Articles

Russia is violating the basic principles that defend children in wartime. Not only have the occupying forces taken no measures to return Ukrainian children to their families: they are deporting little Ukrainians to Russia and making them part of Russian society.

Genocide is primarily associated with mass murder but from the outset the 1948 Convention listed the transfer of children from one human group to another as an act of genocide.

Over the past twelve months the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group (KHPG) has documented a total of 9,252 incidents (war crimes, crimes against humanity, acts of genocide) in the Kharkiv Region. At least two thirds of the incidents (6,048) were linked to shelling or bombardment by Russian forces.

Enforced disappearances are among the most common crimes systematically committed in Ukraine, thus far with impunity, by representatives of the Russian Federation.

To identify Ukrainians who are opposed to the occupying forces, Russia uses searches, interrogation and torture.

Drawing on information gathered in the T4P database, we offer a systematic account of the use of mines and other explosive devices in the Kharkiv Region over the past year (24 February 2022-20 January 2023).

Over the past year, the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group has gathered information about damage to hospitals, other medical institutions and medical transport throughout the Region.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The aim of Russia’s war against Ukraine is to destroy the Ukrainian State and those who resist the aggressor. This genocidal intention has been implemented differently in various parts of the country. This abridged article concerns the city of Mariupol.

On 29 March 2022, ahead of advancing Russian forces in south Ukraine, 37 people died when a missile struck the Regional Administration building in the city of Mykolaiv (pop. 486,000). The Truth Hounds investigated the attack.

Russia is to hold pseudo ‘referendums’ in the occupied parts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia Regions this weekend, with the plan clearly to swiftly declare them all ‘part of the Russian Federation’.

Among Ukrainian civilians shot and killed by Russia’s soldiers the majority, 135 people, died while attempting to leave occupied or contested territory.

Russia’s shells and mines threaten not only civilian targets: they are also harming the ecology of the Black and Azov Seas.

Political terror and repression in Russia made war against Ukraine possible, says Alexander Cherkasov, board chairman of “Memorial”.

Analysing open sources and interviewing witnesses the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group has recorded the disappearance of 590 individuals.

Amongst the missing, 40% were local politicians, public activists or journalists.

Some of the most numerous cases of civilian disappearances and unlawful detention occurred in the Kherson Region. A total of 412 victims were recorded during the four months following Russia's invasion.