Newsletter #31: Russia’s war against Ukraine
Fecha: 10 mayo, 2023

The Russian military admits to killing dozens children in an execution campaign in Ukraine and publishes a video of the beheading of a Ukrainian prisoner of war. At the same time Russian war criminals continue hitting Ukrainian cities with artillery, rockets and aerial bombardments. 

What’s going on?

·  Two former commanders of the Russian Wagner group claim they killed more than 20 Ukrainian children and teens. These incidents apparently took place in Soledar and Bakhmut in the Donetsk region in February this year. They gave testimonies in video and audio interviews with the details of how they shot Ukrainian children, blew up a pit containing more than 50 wounded prisoners and so-called «500s» (soldiers who decided to stop fighting and refused to carry out orders to kill Ukrainians), and mopped up residential buildings, killing everyone, even the children. The criminals are now in Russia.

·  Previously a video of the brutal murder of a Ukrainian prisoner of war was shared on social media. The footage shows a Russian soldier using a knife to cut off the head of a Ukrainian defender, who was still alive at the time.

·  Russian occupiers continue targeting Ukrainian culture. According to UNESCO the Russian invasion of Ukraine has caused some $2.6 billion worth of damage to the country’s heritage and cultural sites. According to the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, 1,373 objects of cultural infrastructure have already been damaged because of Russian aggression in Ukraine. The occupiers continue to withdraw Ukrainian books from libraries in occupied territories. For instance, in the occupied parts of Donetsk region, 9,500 books were taken from the libraries. Instead, Russians import their “literature”. Earlier, in the Luhansk region, cases of Russian occupiers burning large numbers of Ukrainian books have been recorded. Destruction of cultural heritage continues in Mariupol: Russians demolished a monument to the artist Arkhip Kuindzhi. Prior to this, they renamed a street named after him.

Losses

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has recorded at least 23,015 civilian casualties in Ukraine since February 24, 2022. It is impossible to establish the actual number of dead, wounded, and forcibly displaced people due to the fact that the occupation forces are continuing their assault on Ukraine. Russia’s war against Ukraine has already produced over 8 million refugees.

  • On March 28, it became known that the famous culturologist, researcher, intellectual, and philosopher Yevhen Hulevych died in a battle near Bakhmut. In 2022, he switched from working on projects, curating, and creating cultural spaces to taking up arms. While fighting, Yevhen was wounded twice.
  • On April 5, a famous Kyiv Opera conductor Kostiantyn Starovytskyi (call sign “Maestro”) died on the frontlines. Despite his successful music career, Starovytskyi felt compelled to serve his country in the face of aggression. He served as a senior rifleman.
  • On April 19, Rostyslav Yanchyshen, a soloist of the Odesa Opera Ballet, was killed defending Ukraine from the Russian army. As he was not accepted into the Armed Forces, the dancer became a volunteer and joined the territorial defence forces of Ukraine.
  • On April 25, Russians shelled the city center of Kupyansk (Kharkiv region) with S-300 missiles. There was a direct hit into the building of the local history museum. The news report that two workers of the museum were killed, ten people have been injured.

Russian crimes against media

In the year and two months since the start of the full-scale invasion, Russia has committed 509 crimes against journalists and media in Ukraine.

  • On March 26, news emerged of the death of Oleksandr Tsakhniv, a serviceman and journalist with the Vchasno information agency. Oleksandr covered the issues of corruption in the cities of the Donetsk region and conducted anti-corruption investigations. He enlisted voluntarily in the military at the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion. 
  • On April 6, a former camera operator of the Ivano-Frankivsk television and radio company «Vezha» Andriy Boyko (call sign «Attache») died. At the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, Andriy joined the army as a volunteer and served as the commander of the rifle platoon of the 102nd separate brigade of the Territorial Defense Forces named after Colonel Dmytro Vitovsky. 
  • On April 13, news emerged of the death of Vladyslav Dzikovsky, who was killed in the Luhansk region in December 2022. Vladyslav was a system administrator at the «Detector Media» for over 10 years. He is survived by his mother, wife, and two sons.
  • On April 20, radio host Dmytro Siryk died. For more than a year, Dmytro Siryk defended his country from the aggression of the occupiers and almost all this time he was constantly in the hot spots of the front, including in the Donetsk direction.

Find out more about journalists and media workers who died in Ukraine as a result of Russia’s full-scale war.

Words and Bullets

“Words and Bullets” is an online media project featuring interviews with Ukrainian writers and journalists who became soldiers or volunteers following the Russian invasion. The project is launched by Chytomo media and PEN Ukraine. Read the articles about:

  • Dmytro Krapyvenko: It is important to talk about the losses in order not to get delusional and think that there are some immortals fighting on our side;
  • Soldier Artem Chapeye: If I hadn’t gone the first day, I would have gone a week later;
  • Halyna Kruk: War, as an existential crisis, gives birth to very bright manifestations of culture;
  • Anatoly Dnistrovy: Russia’s war against Ukraine is its last cry in the desert;
  • Oleksiy Sinchenko: The war makes you forget everything you have learned before, and begin from scratch;
  • Valeriy Puzik: The war is when everyone does what it takes.

Here and Now

“Here-And-Now: Stories of Journalists at War” is a project consisting of stories of those who cover and reflect on Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, who shoot and record stories from the frontline and from the rear, who go live on air from air-raid shelters, alongside those who have enlisted in the Ukrainian Armed Forces. All of these people speak about their personal and professional choices. Read and listen to stories of:

State of War

The State of War, an anthology of essays by Ukrainian intellectuals about the Russian-Ukrainian war from the Meridian Czernowitz publishing house has been released in English. It includes 35 essays of Ukrainian authors. You can read some of the essays here:

Ukrainian writers and journalists during the war

The State of War, an anthology of essays by Ukrainian intellectuals about the Russian-Ukrainian war from the Meridian Czernowitz publishing house has been released in English. It includes 35 essays of Ukrainian authors. You can read some of the essays here:

Shares materials

Dialogues on War

We continue our conversation series, #DialoguesOnWar, where Ukrainian and foreign intellectuals talk about the experience of the war and share their own observations:

PEN Ukraine webpage on war

Visit our webpage for the latest news and materials on Russia’s war against Ukraine. Here you will find information on the situation in Ukraine, links to important materials and information resources, petitions, addresses, a list of publications about Ukraine to read in English, and books by Ukrainian authors recommended for translation. The page is continuously updated with the latest news and links. 

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