Russian-Ukrainian war

Signs of genocide: Russia’s crimes against children – Report
Articles - 02 August 2023

Signs of genocide: Russia’s crimes against children – Report

Human rights defenders concluded that these processes are carried out on the initiative and with the broad support of the Russian leadership, which aims to destroy the ties of Ukrainian children with their national group and make it impossible for them to return to Ukraine

More than 500 Ukrainian doctors are in Russian captivity
News - 01 August 2023

More than 500 Ukrainian doctors are in Russian captivity

The head of the non-governmental organization noted that the enemy, by capturing medics, is trying to condemn Ukrainian soldiers to suffering

Almost 16% of respondents across Ukraine said they had witnessed Russian war crimes
News - 01 August 2023

Almost 16% of respondents across Ukraine said they had witnessed Russian war crimes

Almost 16% of Ukrainians across the country said they had witnessed Russian war crimes. These are the findings of a study conducted by the International Center for Ukrainian Victory (ICUV) in cooperation with the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation and the Center for Political Sociology. The sociologists interviewed 2001 respondents aged 18 and older, and […]

A resident of Nova Kakhovka, abducted three times, was found in one of the Simferopol detention centers
News - 26 July 2023

A resident of Nova Kakhovka, abducted three times, was found in one of the Simferopol detention centers

Russian occupying forces tortured the man and tried to find out whether Leonid Adolfovych Kondratsky was the great-grandson of Adolf Hitler

‘Women are not beaten here in Ukraine, but our hands are free’: How Russians held women in seized TDC in Kherson
Articles - 19 July 2023

‘Women are not beaten here in Ukraine, but our hands are free’: How Russians held women in seized TDC in Kherson

At different times, at least 30 local women were held at a temporary detention center (TDC) in Kherson, including a policewoman, a housewife, a cadet of a military educational institution, and a head teacher of a gymnasium. This is described in the analytical report "‘Women's cells’ of Kherson torture chamber" which was prepared by Human Rights Centre ZMINA specialists based on testimonies of victims.

Mariupol policewoman Mariana Chechelyuk’s health has deteriorated significantly over the year of captivity
News - 18 July 2023

Mariupol policewoman Mariana Chechelyuk’s health has deteriorated significantly over the year of captivity

For a year, the occupiers transported the woman from one prison to another, subjected her to physical and psychological pressure, and created unbearable detention conditions. Currently, Mariana Chechelyuk needs medical care, which is not provided to her in the Taganrog detention center

How to return Ukrainian journalism to the de-occupied territories?
Articles - 17 July 2023

How to return Ukrainian journalism to the de-occupied territories?

ZMINA collected the opinions of journalists and experts

Lithuanian human rights advocate and documentarian Gediminas Andriukaitis: “Ukraine must be in NATO”
Articles - 06 July 2023

Lithuanian human rights advocate and documentarian Gediminas Andriukaitis: “Ukraine must be in NATO”

In the interview with ZMINA Andriukaitis shared his impressions of documentaries during Docudays UA Festival and told how Lithuania perceives Russia's war against Ukraine, and explained why Vladimir Putin tried to persuade European political elites for a long time that there is what he defines as a ‘special democracy’ in the Russian Federation

Almost 80% of Ukrainians have relatives or friends wounded or killed due to Russia’s war
News - 04 July 2023

Almost 80% of Ukrainians have relatives or friends wounded or killed due to Russia’s war

The vast majority of Ukrainians – 78% – have close relatives or friends who have been injured or killed by the Russian invasion, according to the results of a sociological survey conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) on May 26-June 5, 2023. The overwhelming majority of the population has close relatives or […]

126 Ukrainian women are in Russian captivity, most of them civilians
News - 04 July 2023

126 Ukrainian women are in Russian captivity, most of them civilians

Twenty-three women in captivity have children: 14 military women have 23 children, and nine civilians have 15

Russians handed under “preliminary custody” over a thousand children deported from Ukraine
News - 03 July 2023

Russians handed under “preliminary custody” over a thousand children deported from Ukraine

According to the data collected by Vazhnye Istorii, at least three times more children may be transferred to Russian families than the official claims

A story of a man spent two months in captivity in the Russian pre-trial detention center with other civilians and volunteers
Articles - 03 July 2023

A story of a man spent two months in captivity in the Russian pre-trial detention center with other civilians and volunteers

Yevhen Yamkovyi, a resident of Kahovka, a city in the Kherson region on the left bank of the Dnipro river occupied by Russian forces, was detained at the checkpoint “Armyansk” in the northern part of the Crimean peninsula on January 6, 2023. Then, he was transferred to the pre-trial detention center No. 2 in Simferopol, […]

A witness account of abduction and torture in Hornostaivka village, Kherson region
Articles - 26 June 2023

A witness account of abduction and torture in Hornostaivka village, Kherson region

Read a full witness testimony of Serhii, a Kherson region resident, about his abduction and torture experience. Due to safety concerns, ZMINA changed the name of the torture survivor

Occupation authorities in Ukrainian Crimea accused of using administrative resources to justify Russia’s war
News - 25 June 2023

Occupation authorities in Ukrainian Crimea accused of using administrative resources to justify Russia’s war

The occupying authorities regularly receive plans to collect "voluntary" aid for the Russian military, which are often funded by Crimean entrepreneurs. Representatives of businesses fear to disapprove of the imposed support for the Russian army due to potential repercussions from occupying bodies

Torture as a policy of suppressing Ukraine’s resistance to the Russian invasion – Report
Articles - 23 June 2023

Torture as a policy of suppressing Ukraine’s resistance to the Russian invasion – Report

The analytical report, prepared by ZMINA, provides a detailed account of documented policies, locations, profiles of main targets among civilians, and portraits of typical perpetrators of Russian occupying forces in Ukraine who brutally mistreated people from the Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Kherson regions

A letter from unfreedom. Read a message from Bogdan Ziza, an artist and a Crimean political prisoner
Columns - 22 June 2023

A letter from unfreedom. Read a message from Bogdan Ziza, an artist and a Crimean political prisoner

According to human rights defenders, Russian occupying forces hold over 100 abducted Ukrainians, primarily civilians from the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine, in the temporarily occupied Crimea. Civilian hostages are allegedly kept in the pre-trial detention center No.2 in Simferopol, the center of the Crimean peninsula

European human rights court will review a complaint on the illegal detention of a Crimean journalist Iryna Danylovych
News - 21 June 2023

European human rights court will review a complaint on the illegal detention of a Crimean journalist Iryna Danylovych

For almost ten days, Danylovych’s family did not know about her whereabouts, and she did not have any access to a lawyer

Human rights crisis in occupied Crimea: wave of persecution targeted voices against Russia and its war in 2022
News - 20 June 2023

Human rights crisis in occupied Crimea: wave of persecution targeted voices against Russia and its war in 2022

Crimean human rights defenders characterized the crackdown on dissent in the occupied Crimean Peninsula as part of a broader campaign by the Russian authorities to silence all opposition to their policies in the region