occupied Zaporizhzhia region
Russian appeal court upheld sentence against 66-year-old Melitopol resident Iryna Sukhovii
In May 2025, FSB officers detained pensioner Iryna Sukhovii. The illegitimate "Zaporizhzhia Regional Court" subsequently sentenced her to 12 years and six months in a general-regime penal colony for "high treason". The Russian occupying authorities accused her of providing financial support to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In 2026, the First Court of Appeal of General Jurisdiction in Moscow upheld the sentence and dismissed Sukhovii’s appeal. Aleksandr Pushkin, a judge at the court, issued the ruling
Russian National Guard commander Zelimkhan Akhmerzoev tried in absentia for extorting families of tortured POW and civilians
A Ukrainian court has convicted in absentia a Russian National Guard commander who tortured a prisoner of war and civilians during the occupation of the Zaporizhzhia Region
Six Russian commanders sentenced in absentia for 2022 assault on Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant
Ukrainian court has convicted six Russian National Guard (Rosgvardia) officers in absentia of violating the laws and customs of war over the assault on the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant
Russian occupation forces detained man in Melitopol over online comments posted in 2022
Russian security forces claim that in September 2022, he posted messages in a public Telegram group for local residents. The occupation authorities classified them as "public calls to the performance of terrorist acts"
Melitopol journalist Anastasiia Hlukhovska declares hunger strike in Russian detention centre
Anastasiia Hlukhovska has been held in Russian captivity for almost three years in an incommunicado status. Since her abduction in August 2023, Russia has effectively held her without contact with the outside world and without officially confirming her place of detention
Russian authorities have sentenced a resident of occupied Tokmak to 15 years in prison for donating to the Armed Forces of Ukraine
In total, the pensioner made 24 transfers totaling 63,420 rubles. She sent the funds in hryvnias from her Ukrainian pension, believing she had the right to manage her own savings to support the Ukrainian military
Disqualified skeleton racer Heraskevych and German initiative Athletes for Peace launch campaign for fallen Ukrainian athletes’ families (updated)
The athlete showcased a helmet featuring 24 portraits, yet emphasized that far more athletes [650 persons] have been killed. He urged that this must be remembered
Human rights defenders urge Zelenskyy to prioritize protection for war victims
Human rights advocates believe that following the liquidation of the Ministry for Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories -- a decision approved by the President -- the head of state himself could initiate a revision of the support architecture and the creation of an effective government body
Government agencies have appointed officials responsible for the temporarily occupied territories: human rights advocate explains what this will change
The ZMINA editorial team sent a request to the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers to find out which ministries had been designated as responsible for policy on the temporarily occupied and frontline territories. In response to the request, the Secretariat provided a list of such representatives in 21 executive bodies, including ministries, the State Emergency Service, the Pension Fund, the State Property Fund, and other relevant institutions
UN condemns Russian aggression, human rights violations on occupied territories and demands troop withdrawal from Ukraine
The resolution relies on the findings of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on violations by Russia, which confirm facts of enforced disappearances and torture both in the occupied territories and in Russia itself
World must ensure Russia is held legally accountable for the war — Zelenskyy
Zelensky thanked the Netherlands for agreeing to host legal bodies to hold Russia accountable, including the Compensation Commission, which countries plan to establish through an agreement to be signed in The Hague on December 16
Reporters Without Borders has spoken out against amnesty for Russian crimes against journalists in Ukraine
The human rights organization emphasized that even if a peace agreement is concluded, impunity for attacks on journalists is unacceptable, as it undermines the possibility of a just and lasting peace
US and Russia draft “peace plan” legitimizing Russian violations of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and internal interference
Two of Ukraine’s security guarantors under the Budapest Memorandum -- the United States and the Russian Federation -- have drawn up a so-called peace plan that legitimizes the violation of Ukraine's territorial integrity and interference by Russia in its internal affairs
Russia has illegally drafted 46 thousand Ukrainians in the temporarily occupied territories, most of them in Crimea
Russian occupying authorities illegally mobilized 5,368 Ukrainians in the occupied Donetsk Oblast, 4,650 in the Luhansk region, 560 in the Zaporizhzhia region, and 478 in the Kherson region. Additionally, 35,272 individuals were mobilized in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, and 5,368 in Sevastopol
Russians tortured to death two 16-year-old teens from occupied Melitopol
In late May 2024, the occupiers informed the parents of Dakhov and Hrymak that their children had allegedly died from a homemade explosive device while committing sabotage. However, according to sources for Suspilne Zaporizhzhia, Danylo and Pavlo were tortured to death in April 2024
The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant is in its second day of a blackout due to Russia’s actions – Energoatom
The company also explained that diesel generators are only intended for emergency power supply and are not capable of meeting the station's long-term needs. Their shutdown could lead to a loss of control over the facility's nuclear safety
Words of support from a free land: A letter to a peer in occupation from a ninth-grader in the Chernihiv region
ZMINA publishes a letter from a competition participant, Yaroslav Horovyi, a student in the 9th grade at Nizhyn Gymnasium No. 9 in the Chernihiv region
Putin is not seeking peace, so Alaska meeting won’t change that – ISW expert
Barros commented on expectations surrounding the Trump-Putin summit scheduled for August 15 and ISW's recent assessments that the Kremlin is trying to use the meeting to sow discord between the U.S. and Europe
Columns
“Reaching an agreement with the US on what we disagree on”: What the campaign against ICC means for Ukraine
ICC must remain free from political pressure to bring justice to victims of world’s gravest crimes
Only 5% of those responsible for deporting Ukrainian children face global sanctions
The human safari: How Russia weaponized precision against Ukrainian civilians
