Articles

On the anniversary of Russia’s invasion: An Appeal by the ‘First of December Action Group’.

As Ukraine awaited a new invasion, Russia continued to shell and bomb its villages, towns and cities. On Monday 9 January 2023, for instance, bombs and shells took civilian lives in the city of Kherson and in the Kharkiv, Luhansk and Donetsk Regions, wounding people there and in the Mykolaiv Region further to the west.

Last month, Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) published yet another intercepted phone call. They recorded a conversation between Russian soldiers about the war crimes they committed, and why.

This survey lists the war crimes and crimes against humanity recorded by the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group (KHPG) during the first 270 days of Russia’s all-out war against Ukraine.

Kharkiv resident Kateryna Ryndych talks about the bombing of Northern Saltivka.

An inhabitant of a village burned to the ground was evacuated from Kramatorsk one day before the tragedy at the train station.

Hanna Shevchyk, 31, used to work in a maternity hospital in Mariupol. She had to spend a month in the bomb shelter. Her war story is different from others due to medical details, and shows how you can still save lives when there’s a lack of medicines.

KHPG director Yevhen Zakharov recalls the challenges of 2022 and shows that the work of human rights defenders is also indispensable in wartime.

The Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group and Memorial organizations in the Czech Republic, Poland, France, Italy, and Germany to publish personal war stories of Ukrainians, 4-5 monthly.

The Russian invader left the Chernihiv Region (northwest Ukraine) six months ago. A team of lawyers and monitors from the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group went there to talk to the locals.

Ukraine signed the Rome Statute as long ago as 20 January 2000. It must ratify it as soon as possible, says Oleksandra Matviichuk, joint winner of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize.

Nobel Lecture given by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate 2022 Ales Bialiatski, delivered by Natallia Pinchuk, Oslo, 10 December 2022.

Nobel Lecture given by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate 2022 Memorial, delivered by Jan Rachinsky, Oslo, 10 December 2022.

Nobel Lecture given by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate 2022 Center for Civil Liberties, delivered by Oleksandra Matviichuk, Oslo, 10 December 2022.

‘How could a person in his right mind do such things?’ (Alla Korzurina) The six-month nightmare endured by a village near Kharkiv, used first as a base and then as a target by Russian forces.

Shelling of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure was accompanied by statements of high-ranking Russian officials confirming that these sites were being targeted and admitting that such sites were part of the country’s civilian infrastructure.

Serhiy was hit by a cluster bomb and had to crawl to the nearest house for help. Russian forces were shelling a town they already occupied, of that he is convinced.

Who is to blame for Russia going fascist? The simplest answer is Putin. He is to blame, of course. But aside from him, a host of other people led to this, even if they were not necessarily consciously heading in this direction. A great many people are nostalgic for the Empire, for the ‘strong hand’, for a Stalin who only existed in myth.

The Hryhoriy Skovoroda Museum was destroyed; the Holocaust Memorial Complex, the oldest Orthodox church in Kharkiv and the city mosque were all damaged.

11 places have already been found in liberated parts of Kherson Region, where the Russian occupiers held Ukrainian civilians prisoner.

Ukrainian soldiers were based only five kilometres away. Russian troops dug trenches around the houses and set up their artillery unit at the school. Little now remains of the school: empty cans and shell casings are scattered over its charred remains.

During Russia’s assault on the city, we discovered, 52 (83%) of the city’s schools were damaged in one way or another. Mariupol residents described direct attacks on kindergartens and schools.

The deliberate actions of the enemy’s forces in Ukraine, its missile attacks on civilian targets and crucial infrastructure, and intentional mass murder together point to a single goal: genocide.

As feared, Russia and its local collaborators are refusing to return Ukrainian children who were supposedly sent on holiday or to study in Russia or occupied Crimea.