Themes by tag: russian crimes

Since the beginning of this 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 250 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

Rusudana Pavlichenko is of Georgian descent. When the full-scale invasion began, she was abroad for her father’s funeral. For the first time in her life, Rusudana had to flee the war (the war in Abkhazia) when she was only 10 years old. She then came to Ukraine and has lived here her entire life.

Rusudana’s husband, Serhii Pavlichenko, defended Ukraine from the occupiers since 2014. He held the defense of Azovstal during the beginning of the full-scale invasion and was captured afterward. He died in a terrorist attack in Olenivka (a village in the occupied Donetsk oblast) on July 28-29, 2022. The couple had two children: 12-year-old Adeliia and 8-year-old Nazar.

Journalists can arrange to interview Rusudana in Cherkasy or online.

Currently, the family is being supported by the charitable foundation “Children of Heroes.” The foundation helps children who have lost one or both parents due to russia’s full-scale invasion. The foundation provides financial assistance, psychological support, legal support, and promotes education and development for children until they reach adulthood.

Background: On July 29, 2022, russia committed a terrorist act by detonating an explosion in a barrack of a correctional colony in Olenivka where Ukrainian prisoners of war were held. At least 50 Azovstal defenders were killed in the attack.

• dead
• military
• occupation
• prisoners
• russian crimes
• women
• Cherkasy
• Mariupol

Anatolii Levchenko is a theater professional from Mariupol who, in 2015, spearheaded a new chapter in the city’s cultural life by launching contemporary Ukrainian productions at a theater once designated as “russian.”

He and his wife, Hanna, were caregivers for their nonverbal autistic son and Hanna’s 90-year-old mother. Because of these responsibilities, the Levchenkos were unable to evacuate Mariupol quickly after the russian invasion began. They managed to leave only in May 2022. But just one day before their departure, Anatolii was detained by russian forces, following a denunciation from former colleagues in the theater who had aligned themselves with the occupying authorities.

At first, Hanna had no idea where her husband had been taken. She later learned that he had been accused of extremism and transferred to russian-occupied Donetsk. For more than 10 months, she sent him clothing, medication, and letters to the detention center. Occasionally, Anatolii was allowed to call her late at night. During this time, Hanna managed life on her own, caring for their son, sourcing food and water, and cooking over an open fire alongside neighbors.

On March 9, 2023, she received a phone call: Anatolii was being released. His health had significantly deteriorated after nearly a year in detention. That summer, the family reached Ukrainian-controlled territory, first relocating to Kropyvnytskyi. A year later, they moved to Kyiv. Today, Anatolii has resumed his work in theater.

He is available for conversations both online and in person in the capital, with prior arrangement.

For reference: The defense of Mariupol lasted 86 days. On May 20, 2022, the city fell under russian occupation. According to Human Rights Watch, at least 8,000 civilians were killed during the siege. Thousands more were injured, many lost limbs, vision, hearing, or memory, often due to blast-related head trauma. Of Mariupol’s pre-war population of 540,000, approximately 400,000 had fled by mid-May 2022.

• casualties
• culture
• occupation
• prisoners
• russian crimes
• Kyiv
• Mariupol

“I want my face to look like it did before the war” – these are the words of 43-year-old Oksana Serhiienko, a patient at the UNBROKEN Center, who was wounded while evacuating her children from the occupied part of Kyiv region during the early days of russia’s full-scale invasion.

russian troops shot Oksana in the face. The bullet shattered her jaw. She has since undergone multiple surgeries, including a procedure to reconstruct part of her lower jaw using a titanium plate. Though the operations saved her life, they left visible scars that she is now determined to erase.

Oksana is receiving treatment at the Aesthetic Medicine Center of the First Medical Union of Lviv, where doctors have already completed the first stage of laser resurfacing. She will require at least two more sessions to achieve the desired results.

For reference: Oksana Serhiienko’s care is part of a collaborative project between the UNBROKEN Center and L’Oréal Ukraine called “No Time for Beauty.” The initiative aims to help Ukrainian women heal by removing the physical marks of war from their faces and bodies.

The UNBROKEN National Rehabilitation Center operates under the First Medical Union of Lviv.

• casualties
• doctors
• russian crimes
• women

Peaceful gatherings will be held in 28 cities to raise awareness for the defenders of Azovstal and other military personnel still held in enemy captivity.

On April 26, events will take place in Vinnytsia, Chernihiv, Cherkasy, Bila Tserkva, and Mykolaiv. On April 27, additional events are planned for Kyiv, Krolevets, Korop, Ovruch, Uzhhorod, Berdychiv, Dolyna, Kropyvnytskyi, Shostka, and Chernivtsi.

These actions are organized by the families of prisoners of war from the Mariupol garrison. Former prisoners of war who have been released from captivity will also participate in the events.

• military
• prisoners
• russian crimes
• Kyiv

Anastasiia Hondiul and Anna Lobova, wives of Ukrainian prisoners of war and members of the Olenivka Community NGO, are preparing for an indefinite hunger strike set to begin in the capital on April 24. Their husbands, Artem Hondiul and Oleh Lobov, defended Mariupol, surrendered on the orders of their command and survived the terrorist attack in Olenivka.

Anastasiia and Anna say they are taking this step because of the silence of the Ukrainian authorities. Through their hunger strike, the women aim to draw public and government attention to the soldiers who remain in enemy captivity.

The women will remain in the city center during the day, while at night (during the curfew) they will seek shelter in a safe place.

Journalists can speak with the women both online and offline by prior arrangement.

Background: The defense of Mariupol lasted 86 days, ending on May 20, 2022. On the night of July 28-29, 2022, russia committed a terrorist act by blowing up a barracks in the Olenivka penal colony, where Ukrainian POWs were held. At least 50 defenders of “Azovstal” were killed, and over a hundred were injured.

• military
• prisoners
• russian crimes
• women
• Kyiv

Until 2015, Artem Dubyna worked as a journalist in Nikopol, in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region. After the Revolution of Dignity and the onset of russian aggression in eastern Ukraine, he joined the military and served with the Azov regiment. Several years later, Artem left the service and was preparing for his wedding.

When russia launched its full-scale invasion, he immediately returned to his unit – the 12th Brigade of the Azov National Guard. He was first deployed to defend the airport in Zaporizhia but was soon transferred to Mariupol. On February 26, 2022, Artem and his comrades took up positions at the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works. During one of the missions, he was struck by a sniper’s bullet. The round pierced his temple and exited through his neck. Against all odds, he survived.

In May 2022, Artem and his fellow soldiers were ordered to surrender and were taken captive. He was first held in a penal colony in Olenivka, in the occupied Donetsk region, before being transferred to Taganrog, russia. While in captivity, Artem endured torture. He returned home only after two years and four months, during a recent prisoner exchange.

Interviews with Artem Dubyna are possible both online and in person, by prior arrangement through the press officer.

For reference: The defense of Mariupol lasted 86 days. On May 20, 2022, the city fell under russian occupation. According to Human Rights Watch, an estimated 8,000 civilians were killed during the russian assault. Out of Mariupol’s pre-war population of 540,000, approximately 400,000 had fled by mid-May 2022.

On the night of July 29, 2022, russia carried out a terrorist attack by detonating explosives inside a barracks at the Olenivka penal colony, where Ukrainian prisoners of war were being held. At least 50 Azovstal defenders were killed, and more than 100 others were injured.

• casualties
• military
• prisoners
• russian crimes

On April 15, Kyiv will host a screening of “Shadows on the Left Bank” – an investigative film by Danylo Mokryk exposing russian atrocities in the occupied Kherson oblast.

From the first days of the full-scale invasion, much of Kherson oblast, including the village of Hornostaivka (Kakhovka district), fell under Russian control. The occupiers turned the local national police station into a torture chamber where Ukrainian soldiers and civilians were detained.

A team of journalists from The Kyiv Independent uncovered the identities of several victims who perished at the torture site, as well as the names of “officers” of the occupation “police” responsible for torturing and killing Kherson residents.

The documentary centers on the murder of 28-year-old Hornostaivka resident Ruslan Rusnak, an ATO veteran who was abducted by russian occupiers in November 2023 and tortured to death in the former police station.

During the event, the film’s creators – Danylo Mokryk, a journalist from the Head of War Crimes Investigations Unit, and Yevheniia Motorevska, Head of War Crimes Investigations Unit (The Kyiv Independent) – will speak about the story behind the film creation and the progress of the investigation.

Accreditation is required to attend the event.

• culture
• dead
• occupation
• russian crimes
• Kyiv

How can we ensure that the destruction of Ukrainian monuments, museums and artifacts by the russian federation does not go unpunished? How can we collect evidence of crimes against cultural heritage so that it becomes part of the indictments in international tribunals?

These topics were addressed by participants of a four-day training in Kyiv: museum workers, investigators, prosecutors, military personnel, scientists, representatives of the public sector and journalists. Among the trainers were representatives from 7 countries (USA, UK, Sweden, France, Mauritius, Netherlands and Ukraine), including prosecutors who have worked with the International Criminal Court to prosecute those responsible for crimes against cultural heritage in Mali, Bosnia and other countries.

The press conference, which will be held in Kyiv on April 11, will summarize the results of the training, outline the main challenges and the steps necessary to achieve justice.

Participants of the press conference:

• Nataraj Muneesamy, Assistant Attorney General of Mauritius, expert in international criminal law; 
• Andrea Cayley, Coordinator of the Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group (ACA) in Ukraine, Head of the Cultural Heritage Group; 
• Ankie Petersen, Staff Officer for Cultural Property Protection, NL Armed Forces, member of the Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group (ACA) in Ukraine;
• Anna Neistat, Legal Director of The Docket initiative (Clooney Foundation for Justice’s initiative to hold perpetrators of international crimes accountable); 
• Ihor Poshyvailo, Co-founder of the Agency for Cultural Resilience (ACURE), Director General of the National Museum of the Revolution of Dignity.

• culture
• russian crimes
• Kyiv

On April 12, a peaceful rally “From captivity — home” dedicated to the release of Ukrainian civilian prisoners who are illegally held by russia will take place in Kyiv. The goal of the event is to draw public and international attention to the issue of illegal detention of Ukrainian civilians by russia and to demand their immediate release.

During the rally “From captivity — home” there will be:

• Speeches by representatives of the “Civilians in Captivity” organization, who will tell about life in captivity and the experiences of people illegally detained by russia; 
• performances by artists; 
• a joint prayer for the release of prisoners; 
• addresses by government officials; 
• a moment of silence for the fallen.

Background: According to official figures, russia is illegally holding thousands of Ukrainian civilians. They are doctors, teachers, volunteers, journalists, ordinary citizens who have become victims of russian aggression.

• prisoners
• russian crimes
• Kyiv