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What I realized about life under Russian occupation as a war crimes researcher

Some names have been changed to protect the identities of those featured in the story. After over two years of full-time reporting on the war in my country, I spent several months with the Reckoning Project, recording testimonies of alleged war crimes. I focused on forced displacement, deportation, and daily life under occupation, speaking with people who lived under Russian rule — from Crimea's annexation in 2014 to the occupation of parts of Kherson and Kharkiv oblasts in 2022. Many lost lo

Friends hug after a train arrives in Kherson, Ukraine, on Nov. 21, 2022.

Why Putin wasn't the only audience for Zelensky's letter

President Volodymyr Zelensky's letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin was never meant only for the man whose name was written at the top. According to a senior Ukrainian official familiar with the planning, the message was aimed at a much wider audience, including Putin's inner circle, Russian elites increasingly weary of the war, and even ordinary Russian citizens. The letter, sent on June 4, marked the first direct outreach from Zelensky to Putin since 2022. In it, the Ukrainian presiden

Belgium has a Russian steel addiction — and doesn't want to fix it

More than four years after the EU began sanctioning Russian steel, Belgium remains a loyal importer — thanks to a sanctions exemption that allows a Russia-based steel giant to continue supplying its Belgian factories with low-cost slabs. Despite sweeping EU sanctions against the Kremlin for its war in Ukraine, Belgium has opposed attempts to sanction the company, NLMK, and its Kremlin-connected billionaire owner, Vladimir Lisin. Belgian officials fear that taking action could hurt employment in

Novolipetsk Steel PJSC plant, operated by NLMK Group, in Lipetsk, Russia, on June 18, 2018.

About Oleksii Chernyshov

Oleksii Chernyshov is Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Unity, a position he assumed in December 2024. Born on September 4, 1977, Chernyshov previously served as CEO of Naftogaz Group from 2022 to 2024, Minister for Communities and Territories Development from 2020 to 2022, and Kyiv Region Governor from 2019 to 2020. In June 2025, he became the first sitting Ukrainian deputy prime minister to face corruption charges in a land grab case.

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