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Stories from Ukraine Test
Stolen innocence:
Against all odds: a 17-year-old’s journey to liberation Travelling thousands of kilometres through enemy territory to reach free Ukrainian soil because life under occupation was unbearable – this was the adult-like experience that 17-year-old Lera had alone. When Russian troops occupied her hometown of Nova Kakhovka, Lera was just 16 years old. She was an orphan cared for by her grandmother and one of 500 children deported to Crimea under the pretext of being evacuated and the promised few weeks at a camp near Yevpatoria turned into months. In addition to the poor living conditions, the children were constantly subjected to Russian indoctrination....
Replacing books, militarisation and ‘conversations about important things’.
Children born in 2018 turn six this year and prepare to go to school. They don’t know what Ukraine is like when there is no war and no occupied territories. When Russia began its full-scale invasion, these children were 3-4 years old. Their memories of Ukraine and Ukrainian identity have not yet taken hold, and the whole system of education and upbringing in the temporarily occupied territories is ready to displace them and impose a Russian identity completely. Read the article to learn how Russia is doing this and who should be punished: the political leadership or the teachers.
“Security guards check what children are doing after classes.”
The majority of Ukrainian school children have been studying online for the fourth year in a row: because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the hostilities. Children, who have been living in occupation since 2014, have been studying in this mode for 10 years. They are trying to finish a Ukrainian school in order to enter a Ukrainian university. Studying in two shifts, patrols to prevent children from attending a Ukrainian school online, and a “basement” `{`torture chamber`}` for parents whose children attend a Ukrainian school. In the occupied territories, these are possible scenarios for children who are trying to...
Story of Evelin Biankpin Akassi, 18 years old, Donetsk – Kyiv
After 10 years of living among the Russian propaganda and fakes, Evelin chose to live in Ukraine. She is learning to get used to the thought that she may never visit her hometown again. They are Ukrainian teenagers who survived the Russian occupation. Some went to the Ukraine-controlled territories or abroad, some lived under the occupation until liberation. That is why they can tell about their experience. Those who remain under occupation cannot tell their stories yet because it is literally a matter of survival and safety. According to the NGO Centre of Civil Education “Almenda”, there are currently...
Story of Vitalii, 16 years old, village of Kyselivka, Kherson region
16-year-old Vitalii, who survived the occupation in Kherson region, notes that he is not making any plans and has no special dreams. Because tomorrow may not come. He realized this in the pit with pig entrails, in which the Russians threw him. They are Ukrainian teenagers who survived the Russian occupation. Some went to the Ukraine-controlled territories or abroad, some lived under the occupation until liberation. That is why they can tell about their experience. Those who remain under occupation cannot tell their stories yet because it is literally a matter of survival and safety. According to the NGO Centre
Story of Inna, 16 years old, Enerhodar — Norway
16-year-old Inna lives in Norway and says that, just like in the occupation, she lives in the “survival mode”. They are Ukrainian teenagers who survived the Russian occupation. Some went to the Ukraine-controlled territories or abroad, some lived under the occupation until liberation. That is why they can tell about their experience. Those who remain under occupation cannot tell their stories yet because it is literally a matter of survival and safety. According to the NGO Centre of Civil Education “Almenda”, there are currently more than 615,000 school-age children in the temporarily occupied territories. They live in difficult and dangerous...
“You won’t receive any payments”
In the occupied territories, people cannot get administrative services without a Russian passport and medical care is not provided even if money is offered to doctors. Ukrainians, who refused to get a Russian passport, eventually gave up because it became a matter of life and death. Since the beginning of the Russian war against Ukraine, the occupiers have been carrying out forced passportization in the captured territories. This scheme is not new: Russia often distributed its passports in places where it launched military operations. This was the case, for example, in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. In 2014, this happened in...
Occupiers are trying to create the appearance of power
Interview: We talk to Veronika Kreidenkova about how the fake judicial system operates in the occupied territory of Ukraine and what threats it poses.The guest Veronika Kreidenkova, Advocacy manager to the DEJURE Analytical and Advocacy Centre. On the establishment of occupation ‘courts’ in the occupied territories of Ukraine Anastasia Bagalika: Currently, fake judicial bodies in the occupied territories, in particular in the territories that were occupied before 24 February 2022, are trying one of the co-founders of Hromadske Radio, a Ukrainian prisoner of war, human rights activist Maksym Butkevych. And I think such cases are very common in...
Occupiers are trying to create the appearance of power
Interview: We talk to Veronika Kreidenkova about how the fake judicial system operates in the occupied territory of Ukraine and what threats it poses.The guest Veronika Kreidenkova, Advocacy manager to the DEJURE Analytical and Advocacy Centre. On the establishment of occupation ‘courts’ in the occupied territories of Ukraine Anastasia Bagalika: Currently, fake judicial bodies in the occupied territories, in particular in the territories that were occupied before 24 February 2022, are trying one of the co-founders of Hromadske Radio, a Ukrainian prisoner of war, human rights activist Maksym Butkevych. And I think such cases are very common in...
Nariman Dzhelial:
An interview with the first deputy chairman of the Crimean Tatar Mejlis, who spent almost three years in Russian detention. Photo credit: Cover photo by Mykola Tymchenko/Rubryka Nariman Dzhelial is the first deputy chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, who spent almost three years in Russian detention and was released on 28 June 2024. Dzhelial remained in Crimea even after the peninsula was occupied, publicly criticising Russian occupation authorities’ actions. On September 21, 2021, he was sentenced to 17 years in prison. Dzhelyal was accused of involvement in an alleged sabotage plot targeting a gas pipeline in Crimea.
Abductions: from sensation to routine.
Enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions and politically motivated prosecutions in the occupied Crimea have become the routine. This statement was made by human rights defenders at a session of the UN Human Rights Council last week. Before that, the local human rights initiative Irade noted in its report that the practice of abductions by security forces continues in Crimea. Read about the specifics and scale of the problem on the occupied peninsula in this article. Self-defence units and flying squads During the almost 11 years of occupation of Crimea, the process of enforced disappearances has undergone at least several transformations. In the first...
Deportation under the guise of evacuation
How the occupiers forced residents of Kharkiv region to go to Russia When one hears the word “deportation”, it is possible to immediately imagine a large number of people who are forced by the military to climb into a freight car, and then these cars take them to a foreign land, sometimes thousands of kilometers from home. However, during the occupation of Ukrainian settlements after February 24, 2022, the Russians act a little differently, namely, they call the actual deportation evacuation. They deceive by saying that it is “only for three days” and intimidate – “the Armed Forces of Ukraine
Journalists Yevheniya Virlych and Vladyslav Hladky:
Yevheniya Virlych, the chief editor of one of the most renowned publications in Kherson, Kavun.City, along with her husband Vladyslav Hladky, continued their work during occupation until July. They evaded the FSB, changed apartments, and devised codes, but eventually had to leave their hometown. “Communication was poor, and many people thought we weren’t in Kherson. But there wasn’t a single day when we missed the news.” For Yevheniya Virlych, November 11th is like a second birthday. The day of the liberation of her native city, Kherson, was celebrated with great festivity in the capital by her and other temporary...
“The very fact you are a journalist is a direct threat to the occupiers and that is why they are persecuting us”
Svitlana Zalizetska, a Ukrainian journalist from Melitopol, Zaporizhzhia region, has been writing about life in her city under Russian occupation for over two years. Even now, living in the part of Ukraine not under Russian occupation, she is under constant pressure from Russian aggressors who continue to threaten her, her family, and her colleagues. Despite this, she continues to share stories about life under Russian occupation. Svitlana says that if she were to stop, she would betray her colleagues, so she continues her work for them. We talked to Svitlana about her work during the occupation, the terror that...
Journalist Yuliya Olkhovska:
Yuliya Olkhovska endured detention by Russian military forces, spent seven months under occupation, and briefly left for personal reasons but returned to Melitopol due to family circumstances. However, she couldn’t bear to live under occupation again. Now, Yuliya works in the liberated areas of Ukraine, sharing the stories and daily lives of Melitopol residents who await the liberation of their city. Enemy tanks were already seen on February 24. The first half of February 24 remained in Yuliya’s memory as a relatively ordinary but tense workday. If someone had told her she would witness the “Russian world” in just a...
How invading Russian forces destroyed media in Ukraine’s occupied territories and what they built instead
In the two years of their occupation, Russian invaders have either destroyed or ‘Russified’ all Ukrainian media outlets operating in the temporarily occupied regions of Ukraine, affecting at least 300 editorial offices in the Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, and Luhansk regions. Only a handful of these offices managed to relocate and resume operations in other regions. The majority were either shut down or seized by Russian occupiers. In the occupied territories, Russian forces selectively switch on and off mobile communications and the Internet, fearing that locals might relay information to Ukrainian defence forces. Since September 2022, residents of these areas have found themselves...
Remzi Bekirov from Freedom Street
On a piece of white sheet, he drew with a black pen the wagons in which the Crimean Tatars were deported from Crimea. On each of them are written the years of deportation: 1944 and 2014 Remzi Bekirov is a citizen journalist of the Crimean Solidarity initiative and a correspondent for the Grani publication. He was born in 1985 in Bekabad, Uzbekistan, as his family, like all Crimean Tatar families, had been deported from Crimea on Stalin’s orders. Bekirov returned to the peninsula at the age of seven with his parents. He graduated from the history department of Taurida National...
“Whoever has the gun is the one who’s right”:
Mariupol is experiencing lawlessness and rampant crime, local journalists report. In the photo: Wagner military PMC in Donetsk region (illustrative photo) What is the crime situation in the occupied territories of southern Ukraine? Who commits crimes against the local population and what kind of crimes? Who serves in the occupation police and do people turn to them for help? Read more about all this in the piece of the Radio Liberty project ‘News of Pryazovia’. The Russian occupation authorities are unable to form so-called police structures in the occupied territories of the south. Plans to staff the pseudo-law enforcement agencies...
329 Ukrainian media outlets closed down since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion
Media outlets that closed down due to Russia’s invasion. Diagram by the IMI 329 Ukrainian media outlets had to close down in the 1,000 days since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion. Only 16% of them (52 media outlets) managed to resume their work, as evidenced by the data the Institute of Mass Information collected through their network on the ground. The closure of media outlets has affected the oblasts close to the front line the most. In terms of the number of media outlets that closed down, Zaporizhzhia oblast (50 media outlets), Donetsk oblast (35), Kherson oblast...