Themes by tag: russian crimes

An exhibition of Russian military equipment destroyed during the war will be held in Kyiv. It is currently being assembled on Khreshchatyk. The exhibits include damaged Russian tanks, armored personnel carriers, and destroyed missiles. In total, there are plans to display more than 50 pieces. 

Journalists can learn more about the exhibits from a representative of the National Military History Museum of Ukraine.

• occupation
• russian crimes
• Kyiv

The sculpture “Cruise Missile” by artist Illia Chornomaz consists of fragments of shells that were hitting the Kharkiv region. During the first days of the enemy invasion, the 24-year-old man was hiding in his workshop. And then he got down to work. Illia spent a year of his life and 500 kilograms of Russian missile fragments on the metal sculpture. He managed to find and collect all the material, thanks to the rescuers. With his sculpture, Illia wants to show the importance of art even in such challenging times. And it also aims to demonstrate the tension experienced by a person who has been living in war for two consecutive years. The “Cruise Missile” is planned to be sold at auction, and the proceeds will be used to support the military defending the Kharkiv region. 

Illia Chornomaz is in Kharkiv, ready to talk to journalists, both online and in person. 

• culture
• occupation
• russian crimes
• Kharkiv

On August 22, Kyiv will host two panel discussions and a special event by the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People within the framework of the Third Summit of the International Crimea Platform. The goal is to give a background for the discussions that will take place at the Third Summit of the International Crimea Platform: to discuss ways to liberate temporarily occupied Crimea and part of the waters of the Black and Azov Seas; to investigate the opportunities available to Ukraine for the liberation of certain regions; to assess the most likely problems and risks on the way to establishing sustainable and reliable peace; to determine the range of problems on the way to the reintegration of Crimea and to develop a vision for overcoming them.

Participants: representatives of the Expert Network of the Crimea Platform, state authorities of Ukraine, international think tanks and NGOs, representatives of the International Crimea Platform countries officials, and representatives of the academic community.

Some of the participants include:

• Kajsa Ollongren, Minister of Defense of the Netherlands (TBC)
• Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine
• Andriy Kostin, Prosecutor General of Ukraine.

• occupation
• russian crimes
• Kyiv

Mykhailo-Kotsiubynske village is located near Chernihiv. At the beginning of the full-scale war, it was under occupation for more than a month. In March 2022, two russian missiles hit the local lyceum: the first and second floors of the building and the sports ground were destroyed.

The computer science, chemistry, physics, biology and defense of Ukraine classrooms, as well as the archive were also destroyed. The gym was damaged too.

Currently, the charitable foundation “savED” is helping to restore the lyceum (this foundation restores access to education in communities affected by the war).

Also, as part of the efforts by UNITED24, global initiative to support Ukraine, a charity match was held in London, where Ukrainian football players Andriy Shevchenko and Oleksandr Zinchenko took to the field to raise funds to restore Mykhailo-Kotsiubynske Lyceum in Chernihiv region.

• children
• occupation
• russian crimes
• Chernihiv

The team of Territorial Defense Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has produced the documentary Beyond the Peace. It was created based on footage made in Bucha district, Kyiv oblast in February 2024.

The documentary depicts the consequences of war crimes committed by the russian army as well as Ukraine’s resistance. The film also includes testimonies by the locals from the previously occupied areas.

The documentary aims to showcase the war crimes that took place during the occupation of Bucha district, Kyiv oblast.

The creators of the film are ready to provide all the necessary broadcasting rights to the documentary.

The English version is available here.

The Ukrainian version (with English subtitles) is available here.

• occupation
• russian crimes

Vitalii Kucherenko is a Ukrainian military man with almost 30 years of experience. He has been defending Ukraine since 2014 (he took part in the battles for Ilovaisk, Maryinka, and Avdiivka in particular). He was discharged from military service in 2017. During his service, he faced the major issue of the occupiers’ mining of Ukrainian land and in 2020, founded a private humanitarian company in mine action and later a training center for those wishing to learn the explosive ordnance survey and clearance experts profession. The center operates in the Khmelnytskyi region. There are already 174 people who have taken the course, including about 30 veterans of the Russia-Ukraine war, who are now qualified as demining experts. Currently, Vitalii’s company employs three veterans, and they are preparing to take part in land release operations.

For reference: According to preliminary forecasts, every 10th worker in Ukraine will be a veteran after the war is over. According to a recent study on ex-military employment, over 60% of employers had no experience working with veterans and, accordingly, had no experience recruiting veterans. 

• russian crimes
• Khmelnytskyi
• demining

Mykola has been working in the agricultural industry for about 30 years. The man manages a farm in Kyiv region that sells seeds on the country’s domestic market. (Specifically, legume, wheat, buckwheat, barley, oats seeds, etc.).

However, due to russia’s full-scale invasion and the blockade of sea ports, Ukrainian farmers cannot sell their crops, so they have no money to buy new seeds.

So, the farm managed by Mykola was able to sell only 10% of last year’s stock of soft wheat seeds.

For reference: On the topic of agricultural enterprises and other farms affected by the full-scale war, journalists are welcome to receive comments from experts of the “Ukrainian Agrarian Council” and the international fund SaveUA, which was created by agrarians in the first days of russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

• russian crimes
• Kyiv
• grain

Antonina Semenova is an illustrator and artist. On the eve of the full-scale invasion, she was working on themed children’s alphabets. After February 24, 2022, she realized that there was no way she could draw peaceful illustrations anymore but instead had to reflect on the events of that day. Thus, she came up with the idea to create a “Visual Diary of War.” The woman draws one small sketch about what is happening daily in the country. (This Diary could be seen at exhibitions in Ukraine and abroad).

Later, the idea arose to transform the diary from a personal lifeline of one artist into a project that would be the voice of different Ukrainians. So now, with the support of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation, she is working on creating an art book to assemble the artist’s illustrations and stories from Ukrainians. She is currently collecting stories about every day of the war-torn country. 

Selected stories for the period from 24.02.22 to 25.02.23 will be published in a book that will be kept in museums and libraries of Ukraine and Ukrainian cultural centers abroad and will participate in exhibitions dedicated to the struggle of the Ukrainian people against the Russian invaders.

• culture
• russian crimes

A resident of the Kyiv region, Yana Sheremet, has been looking for her father, Serhii Khrolenko, for a year and a half. The man was abducted by Russians in Dymer in late February last year. During the village occupation, the 52-year-old man went to the store but never returned home. According to witnesses, the Russians forced him into an armored personnel carrier. They took him to the territory of a factory where many civilian hostages were being held at the time. On March 19, Serhii was last seen there then the trail of the man disappeared.

Yana conducted her own investigation: she interviewed about 30 people freed on the prisoner exchange who had been held hostage in Russia. She went to the office of the International Committee of the Red Cross in the Czech Republic and is trying to get a response from Ukrainian law enforcement about the investigation into Khrolenko’s case. And in the near future, Yana plans to file a lawsuit with the ECHR over her father’s abduction.

• occupation
• russian crimes

On July 28, at 11:00 AM, Media Center Ukraine – Ukrinform will hold a briefing entitled “Olenivka: Impunity – Encouragement of Terrorism.”  One year ago, the russians committed a terrorist attack brutally murdering the unarmed and powerless defenders of Azovstal, who had been held captive for more than two months at that time. As a result of the barbaric crime, according to unconfirmed data, at least 53 Ukrainian defenders were killed

Participants:

– Nataliia Zarytska, Chair of the “Woman of Steel,” wife of a released from captivity soldier of the Azov Regiment;

– Nataliia Pashniuk-Pashnieva, the mother of the defender of Azovstal who died as a result of the terrorist attack;

– Mariia Alieksieievych, the wife of the wounded defender of Azovstal, injured as a result of the terrorist attack in Olenivka;

– Nelia Shastun, the mother of two soldiers of the Azov Regiment, the elder of whom died, and the second was captured after leaving Azovstal and kept in the Olenivka barracks during the terrorist attack;

– Mykyta Shastun, Azovstal defender released from captivity, who was kept in the Olenivka barracks during the terrorist attack;

– Oleksandr Zarutskyi, international lawyer;

Prior accreditation is required.

• casualties
• dead
• military
• prisoners
• russian crimes
• Kyiv