Articles

27 March 2024

‘If we don’t invest in art, we can fail’, Matvii Vaisberg says

Paintings by the artist Matvii Vaisberg became illustrations for the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group’s new book about Mariupol. He believes we should do more to promote contemporary Ukrainian art worldwide.
25 March 2024

Destroyed villages of Dibrivne and Kurulka images from the air

In the Kharkiv Region, two villages are just 10 minutes away from each other: Dibrivne and Kurulka. One was occupied by the Russians and heavily mined, and the other was destroyed.
20 March 2024

Inaction as a path to impunity

For ten years, not a single court has considered this question: were the crimes against participants in the Revolution of Dignity crimes against humanity?
19 March 2024

What does a military chaplain do, and who needs him?

And what do chebureks [deep-fried turnovers with a filling of ground or minced meat and onions] have to do with it? Lieutenant Colonel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleh Sydorenko recalls the story from the service.
18 March 2024

Not a single house undamaged: Pytomnyk from the air

As a result of constant enemy shelling, not one house has survived undamaged in Pytomnyk, a small village in the Kharkiv Region.
15 March 2024

He believed in Russia today, the place of a decent person is only in prison

Reminiscences about Oleh Orlov.
06 March 2024

Absence of law and international control

What happens to Ukrainian civilians in Russian captivity.
01 March 2024

Russia-Ukraine war: what does filtration mean?

A description is provided of the filtering procedures for Ukrainians forcibly deported to Russia.
25 February 2024

Civilians in captivity: In Oskil the invaders abducted a disabled man because of his diving suit

“Hello, my darlings. Hugs and kisses to you all. I’m alive and well and shall be back soon”. Tetiana received that short message from her husband in May 2023. She had not seen him since 19 June the previous year.
24 February 2024

‘I Gave the Dogs Vodka to Keep Their Hearts Going’

A businesswoman from Mariupol, Valeriia Kaminska got out of the city and went to live in Lviv (West Ukraine). She was interviewed by Volodymyr Noskov and Denys Volokha.
16 February 2024

‘It’s a kilometre to run through unexploded shells to get to the well...’

Vitalii Smazhev spent 100 days with his mother in occupied Izium (a town in Kharkiv Region). He had to dig graves for old people who were dying of cold.
12 February 2024

The first trial in the USA about war-crimes in Ukraine

Aspects of the case of war-crimes against a US citizen committed in the Kherson Region.
09 February 2024

Lisne from the air: damage and destruction

Lisne has been one of the hotspots of the war in the Kharkiv Region. Ukraine’s armed forces halted the Russian advance four kilometres away. For the next six months Lisne was surrounded by the invaders.
08 February 2024

The Butchers of Vovchansk: Suspects named

They abducted the woman, fired a gun next to her ear, and beat her until she lost consciousness. Her tormentors have been named: a Russian citizen and someone from Luhansk are suspected of violating the laws and customs of war.
07 February 2024

Our people are at home: 207 Ukrainians were returned from captivity

On January 31, more than two hundred soldiers and civilians were returned from Russian captivity.
31 January 2024

‘Children, I won’t be able to teach the lesson because the war has started’

Oksana is a teacher of Russian language and literature. When Mariupol was shelled, she felt as if her heart was turning into a small bird. It was painful to look at the blackened houses and the faces of the neighbors that faded from the war and seemed to have been erased.
22 January 2024

Mala Danylivka from the air: damage and destruction

The destruction in Mala Danylivka. From 1941 to 1943 the town, 20 kms from the Russian border, was occupied by the Germans. In February 2022, Mala Danylivka was almost occupied again, this time by invading Russian forces.
19 January 2024

Can History repeat itself?

In December 1943 four men were sentenced to death in Kharkiv. They were found guilty of committing war crimes in the Kharkiv Region during the German occupation. Should parallels be drawn between contemporary investigations of war crimes and those hearings?
09 January 2024

American Volunteer at Bucha Morgue

Patrick Loveless came to Bucha immediately after its release: he helped to sort the corpses in the Bucha morgue and saw and felt the consequences of what the Russians did. What he saw shocked him so much that he could not forget about it.
04 January 2024

Transferring children to Russia is an Act of Genocide: Q&A

The Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group (KHPG) has made a Submission on the transfer and deportation of Ukrainian children to the Prosecutor’s Office of the International Criminal Court. Why do we need to prove that Russia’s actions constitute an Act of Genocide? Will it help those children return?
28 December 2023

How Ukrainian animals ended up on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood

Russia continues to destroy rare species and threatens all living things. More about the consequences of the Russian invasion on the Ukrainian environment can be seen in our material.
27 December 2023

On the use of civilians and civilian objects as ‘human shields’: 24 February 2022-7 February 2023 (Kharkiv Region)

The article analyzes information the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group collected on using civilians and civilian objects as cover during military operations.
26 December 2023

Mariupol. ‘A sniper killed my husband’

We spoke with Olha Leus from Mariupol at the YaMariupol center in Lviv, where the Kharkiv human rights group came to help Mariupol residents who live in Lviv after leaving their hometown.
16 December 2023

Polygraph to attest pro-Ukrainian position: Doctor from Kherson

Leonid Remyha was in charge of one of the hospitals in Kherson at the beginning of the Russian invasion. The head physician ended up in a Russian torture chamber for refusing to cooperate with the invaders.