Themes by tag: russian crimes
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.
As a result of a russian missile attack on May 5 and 7, 2025, several exhibits, an exhibition pavilion, and one administrative building of the Oleg Antonov State Aviation Museum were damaged. Specifically, several windows were shattered and the window frame system was deformed in the building housing the collection of aircraft models, preserved engines, and rescue equipment. This allowed moisture to enter the building, endangering the exhibits.
The museum is currently undergoing restoration. The repair work is being carried out within the framework of the “Culture Unites: Museums of Japan – Museums of Ukraine” grant program, implemented by ICOM Ukraine with financial support from ICOM Japan and the Japanese Association of Museums.
By prior arrangement, journalists can document the restoration process and speak with museum representatives.
Background: Thanks to the grant program, 6 unique damaged exhibits will be restored, and new glass will be installed in the pavilion and the administrative building.
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.
A memorial event titled “Wounds of Bucha’s Soil” will be held in Kyiv on November 7 to honor the tragedy of Ukraine’s hero cities, Bucha and Irpin, and the surrounding Bucha district, which endured some of the most brutal fighting in the spring of 2022. Once at the heart of russia’s assault on the Kyiv region, Bucha became a lasting symbol of the Ukrainian people’s strength and resilience. In the early weeks of the full-scale invasion, local defenders halted the enemy’s advance toward the capital, blocking armored columns on the outskirts of the city. After liberation, horrific images from Yablunska Street exposed the scale of atrocities committed by russian forces, turning Bucha into a global emblem of resistance and remembrance.
The event will revisit those events through the personal stories documented in journalist Olga Vorobyova’s books “Voices of Memory: Bucha – City of Heroes” and “Unconquered Irpin.” Attendees will hear first-hand accounts, testimonies from families of the fallen, and memories of witnesses who lived through the occupation. Organizers say the gathering will serve as a living memorial, a space for reflection, remembrance, and tribute to Ukrainians who sacrificed their lives for freedom.
Speakers will include:
– Nataliia Verbova, widow of Territorial Defense member Andrii Verbovyi, who was tortured to death by occupying forces;
– Olha Vorobiova, author of Voices of Memory: Bucha – City of Heroes and Unconquered Irpin;
– Kostiantyn Kukushkin, coordinator of the book publications;
– Liudmyla Humeniuk, mother of soldier Roman Shymanskyi, who died on February 25, 2022, during the demolition of the Hostomel Bridge over the Irpin River to stop an enemy convoy bound for Kyiv;
– Oleksandr Dubchak, the combat engineer who destroyed the Hostomel Bridge;
– Andrii Halavin, abbot of Church of St. Andrew the First-Called in Bucha, who oversaw the burial of the city’s victims;
– Dmytro Hapchenko, administrator of the Bucha City Council;– Yurii Savchuk, Director General of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in World War II and head of the museum’s expedition to the liberated Kyiv region in April 2022.
The program will feature documentary footage and photographs depicting the aftermath of Bucha’s occupation and the surrounding communities.
Journalists are required to register in advance to attend the event.
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.
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.
Serhii Ofitserov was born in Kherson, Ukraine, but his parents took him to russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula as a child. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, his father, Hennadii, returned to Ukraine, and Serhii followed in 1998. While in russia, Serhii received a russian passport and lived in Kherson with a residence permit. He had applied to renounce his russian citizenship to obtain Ukrainian citizenship, but he was unable to complete the process due to the start of the full-scale invasion.
russian forces kidnapped Serhii on August 3, 2022, while Kherson was under occupation. That autumn, his father, Hennadii, learned of his son’s fate: first, a former detainee who had been released from a torture chamber in Kherson reported seeing Serhii there. Later, Ofitserov appeared in a video filmed by russian propagandists about the detention of people allegedly “part of a terrorist group”.
Serhii is currently being held in a pretrial detention center (SIZO) in Rostov. He is one of nine Kherson residents kidnapped by the russians who have been accused of international terrorism under three articles of the criminal code. The trial is ongoing. According to his father, Serhii was held in a Kherson torture chamber for two or three months, where he was tortured and forced to sign everything demanded of him. Consequently, the fabricated case against Serhii is riddled with inconsistencies.
While in captivity, Serhii began drawing with simple pencils. His drawings depict Kherson landscapes, portraits, fantasy scenes, and life as a prisoner, including barred windows. Some of these drawings have been smuggled to Ukraine and are kept by his father who only receives about half of the letters his son sends.
By prior arrangement, journalists can speak with Serhii’s father, Hennadii Ofitserov, in Kyiv, Kherson, or online.
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.
