Themes by tag: russian crimes

On September 11, a presentation of a VR exhibition about the crimes of russians in the temporarily occupied territories will be held in Kyiv. During the presentation, the authors of the exhibition will show a clip from the documentary film, photos, as well as a VR-video with testimonies of Ukrainian citizens from de-occupied territories.

The VR video of the documentary project “Deoccupation ” will allow “transporting” the viewers to the de-occupied territories and, with the stories of eyewitnesses, viewers will be able to experience everything that happened there more fully. It will be possible to “visit” Kharkiv, Kukhari village (Kyiv Polissia) and settlements of Sivershchyna.

Participants:

• Oleksandra Romantsova, Executive Director at the Center for Civil Liberties
• Vitalii Poberezhnyi, Producer of the docuseries “Deoccupation”
• Karina Piliugina, Producer and Author of Ukraïner projects
• Spokesperson for the National Resistance Center of Ukraine

• casualties
• occupation
• russian crimes
• Kyiv

The Ukrainian VR project “FIRST DAY” directed by Valeriy Korshunov and produced by Svitlana Korshunova will be presented for the first time at the 80th Venice International Film Festival.

FIRST DAY is a fully immersive first-person VR experience that transports the visitor to the first day of russia’s full-scale invasion, and allows them to experience the internal transformation that Ukrainians went through on February 24, 2022.

The project is based on the stories of real people. The viewer will be able to see the houses of Borodyanka and Bucha destroyed by invaders’ shells. Along with a large number of other artifacts of the war, the buildings were scanned and then reproduced in virtual space.

The project will be presented in Ukraine on September 7. At the closed press event, journalists will have an opportunity to visit the project’s virtual location in VR helmets, talk with the authors of the project and the founders of Venice Immersive in a live virtual format. Residents of Borodyanka and Hostomel, who witnessed the occupation and who can share their experiences, are also invited to the project presentation.

Prior accreditation is required.

For reference: The 80th Venice International Film Festival began on August 30 and will last until September 9.

• culture
• occupation
• russian crimes

Almost 9,500 children have been left without parental care since the beginning of the full-scale war. Of them, almost 1,500 were orphaned due to the terrorist actions of the russian federation. (Data of the National Social Service of Ukraine)

Journalists are welcome to learn more about the adoption of children during the war from representatives of the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine.

“Partnership for Every Child” charitable organization educates families who want to adopt a child into their family. The students of the express courses are people who want to become: adoptive parents, foster parents, patronage caregivers and adopters.

Journalists are welcome to talk to experts from the organization (in particular, instructors, who conduct training), as well as families who adopted children during the war.

• children
• russian crimes

Dobrobat volunteers are helping to restore a destroyed school in Romny, Sumy region. They are currently clearing the rubble and repairing the roof of the workshop.

Four people: the school director, her deputy, a secretary, and a librarian died, the school building was destroyed, and the nearby facilities were vandalized as a result of a Russian drone hitting the educational institution on August 23. 

For reference, as of July 2023, according to the Ministry of Education, 180 schools were completely destroyed, and more than 1,300 educational institutions were damaged as a result of Russia’s full-scale invasion.

“Dobrobat” is a volunteer construction division that helps victims in the urgent restoration of housing and social infrastructure in the de-occupied territories.

• reconstruction
• russian crimes
• volunteers
• Sumy

On August 30, the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, the Center for Civil Liberties is organizing “VOICES” rally in support of civilian prisoners.

The purpose of this rally is to draw the attention of both the Ukrainian and the global community to the problem of civilians forcibly detained by russia.

The rally will include the following events:

1. A meeting with relatives of civilians detained by russia;

2. Performance by the Actors For Future team, during which actors will show the conditions in which civilians are being kept;

3. Presentation of a brochure containing 50 stories of civilian prisoners, created within the framework of the Prisoners Voice initiative.

Accreditation is required. The rally will take place in Kyiv.

For reference: The Center for Civil Liberties is aware of more than 150 penitentiary facilities in russia and in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine that detain civilians abducted during the occupation without reason. The prisoners were kidnapped from their own homes, on the way to the store or from the workplace.

If journalists are interested in the topics and stories of civilian prisoners and need professional comments, they are welcome to contact the Center for Civil Liberties.

• casualties
• prisoners
• russian crimes
• Kyiv

On August 28, savED charity fund’s photo exhibition will be opened in Kyiv. The exhibition is dedicated to the stories of schools and children affected by the full-scale war.

The opening of the photo exhibition will be attended by students of Chernihiv, Mykhailo-Kotsyubynske (Chernihiv region), Borodyanka and Katyuzhanka (Kyiv region) schools, who, despite the horrors of war, shelling and occupation, have not lost their thirst for learning and are actively rebuilding their schools and communities. Their stories will be heard during the opening of the exhibition.

The photo exhibition will be a part of a campaign to raise funds for the construction of a temporary school in the village of Chervona Dolyna, Mykolaiv region. This, in turn, is part of the fund’s fundraising campaign #to_school_again, within which the fund is collecting money for the shelter and to restore facilities of Kyiv, Chernihiv, Mykolaiv and Kharkiv regions.

For reference: As of August 2023, every tenth school in Ukraine has been destroyed by russia. And over 1,500 schools are significantly damaged or destroyed and cannot be repaired.

savED is a charity fund that restores access to education where it was taken away by war.

• children
• russian crimes
• Kyiv

On August 25, Media Center Ukraine — Ukrinform will host a networking event for journalists and fixers.

Participants:

– Alina Bondarchuk, Head of the Information Collection and Monitoring Department of the Center for Countering Disinformation of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine;

– Colonel Oleksandr Melnichenko, representative of the Department of Counterintelligence Protection of the State’s Interests in the Field of Information Security of the Security Service of Ukraine;

– Artem Shevchuk, Head of the Expert Group at the Strategic Communications Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine;

Topics of focus:

– The importance of communication with the public sector and why it is necessary to move away from what exists in the information space of Ukraine? How to safely work with the news coming from the russian federation?

– How did the level of media literacy of Ukrainians and immunity to russian fakes increase?

– Why are russian fake news on sensitive topics the most effective and how to work with sensitive topics correctly?

– How to choose a topic for the news so as not to become a tool in the hands of the enemy and stay on subject?

– Basic rules for working with information and responsibility for spreading information from the russian information space to the Ukrainian one.

Pre-registration is required. Registered visitors will be able to join the lecture online: they will be sent a link.

• russian crimes
• Kyiv

On August 24, the Independence Day of Ukraine, Lithuanian high-ranking officials, together with representatives of the local administration, will open a kindergarten restored by Lithuania in Irpin, Kyiv region. The officials will then talk to media representatives.

Lithuania rebuilt the largest kindergarten in the city in just eight months after it had been almost completely destroyed by russian troops. The project budget exceeded EUR 4.8 million.

Pre-registration is required.

For reference: This kindergarten sustained the most damage among all the kindergartens in Irpin community. As a result of repeated shelling and fire, the facility was 75% damaged.

• occupation
• reconstruction
• 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