Ukraine's human rights activist Mariia Sulialina has won the 2024 Civil Rights Defender of the Year Award, the organization announced on April 25. Sulialina, who heads the Ukrainian human rights organization Almenda, has been documenting Russia's war crimes against children.
Russian occupation authorities targeted members of the LGBTQ+ community during the occupation of Kherson back in 2022, Ukrainian public organization Projektor announced on March 28.
Five Ukrainian children were sleeping peacefully in their beds on March 2 when Russia launched the overnight drone attack against their hometown of Odesa that took their lives. Some came from different families but lived in the same apartment building in the southern Ukrainian port city. Instead of waking up
Lieutenant General Sergei Kobylash and Admiral Viktor Sokolov "are each allegedly responsible" for a number of war crimes, including "directing attacks at civilian objects," the ICC said.
In pursuit of justice for Russia's many war crimes, Ukraine is actively seeking the establishment of an international tribunal. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has already launched investigations into alleged Russian war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Ukraine. However, the ICC lacks jurisdiction to prosecute a crime of
Episode #4 of "This Week in Ukraine" is dedicated to Russian war crimes in Ukraine and beyond, the culture of violence within the Russian military, and the attempts to keep Russia accountable for the crimes committed in Ukraine.
Key developments on April 18: * Zelensky visits front-line Avdiivka in Donetsk Oblast * Putin reportedly visits Russian-occupied Luhansk, Kherson oblasts * Macron wants China to help bring Ukraine, Russia to negotiating table, Bloomberg reports * Former Wagner Group mercenary admitted killing POWs, says "he knows more" atrocities committed President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the
A Russian missile killed 46 people after smashing straight into an apartment building in the city of Dnipro on Jan. 14. It was one of the deadliest single Russian attacks on Ukraine and the deadliest one for Dnipro, a central Ukrainian city with a pre-war population of nearly 1 million.
When Russian forces opened fire on the peaceful village of Oskil, Kharkiv Oblast, on March 27, Svitlana Voshchana realized her friend’s home was under attack. When the attack stopped, she rushed to their home, hoping the family had managed to hide. Stepping into their yard, she saw the house
Key developments on Dec. 13: * Allies pledge over €1 billion winter aid for Ukraine after Zelensky’s plea * Ukraine repels Russian attacks near 16 settlements in the east * Belarus conducts sudden inspection of troops’ combat readiness * Russia rules out withdrawal from Ukraine by end of 2022 The U.S. President
Key developments on Dec. 12: * Ukraine’s embassy in Greece receives ‘bloody package’ in latest act of intimidation * Russian attack on Hirnyk in Donetsk Oblast kills 2, injures 10 * Ukraine needs $1 billion to restore energy sector, says PM. President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his evening address that Russia is
On a warm day in early September, Anastasiia Kolchyna took her nine-year-old sons, twin brothers Ruslan and Denys, for a walk. They went to a small park in their native Zelenodolsk, a town in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, where many locals would gather on the weekends. The family was enjoying the outdoors
From the indiscriminate killings of civilians in Bucha, Izium and Mariupol, to the everyday terror of long-range missile strikes, Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has shocked the world in its devastation and brutality. Behind the tragic headlines, Ukrainian state institutions are faced with the mammoth task of documenting and
Editor's Note: This article was updated at 10 p.m. to include the recent number of casualties. Russia unleashed another mass missile barrage on Ukraine on Dec. 5 targeting energy infrastructure across the country. Out of the 70 missiles launched by Russia, 60 have been intercepted, the Ukrainian Air Force
Key developments on Dec. 2: * Ukraine's military repels Russian advances near 14 settlements in eastern Donetsk, Luhansk regions. * Russia has lost over 90,000 troops in Ukraine since Feb. 24, General Staff says. * EU makes final decision to cap Russian seaborne oil prices at $60 a barrel.Ukraine's Embassy in
Days before giving birth to her first child, Ukrainian military medic Mariana Mamonova was made to board a plane in the Russian city of Taganrog. She was blindfolded, and her hands were bound with rope. “Do you know where they’re taking us?” she heard a man sitting next to
Key developments on Nov. 24: * Largest steel company suspends operation in Ukraine due to power outages. * Ukrainian nuclear power plants begin resuming operations after Russia's Nov. 23 strikes. * Russia attacks liberated Kherson Oblast almost every hour, says Zelensky. * Ukraine brings back 50 prisoners of war from Russian captivity. Power supply
Key developments on Nov. 21: * Russia has lost over 8,000 units of military equipment since Feb. 24. * Polish prosecutors won’t allow Ukraine to join the investigation of the Przewodow blast, Polish media outlet Rzeczpospolita reports. * Russian forces strike civilian infrastructure in liberated Kherson on Nov. 21, one person
Key developments on Nov. 18: * Ukraine repels Russian advances near 9 settlements in east * Zelensky discusses grain deal with Erdogan after the Turkish president spoke with Putin * Nord Stream explosions came as a result of ‘gross sabotage,’ Swedish Security Service says * Nearly 30% of Ukrainian territory is mined, according to
Key developments on Nov. 17: * ‘Horrific’ scale of torture in recently liberated Kherson, says ombudsman * Ukraine grain deal extended for another 4 months * Russia’s attack on Dnipro, injures 23 people * Biden disputes Zelensky’s comments that missiles hitting Poland weren’t Ukrainian. The Hague District Court qualified the Russian
As Russia is escalating its war against Ukraine and using massive missile and drone strikes to destroy infrastructure, Kremlin propaganda is becoming even more bloodthirsty. The earlier disappointment of propagandists with repeated Russian defeats on the battlefield has been replaced with a feeling of schadenfreude. They are gloating over the
KYIV — For the second Monday in a row, central Kyiv awoke to the sound of explosions caused by a Russian attack. Five blasts interspersed with Ukrainian defenders’ frantic small arms fire echoed through this downtown district early in the morning on Oct. 17. A week ago, Russia struck the same
KYIV — The morning of Oct. 10 in Kyiv was like no other since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24. Starting just after 8 a.m., explosions were heard throughout Ukraine’s capital, and it was soon apparent that not all incoming missiles were being shot down
ZAPORIZHZHIA – On Sept. 30, residents of Zaporizhzhia woke up to the horrendous news of a bloody Russian strike on a convoy of civilian cars in their city overnight. The attack with S-300 missiles killed 31 civilians and wounded 88 more. Though the deadliest to date, it wasn’t the first
Editor’s Note: The Kyiv Independent talked to residents who are still in Russian-occupied Enerhodar and those who recently left but still have family in the city. For their safety, we do not disclose their identities. When Russian soldiers captured Enerhodar, the satellite city of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant
ZAPORIZHZHIA — Guarding a quiet turnoff from the road heading south out of Zaporizhzhia city to the territories occupied by Russia, two Ukrainian police officers were approached by a middle-aged woman in a state of near despair. “My friend was killed here yesterday,” she said to the officer as she got
Volodymyr Obodzinskyi was at work when a sudden call from his neighbor in Zhytomyr Oblast shook him to his core. "There were loud explosions somewhere around your house just now," the neighbor told him. At the time, Obodzinskyi worked in Kyiv, about 100 kilometers away from his home, the village
Editor’s Note: This story includes interviews with people living under Russian occupation. Their full names are not disclosed to protect their identity as they have shared sensitive information that could place them and their families in danger. Every time Ukrainian engineer Yevhen wants to connect to the internet, he
Warning: This story contains graphic images and descriptions that some readers may find disturbing. Scrolling through photos from the mass burial site in Izium, Oksana Sova immediately recognized her husband's bracelet on a corpse's wrist. "I immediately knew it was him," Sova, 37, told the Kyiv Independent. It was that
Key developments on Sept. 23 * Staged voting begins in occupied Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts as the Kremlin seeks to claim the invaded areas as parts of Russia * Police find 18 torture chambers in liberated Kharkiv Oblast. * 436 bodies exhumed at Izium’s mass burial site; 30 with traces
WARNING: This article contains very graphic scenes that readers may find disturbing. KOZACHA LOPAN, Kharkiv Oblast — Ten days have passed since his town was liberated from Russian troops, but Vitaliy Oliia is still afraid to leave his home at night. “I never go any further than the next house, that’
Key Developments on Sept. 22 * Russia attacks Zaporizhzhia’s telecommunication facility ahead of sham “referendums.” * Russia launches 4 missile strikes, 17 airstrikes against Ukraine. * Ukrainian forces continue inflicting logistical damages in occupied Kherson Oblast. Russia's hastily-planned sham "referendums" in occupied parts of eastern and southern Ukraine are set to start
