Themes by tag: russian crimes

Before the full-scale invasion, Anastasiia Ovcharenko worked with her husband in the IT industry in Kharkiv. The couple were raising a daughter.

When the big war started the family found themselves in their hometown. On the night of February 24, Anastasiia heard the explosions of russian rockets. The woman has been volunteering since March. Together with her husband, Anastasiia has set up fundraisers for the army and taken care of military vehicles.

On January 23, 2024, an enemy missile hit Anastasiia’s apartment. That morning, the couple had to go to Kyiv to take a military car to a workshop. The first explosions happened at 4 AM, so they asked their daughter to also go out to the car with them. Anastasiia and her family were around the corner from their house when a russian missile hit the building. Even after they lost their home, the Ovcharenkos did not abandon the military vehicle, but brought it to Kyiv as planned. And in a few days, they delivered the vehicle to the military in the East.

Anastasiia says that even despite the loss of a roof over their heads, the family will continue to volunteer and work for the Armed Forces, because only the Defense Forces will be able to stop the occupiers.

For reference: February 24, 2024 marks 2 years since the beginning of russia’s illegal full-scale invasion. The attack marked the culmination of the war of aggression, which the russian federation had been waging against Ukraine for 10 years at that point. This war began on February 20, 2014 when the russians invaded the territory of the Ukrainian Crimea without identification marks and occupied the peninsula. After that, russia started a war in the East of Ukraine.

• casualties
• russian crimes
• volunteers
• women
• Kharkiv

Over UAH 2 trillion is the amount of damage caused to the environment as a result of russia’s armed aggression (from February 24, 2022 to January 26, 2024). The damages were calculated by the State Environmental Inspectorate of Ukraine taking into account air, water and land pollution.

By prior agreement, journalists have the opportunity to talk with specialists of the State Environmental Inspectorate and cover their efforts to fix environmental damage. 

• ecology
• russian crimes

On January 30, the press conference “Dialogue in Russian: “Black Register of Executions, Tortures and Cases of Inhumane Treatment of the Civilian Population” will be held at Media Center Ukraine – Ukrinform. Freerights Human Rights Association, a part of the Ukraine 5 AM Coalition, will present the “Black Register of Executions, Tortures and Cases of Inhumane Treatment of the Civilian Population in the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine,” and the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT) will showcase the Roadmap for Investigating Torture and Enforced Disappearances, in order to incorporate recorded cases to criminal investigation and ensure further inevitability of punishment of those responsible for war crimes.

Participants:

• Anastasiia Malynka, Freerights Human Rights Association information manager (in person);
• Maryia Kvitsinskaya, Expert on Europe and Central Asia at the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT) (online);
• A representative of the Division for Interaction with State, Non-Governmental, and International Organizations of the Office of the Prosecutor General’s Department for Combating Crimes Committed During Armed Conflict (speaker to be announced).

The event will be held within the framework of the cooperation between Ukraine 5 AM Coalition with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands.

For reference: Ukraine 5 AM Coalition started working on February 25, 2022, the day after russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Today, there are 38 NGOs and four individual experts in the Coalition. They combined their efforts to systematically document war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the russian armed aggression against Ukraine. The Coalition also protects victims of the russo-Ukrainian war through state and international mechanisms of justice.

• casualties
• dead
• russian crimes
• Kyiv

The MiNiMISTO project, which combines LEGO modeling with the history of the native area, was founded by Alexander Yermolayev, a designer from Mykolaiv, in early 2020. At first it was an ordinary hobby, which gradually evolved into a full-fledged Internet project.

At the very beginning of the full-scale war (March 2022), Alexander decided to use LEGO models to talk about the buildings destroyed or damaged by the russians throughout Ukraine. At that time, Mykolaiv (a city in the South of Ukraine) was suffering from a chaotic enemy shelling, and it building LEGO live took too long in such conditions. Therefore, Alexander started working with a special digital designer software (the same LEGO blocks, only virtually). According to Alexander, this made it possible to promptly reproduce destroyed buildings, as well as involve other creators in the project. Currently, there are three creators in the MiNiMISTO team. The project website, among other things, features the Mariupol Drama Theater as well as Bakhmut and Kramatorsk railway stations.

Journalists are welcome to learn more about the Internet project, as well as talk to the founder.

• culture
• reconstruction
• russian crimes
• Mykolaiv

On January 23, the Lokomotyv stadium, a sports complex of Ukrzaliznytsia in Kyiv, was damaged by Russian missile fire.

Ukrzaliznytsia reported that more than five hundred children of railroad workers and IDPs, including those from Mariupol, Melitopol, and Kherson, as they train at Lokomotyv stadium every single day. Fortunately, there were no children on the territory of the sports facility at the time of the shelling.

For now, training sessions at the stadium have been canceled. Soon, FC Lokomotyv aspiring players will return to training at the partners sports facilities. 

Journalists can get to the stadium to cover the footage revealing the extent of the destruction. 

For reference: Lokomotyv Stadium was opened to the public on August 2, 1925.

• russian crimes
• Kyiv

Researchers at the Tarnovskyi Chernihiv Regional Historical Museum discover historical artifacts that remain in the basement of a school in the village of Yahidne in Chernihiv Oblast. A place where the occupiers kept over 300 local residents in inhumane conditions for almost a month in the spring of 2022.

Experts have been visiting a local school in Yahidne since September last year. During this time, they have examined and documented more than 600 findings. Among material evidence, there were pieces of clothes, shoes, personal belongings, knives, books, boxes of enemy military rations, hand sanitizer bottles, Russian newspapers, wooden pallets on which the prisoners had to sit and sleep, and even plastic water bottles that served as a toilet. The specialists are now done with describing the items of evidence in 5 rooms and are now searching the gym (the largest space in the basement). The work is scheduled to be completed in February.

All examined items will remain in place. The authorities plan to convert the school basement into a museum. 

Journalists are welcome to join the museum’s researchers and cover their work.

For reference: The village of Yahidne is located near Chernihiv. At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the Russians set up their headquarters in a local school. They forced 299 adult local residents and 67 children into the school basement and held villagers captive for almost a month (almost an entire village). The basement area is 197 square meters. For lack of space, people had to sleep sitting up, and there was also a lack of oxygen. 10 people died.

In February, the famous American TIME magazine released a cover with the Yahidne village basement. 

• casualties
• dead
• occupation
• russian crimes
• Chernihiv

On January 24, Media Center Ukraine – Ukrinform will host a press conference entitled: “Nothing sacred: war crimes by the russian occupiers against religious communities and the clergy.”

During the event, the participants will speak of numerous facts of religious persecution in the occupied territories and violations of international humanitarian law by the aggressor against religious buildings during hostilities.

Participants:

• Viktor Yelenskyi, Head of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience;
• Yevgeniy Zakharov, Director of the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group;
• Vyacheslav Likhachev, Expert Council Member at the Center for Civil Liberties;
• Ruslan Khalikov, religious studies expert, Head of “Religion on Fire” project, Workshop for the Academic Study of Religion.

The event requires registration.

• religion
• russian crimes
• Kyiv

Originally from Donetsk, Tetiana Tipakova lived in Berdiansk, Zaporizhia region (currently Russian-occupied), for about 30 years. Before Russia’s all-out invasion, she worked in a travel agency.

Since the full-blown war’s early days, Tetiana assembled peaceful protests in support of Ukraine in Berdiansk. Eventually, she was abducted by the Russian military for leading the actions. They put a bag over her head and took her to a colony, where she was interrogated for two days and beaten. Tetiana was subjected to electric shocks through her fingers and Russian captors mocked her execution. She was also forced to record an apology video. The prisoner was released, but the next day she was captured again. This time, she was held for 4 days and again had to endure torture.

After that, Tatiana decided to flee the city. She traveled through more than 20 checkpoints to get to the city of Zaporizhia. There she later founded the Ridna Stezhka NGO to support her fellow countrymen who were also forced out of the occupied city. They help people with food and medicine insecurity and organize leisure activities. They also help the military from the Berdiansk community. “Our heart is forever yellow and blue” is a tagline linked with the organization. 

There is an opportunity for journalists to hold offline and online interviews with Tetiana. 

• occupation
• prisoners
• russian crimes
• women

On January 17, a press conference on the situation in Ukraine’s temporarily occupied areas in 2023 and the challenges ahead in 2024 will be held at the Media Center – Ukrinform.

The press conference discussion will involve experts examining the socio-political issues, humanitarian crises, and abuses of international humanitarian law in the temporarily occupied territories. The event will also feature a discussion on challenges to face in 2024, including the upcoming Russian presidential election.

In addition, a study by the OSINT agency Molfar “Kremlin Agents in Robes: How the Clergy of the UOC (MP) Lobby for Russia’s Interests” will be released. 

Participants: 

– Andriy Yusov, Representative of the Defense Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine;

– Anatolii Stelmakh, Deputy Minister for the Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine;

– Ihor Solovey, Head of the Centre for Strategic Communication and Information Security;

– Pavlo Fiialkovskyi, an analyst at an OSINT Agency;

– Representative of the Special Operations Forces’ National Resistance Center of Ukraine. 

Event media registration is required. 

• occupation
• russian crimes
• Kyiv

Liudmyla Chepizhko, owner of a beauty salon in Solomianskyi district of Kyiv. The woman opened the establishment during the all-out Russian invasion.

On the morning of January 2, 2024, Russians attacked Kyiv with missiles. The explosion shattered windows and damaged walls in Liudmyla’s salon. Luckily, there were no people at the moment when the strike hit, so there were no those injured. The very next day, Liudmyla boarded up the broken windows with plywood and reopened the salon for business.

• reconstruction
• russian crimes
• women
• Kyiv