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Danylo Mokryk
War Crimes Investigations Unit ReporterDanylo Mokryk is a reporter with the War Crimes Investigations Unit of the Kyiv Independent. He has previously worked as an investigative journalist with Bihus.Info. His 2022 investigation into Russian acts of genocide in Ukraine won the “Honor of the Profession” Ukrainian journalism award. The same year, his investigation into deliberate killings of Ukrainian children by Russian soldiers was short-listed for the MezhyhiryaFest Investigative Journalism Award. Before the full-scale Russian invasion, he had won several awards and nominations for his investigations of corruption in Ukraine.
Articles
US Pastor in Ukraine on Russia’s threats, pressure against Christians in occupied territories
Dmytro Bodyu, a U.S. citizen and the pastor of the "Word of Life" Pentecostal Church in Russian-occupied Melitopol, was detained by Russians in March 2022. During his detention, he was accused of working for the CIA and received death threats from the Russian military.
Only an intervention by the U.S. State Department saved him.
"On the morning of March 19, several military vehicles and a couple of civilian cars stopped outside our home. Around 15 Russian soldiers were in full gear, wearing ba
Russia's persecution of Ukrainian clergy is part of an organized genocidal campaign
In 1953, Polish-American lawyer Raphael Lemkin, the man who coined the term "genocide," wrote a text titled Soviet Genocide in Ukraine. In it, Lemkin spoke not only about the Holodomor — the man-made famine organized in Ukraine by Stalin in 1932–1933 that claimed the lives of around 4 million people — but also about the Kremlin's broader genocidal practices against Ukrainians, which, he argued, had begun as early as the 1920s.
Lemkin wrote that Ukrainians were too numerous to be exterminated en
Investigation: Russians carry out systemic terror in occupied part of Kherson Oblast
On the morning of Nov. 20, 2023, Russians came to Raisa Rusnak’s home, looking for her 28-year-old son Ruslan. Four masked men threw him onto the ground and began beating him.
"Guys, what have I done to you? What do you want from me?" Ruslan shouted. Those were the final words Raisa heard from her son. She never saw him alive again.
Eight days later, she identified his body at the morgue. She was told that he had died of internal bleeding from a stomach ulcer during interrogation by the Russia
Opinion: Trading territories means trading people
The following opinion piece accompanies the Kyiv Independent's War Crimes Investigations Unit's newly released documentary, "Shadows Across the River." Watch the documentary by clicking here.
“Let Russia retain control over occupied Ukrainian territories to finally freeze this war!” This refrain, repeated in media and political discourse worldwide, has become a popular "peace plan" for Russia’s war against Ukraine. Yet, one crucial question is rarely asked: What would this formula mean for Ukr
Destroy, in Whole or in Part | Is Russia committing genocide in Ukraine?
Editor's Note: The story is based on the documentary "Destroy, in Whole or in Part," published by the Kyiv Independent's War Crimes Investigations Unit.
Since the start of the full-scale invasion, Russia has committed thousands of crimes in Ukraine.
Ivan Vyhivskyi, the National Police head, said that Kyiv is investigating over 100,000 war crimes cases committed by Russian troops in Ukraine. Among them are some of the most horrendous crimes – deliberate murder, torture, and rape of civilians, a
Danylo Mokryk: Say the word ‘genocide’
In the spring of 2022, right after Russia’s atrocities in Bucha were exposed, several Western leaders uttered the term “genocide.” U.S. President Joe Biden, former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, former Colombian President Ivan Duque, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did so in short succession, albeit in their own way.
“I called it genocide because it’s become clearer and clearer that (Russian President Vladimir) Putin is just trying to wipe out even the idea of being Ukrainian. Th
BULLET HOLES | An investigation into Russia’s systemic killings of Ukrainian children
The Kyiv Independent’s findings point to the systemic and deliberate nature of child murders by the Russian military in Ukraine. Our in-depth investigation allowed us to identify those responsible for the killing of a child.
Deliberate murders of Ukrainian children by Russian soldiers reveal culture of impunity
Editor's Note: The story is based on the documentary “Bullet Holes,” published by the Kyiv Independent's War Crimes Investigations Unit.
On a cold March morning, the Mahdyk family bundled themselves into their minivan. Their village near Kyiv was occupied, and they couldn’t bear staying there any longer.
The family – mother Olha, father Valerii, and their two children, 16-year-old Anna and 12-year-old Vladyslav – decided to try to escape the horrors of Russian occupation and nearby fighting.
This Week in Ukraine Ep. 23 – Ministry of Defense is under fire for corruption, again
Episode #23 of our weekly video podcast “This Week in Ukraine” is dedicated to corruption scandals at Ukraine's Ministry of Defense.
This Week in Ukraine Ep. 4 – Russia's strategy of evil: 80,000 war crimes in Ukraine
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.
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