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Summary: On February 24, 2022, the day Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Russian military and Russia-affiliated forces attacked Ukrainian armed forces defending the city of Mariupol in southeastern Ukraine. Hundreds of thousands of civilians were trapped for weeks without basic services. Nearly three months later, about 70 percent of the city’s 540,000 residents had fled. Those who remained found themselves in a devastated city under Russian occupation. “Our City Was Gone” is based on nearly two years of interviews with 240 people and an analysis of over 850 photos and videos and dozens of satellite images. The report documents Russia’s catastrophic assault that left thousands of civilians dead and injured, including many from apparently unlawful attacks. It maps the damage to thousands of buildings, including several hundred high-rise apartments in the city center, all of the city’s hospital campuses, almost all its educational facilities, and to parts of its electricity and water infrastructure. It describes repeated attempts by Ukrainian officials and international agencies to organize official evacuations and aid deliveries in the face of Russian obstruction. The report identifies 17 Russian and Russia-affiliated military and national guard units that were operating in Mariupol in March and April 2022. It calls for Russian President Vladimir Putin and other senior officials to be investigated and appropriately prosecuted for their role in apparent war crimes committed by Russian forces during the fighting. And it calls on Russia to pay reparations to victims of laws-of-war violations and their families. In highlighting the destruction wrought on Mariupol, the report urges all countries to join and abide by the international Political Declaration on the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas, which seeks to curb the use of such weapons in urban warfare.

Twenty Days in Mariupol

2023 Ukrainian documentary film directed by Mstyslav Chernov.

An AP team of Ukrainian journalists trapped in the besieged city of Mariupol struggle to continue their work documenting atrocities of the Russian invasion. As the only international reporters who remain in the city, they capture what later become defining images of the war: dying children, mass graves, the bombing of a maternity hospital, and more.

After nearly a decade covering international conflicts, including the Russia-Ukraine war, for The Associated Press, 20 DAYS IN MARIUPOL is Mstyslav Chernov’s first feature film. The film draws on Chernov’s daily news dispatches and personal footage of his own country at war. It offers a vivid, harrowing account of civilians caught in the siege, as well as a window into what it’s like to report from a conflict zone, and the impact of such journalism around the globe.

More information: https://www.mstyslav.com/20-days-in-mariupol

Available on: YouTube, Amazon Prime, AppleTV, Google Play and Curzon

Deported Children

Ukrainian Government "Children of War" platform. "This portal was created as a tool for finding children, rescuing them, and liberating them from places of forced displacement or deportation." Darya Herasymchuk (Advisor - Commissioner of the President of Ukraine for Children’s Rights and Rehabilitation, "The Children of War" platform Coordinator)

Go to https://childrenofwar.gov.ua/en/ for updated information.

Russia’s Forcible Transfers of Unaccompanied Ukrainian Children: Responses from Ukraine, the EU and Beyond

A report by Andreas Umland for the European Parliament, February 2024

SCEEUS (Stockholm Centre for East European Studies) Report No. 1, 2024

Download it here: Russia’s Forcible Transfers of Unaccompanied Ukrainian Children: Responses from Ukraine, the EU and Beyond - SCEEUS

Summary: This survey was first published by the European Parliament in February 2024 and complements an April 2023 European Parliamentary Research Service report as well as other investigations into Russia’s forcible displacement and deportation of Ukrainian children since 24 February 2022. The nature of this disturbing issue and the challenges posed together with possible solutions are discussed here, on the basis of numerous quotes from Ukrainian officials. Ukrainian reactions to the deportations are listed as well as the first foreign governmental and non-governmental responses. Against this background, various recommendations are presented for action to the European Union and further international stakeholders. These policy suggestions are based on interviews with experts in Kyiv and designed to jump-start the process of not only repatriating illegally transferred children but also restoring justice. An extensive bibliography concludes the report.

Ukraine's Stolen Children

Shahida Tulaganova's compelling documentary film telling the story of the Ukrainian children taken to Russia after war broke out in 2022 and their territory was occupied.

“Ukraine’s Stolen Children” can be seen online in the UK on ITVX or on AppleTV. More information in Moscow Times 5 March 2024.

Recent press articles about child deportation include:

Why and how Russia is Transferring Ukrainian Children

by Andreas Umland, Desk Russie, 12 May 2024 (in English and French)

‘They could start to resist’ How the Russian authorities are working to indoctrinate and digitally surveil deported Ukrainian children

by Lilia Yapparova, Meduza, 11 March 2024

How and Why Russia Snatches Ukrainian Children

Moscow Times, 15 February 2024

Russian-Occupied Areas of Ukraine

Human Rights Situation during the Russian Occupation of Territory of Ukraine and its Aftermath. 24 February 2022 – 31 December 2023

Report by United Nations Human Rights, 20 March 2024. 50pp.

This thematic report by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) describes the human rights situation in territory of Ukraine occupied by the Russian Federation following its full-scale armed attack, including areas over which Ukraine regained control afterward. It covers the period from 24 February 2022 to 31 December 2023 and is based on the work of the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU). The Government of Ukraine continued to provide OHCHR with full access to territory under its control, including unfettered and confidential access to conflict-related detainees. The Russian Federation did not provide OHCHR with access to the territory of Ukraine which it occupies, or to conflict related detainees it holds.

Freedom House 2024 reports on human rights and civil liberties

Crimea

https://freedomhouse.org/country/crimea/freedom-world/2024

Rating 2/100 and categorised by Freedom House as "not free".

Extract from Overview: "... The occupation government severely limits political and civil rights, has silenced independent media, and employs antiterrorism and other laws against political dissidents. Many Ukrainians have been deported from or otherwise compelled to leave Crimea. Members of an Indigenous minority group, the Crimean Tatars, many of whom had vocally opposed the Russian occupation, have faced acute repression by the authorities."

Eastern Donbass

https://freedomhouse.org/country/eastern-donbas/freedom-world/2024

Rating 2/100 and categorised by Freedom House as "not free"

Extract from Overview: "....Security services exercise tight control over local political activity, leaving no room for meaningful opposition. Local media are severely restricted, and social media users have been arrested for critical posts. The rule of law and civil liberties are not respected."

Recent press articles about life in the occupied areas include:

‘We’re here and we’ll keep fighting’ How an underground women’s movement fights back against Russian forces in occupied Ukraine

Meduza 28 March 2024

‘It wasn’t like this before Russia came’ The state of healthcare in Ukraine’s occupied territories after two years of war

Meduza 7 March 2024

Deportation and re-education: life in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine

by Shaun Walker, Guardian 6 March 2024

POWs, Torture and other Human Rights issues

Report on the Human Rights Situation in Ukraine. 1 December 2023 – 29 February 2024

Report by Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), 26 March 2024.

Download link here.

This thirty-eighth report by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on the human rights situation in Ukraine covers the period from 1 December 2023 to 29 February 2024. It is based on the work of the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU).

A variety of aspects of human rights are covered including torture of Ukrainian prisoners of war. In the reporting period, OHCHR interviewed 60 Ukrainian male prisoners of war (POWs) recently released from Russian captivity, who had spent between several weeks and nearly two years in captivity. Their accounts reinforced previously documented patterns of widespread torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment of Ukrainian POWs in Russian captivity, as well as conditions of detention that fail to comply with international law. The cumulative impacts of repeated torture, ill-treatment, isolation and poor conditions in Russian captivity severely affected the physical and mental well-being of many POWs, with risk of long-lasting adverse effects. Moreover, during the reporting period, OHCHR received reports of the apparent execution of at least 32 recently captured Ukrainian POWs in 12 separate incidents. OHCHR verified three of these incidents in which Russian servicemen executed seven Ukrainian servicemen hors de combat.

Behind The Lines: The Ukrainian Prisoners of War Hidden by Russia

Article by Elina Beketova for CEPA, 30 May 2024

https://cepa.org/article/behind-the-lines-the-ukrainian-prisoners-of-war-hidden-by-russia/

Thousands of Ukrainian service personnel and civilians are being held by Russia. The Kremlin’s disregard for international law is making their fate increasingly difficult to establish.

History

The history of Ukraine and the future of the world

Discussion recorded on YouTube: https://youtu.be/iI4oyPZbPmM?si=VIvLgiCRTRqb2xDh

On 17 Jan 2024, Victor Pinchuk Foundation hosted “The history of Ukraine and the future of the world” discussion on the occasion of WEF in Davos (Switzerland). The event was held as a part of the Deciding Your Tomorrow project, organized by Victor Pinchuk Foundation and PinchukArtCentre in cooperation with the Office of the President of Ukraine. The panel explored scenarios for the future of Ukraine and its allies in the fight against Russian aggression. Global political leaders, thinkers and activists discuss key aspects of Ukrainians’ defense of life and freedom and it offers a chance to revisit what is at stake in Ukraine.

Deciding Your Tomorrow will be a wide ranging study of the history of the area that is now Ukraine from the earliest days and will involve 100 historians.

The main participants in the discussion were: Timothy Snyder, Richard C. Levin Professor of History and Global Affairs at Yale University; Yaroslav Hrytsak, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor, Ukrainian Catholic University; Serhii Plokhii, Professor of Ukrainian History, Director, Ukrainian Research Institute, Harvard University.

Nataliya Gumeniuk, co-founder of Public Interest Journalism Lab and The Reckoning Project, moderated the discussion.

Recent publications by the discussants include:

Prof. Timothy Snyder: 11 Feb 2024 Substack refutation of Putin's recent history lecture/interview; "The Making of Modern Ukraine", a course of lectures delivered at Yale University in 2022 (on YouTube). And many books.

Prof. Yaroslav Hrytsak: "Ukraine. The Forging of a Nation". Sphere 2023

Prof. Serhii Plokhii: "The Russo-Ukrainian War", Penguin 2023, and other books.