured in this publication and translated into English.

The event will offer attendees a chance to meet the book’s co-editors, including Kateryna Lytvyn, Oleksandr Shevchuk, Svitlana Makhovska, Olena Boriak, Oleksandr Vasianovych, Olha Vorobiei, Anastasiia Pankova, Olha Berezovska, and translator Andrii Shataliuk.

Prior accreditation is required to attend the presentation.

• occupation
• russian crimes
• Kyiv

Before the full-blown war outbreak in February 2022, Capital Tours operated across Kyiv, Lviv, and Odesa, offering guided tours of Ukraine’s landmarks. Svitozar Moiseiv, one of the agency’s guides, led sightseeing tours of the capital. However, the business came to a halt when the war escalated. 

In 2023, Svitozar received an unusual request—foreigners seeking tours of the recently liberated areas around Kyiv. Responding to the demand, he created a six-hour tour covering the outskirts of the capital. The route includes visits to Bucha, Irpin, Borodianka, Hostomel, and Moshchun—places that bear the scars of russian occupation. Svitozar often conducts private tours, beginning by sharing his personal experience at the onset of the invasion, and then taking visitors to sites where the atrocities of the occupiers unfolded. 

Moiseiv notes that most of his clients are foreigners in Kyiv for business or to visit family, and none have traveled to Ukraine solely for the tour. The six-hour tour costs around 150 euros, with a portion of the proceeds donated to support the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

• occupation
• russian crimes
• Kyiv

On December 17, the Media Center Ukraine will present the study “Anatomy of a Systematic Crime: How russia Persecutes Civilians”. In this new report, the Media Initiative for Human Rights reconstructs crimes committed by russians against civilians during the occupation of the northern regions of Ukraine. The findings show that the persecution of civilians is not a series of isolated acts of brutality by russian soldiers, but rather a systematic, deliberate, and targeted policy by russia’s military and political leadership.

The study is based on 143 in-depth interviews with victims and witnesses analyzed using the specialized I-DOC database, which provides links between individual incidents.

Participants:

– Lyubov Smachylo, Head of the Analytics Department at the Media Initiative for Human Rights (MIHR);

– Anna Rassamakhina, Head of the War and Justice Department at MIHR;

– Lene Wetteland, Head of the Documentation and Accountability Center at the Norwegian Helsinki Committee (online);

– Yuliia, wife of a civilian abducted and tortured at the Antonov airport in Hostomel, Kyiv Oblast.

Discussion topics:

– War crimes committed by the russian army against civilians and crimes against humanity in Kyiv, Chernihiv and Sumy oblasts;

– Deportation routes and places of detention of civilians on the territory of the russian federation;

– Individuals involved in crimes against civilians and crimes against humanity.

Prior registration required.

• russian crimes
• Kyiv

On December 17 in Kyiv, the Association of Relatives of Political Prisoners of the Kremlin and the Center for Civil Liberties will present an analytical report and hold a public discussion on how civilians who independently escaped from russian captivity can prove their imprisonment by the aggressor state.

According to the Ministry of Reintegration as of November 2023, every third attempt to confirm illegal imprisonment of civilians as a result of russian aggression ends in a refusal. As a result, people who were tortured and detained without rights or documents are left without essential state support.

The presentation will be followed by a discussion with the following participants:

• Kateryna Levchenko, lawyer with the Association of Relatives of Political Prisoners of the Kremlin;
• Mykhailo Savva, Doctor of Political Science and member of the Expert Council of the Center for Civil Rights;
• Yuliia Poliekhina, lawyer with the Human Rights Protection Group “Sich” and the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union (online);
• Oleksandr Panchenko, former prisoner released from unlawful detention (online).

Moderator: Ihor Kotelianets, head of the Association of relatives of Kremlin political prisoners.

Registration is required.

• russian crimes
• Kyiv

The book “Workshop of Lies” examines how russian media, social networks and cultural diplomacy have become tools of manipulation on all continents. The publication aims to teach readers how to identify false information and think critically in the context of information warfare.

The authors, Viktor Berezenko and Dmytro Tsarenko, are political strategists and media consultants with 15 years of experience. Written in a popular-science style, the book marks their literary debut and is a culmination of their expertise in political strategy, media wars, and countering Kremlin disinformation. All royalties from book sales will be donated to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The book was launched at the Frankfurt Book Fair.

Among the first recipients of “Workshop of Lies” were Ukraine’s Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov, Chief of the Main Directorate of Intelligence Kyrylo Budanov, and soldiers of the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

In the spring of 2025, the English version of the book will be presented in Brussels, Berlin, Warsaw, London, Paris and Washington, while the Spanish edition will be launched in Madrid.

Journalists can arrange an online interview with Viktor Berezenko by prior arrangement.

• culture
• russian crimes

On December 13 the Media Center Ukraine will host the presentation of the art and historical project “Flowers of Victory”. The centerpiece of the project is a sculpture crafted from the remnants of an enemy infantry fighting vehicle destroyed in the Kyiv oblast, and ammunition fragments left behind by russian shelling of civilian targets. The sculpture depicts sunflowers growing through enemy equipment, symbolizing Ukraine’s triumph over the aggressor.

Participants:

– Kostiantyn Cherniavskyi, chairman of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine, Honored Artist of Ukraine; 

– Bohdan Mazur, author of the sculptural composition, winner of the Taras Shevchenko National Prize of Ukraine, member of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine;

– Mamuka Mamulashvili, soldier, founder and commander of the Georgian National Legion;

– Oleksandr Kuklyshyn, project manager and head of the NGO “Green Stripe”.

During the event, journalists will have an opportunity to see metal fragments from russian missiles left after the attack on the Ohmatdyt National Children’s Hospital.

• culture
• russian crimes
• weapon
• Kyiv

Governments, security and military organizations of other countries will study Ukraine’s experience in countering cyber-attacks through the TRYZUB cyber-training platform. This initiative is a cooperation between the American company CYBER RANGES, the State Service for Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine, and CERT-UA. This was announced by Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s Minister of Digital Transformation.

According to Fedorov, the platform will simulate real cyber attacks on critical infrastructure in a secure environment. It will replicate the actions of major hacker groups that have targeted Ukraine. Military units, government agencies, law enforcement organizations, and critical network operators from around the world will be trained on the TRYZUB platform. A portion of the proceeds from these trainings will be donated to UNITED24 to support Ukraine.

Under preliminary agreements, journalists will have the opportunity to report on the TRYZUB platform, including the ability to:

• Interview project representatives to discuss the value, goals and importance of the project to NATO countries and beyond.
• Speak with representatives of the State Service for Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine who developed the scenarios based on real cyber-attacks that Ukraine has faced, and who can provide insights into the cyber threats and challenges that Ukraine is overcoming during the war, and how this experience can benefit other nations.
• Connect with representatives from CYBER RANGES, the U.S. company providing the training platform. Known worldwide among cybersecurity professionals, they can discuss their motivation for participating in the project, their observations of global cyberattack trends, the behavior of russian hackers, and the risks posed by their attacks on critical infrastructure in countries supporting Ukraine. (This can be done via video call or in the US)

Background information: russia’s war against Ukraine is considered the first war in history to be fought also in cyberspace. Ukraine currently ranks among the top nations in terms of the number of cyber attacks it faces. However, these threats are not limited to Ukraine – they have escalated to a global scale, affecting the U.S. and European countries. According to this year’s Global Risks Report by the World Economic Forum, cyber vulnerabilities rank fourth among the most serious risks for the next two years and are projected to remain among the top eight risks for the next decade.

• russian crimes