This article contains descriptions of physical and sexual violence, which may be disturbing to some readers. Reader discretion is advised. Forced nudity during “welcome beatings,” naked “crouch walking,” and gratuitous stripping and body cavity searches are but a few examples of the abuse Viktor Lakhno, 26, a former prisoner of
"The vast majority of those released are people who had been held (in captivity) since the first days of the war,” said Ukraine's Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets in a statement.
The defense of the Azovstal steel plant, Ukraine's last stronghold during the Russian siege of Mariupol in the spring of 2022, remains one of the most heroic operations carried out by the Ukrainian soldiers to date. The plant was under constant Russian bombardment for nearly two months, and those stuck
Editor’s note: This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. While hiding from almost non-stop Russian bombardment in the dark and cold bunkers of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, Dmytro Kozatskyi took his most famous and arguably most valuable photographs. He showed the world what it was
Dmytro Kozatskyi, call sign "Orest," is a Ukrainian soldier who formerly headed the press service of the Azov regiment. In this video, Kozatskyi breaks down his famous photographs and shares his memories about the Russian siege of Mariupol.
Ukraine's public broadcaster Suspilne on May 15 said in a statement it had not received any "complaints or fines for alleged violations of the rules."
According to Alyona Alyona, the Ukrainian delegation chose to defy Eurovision's ban on political messaging by wearing shirts calling for the release of imprisoned Azovstal defenders, the soldiers who defended Ukraine's last stronghold in occupied Mariupol.
Twenty-one-year-old Ukrainian soldier Nazarii Hryntsevych, also known under the call sign "Hrinka," was killed on the front lines, the Contact 12 special forces group of the Azov Brigade said on May 7.
Vladyslav Plahotnyk was accused of "participation in a terrorist organization" and "training for terrorism," by being a member of the Azov battalion which Russia has declared a terrorist organization.
A Russian court in Rostov-on-Don has handed a 20-year prison sentence in a maximum-security facility to Dmytro Yevhan, a Ukrainian servicemember who was captured defending the Azovstal steelworks plant in Mariupol.
The captives are spread across Russia and the occupied territories, according to Ukraine’s Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets. Many are religious figures, journalists, NGO workers, and representatives from local governments, he said.
The last time Natalia Kravtsova heard the voice of her son was on May 18, 2022, two days after he was captured by Russian troops in Mariupol. She has not heard from him since. Shortly after news broke on Jan. 24 that a Russian Il-76 military transport plane had crashed
Anastasiia Buhera, a university student from Izium, hid inside her sofa when she heard the Russian soldiers approaching. She held her breath and froze in fear. On that day in May, ten Russian soldiers searched every room in Buhera and her parents’ home in then-occupied Izium, Kharkiv Oblast. As the
On a warm day in mid-May, Ukrainian Tetiana Lastovych, 29, was getting ready to be discharged from the maternity hospital in the city of Zaporizhzhia after giving birth to her third child, a baby boy Illia. As she approached the glass doors to the hospital, Lastovych froze in shock: There
Azovstal, a steel plant in now Russian-occupied Mariupol, has become a symbol of Ukraine’s fierce resistance to the Russian invasion. Thousands of Ukrainian fighters defended the plant with little to no resources, refusing to surrender for nearly three months. In this episode of our podcast “Did the War End?
Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said that 264 Ukrainian soldiers were evacuated on May 16 from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol to hospitals in Russian-occupied Novoazovsk and Olenivka. Of those evacuated, 53 heavily wounded soldiers will receive medical treatment in Novoazovsk, while 211 will be transferred to Olenivka to
The wives of the last Ukrainian soldiers left in Mariupol, the southern city that is mostly occupied by Russians and 90% destroyed after weeks of constant Russian shelling, called on the world to help save their husbands. Five Ukrainian women whose husbands are among the Ukrainian soldiers holding out at
Death. Fire. Smoke. Bombs. Joy. Hope. Faith. And pride. Those are the things that spell the days of soldiers at Azovstal, the last Ukrainian fortress in the Russian-besieged city of Mariupol. After almost 80 days of fierce fighting, over 1,000 Ukrainian combatants, hundreds among them injured, are still holding
While the outside world was commemorating the end of World War II, Ilya Samoilenko, a 27-year-old officer of the Azov regiment, was speaking online to the press from the basement of Azovstal. “We feel abandoned,” said Samoilenko from the last Ukrainian stronghold of Mariupol, a city with a pre-war population
