Until victory is achieved, we will remain the reliable source of information about wartime events in Ukraine.
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Maksym Butkevych is a human rights defender who volunteered for the army in 2022 and survived more than two years of Russian captivity. In his essay, he asks what Ukraine owes the people who defend it, and what kind of state they are fighting for.
Read the full essay here — ukrainer.net/en/a-person-cen…
Numbers can show how much of Ukraine’s scientific infrastructure has been damaged by Russia’s war. But statistics alone rarely capture the human impact or inspire action. Personal stories can help make the damage visible and sustain public support for science.
Watch the full episode, produced in partnership with Science at Risk and Kunsht, here: youtu.be/3y7A6J3f7yU
Kostiantyn is a civilian from Melitopol. For years, he and his wife, Liusiena, toured abroad as dancers, saving money to start a business. Back home, Kostiantyn set up a metal workshop. He never got to open it. Russia launched its full-scale invasion. 🧵
In three years, Liusiena has seen her husband twice: in a Russian propaganda broadcast and in photos from his sentencing. Emails were their only contact. Now the detention center has restricted those too.
At 19, Shefika Gaspıralı led a publication advocating for Crimean Tatar women’s rights. A decade later, she became one of the first women elected to her people’s representative assembly. Her story reveals a lesser-known chapter of feminism and the fight for democracy in Crimea.
Civilian detainees are held alongside Ukrainian prisoners of war. They, too, are tortured and abused. They receive no medical or humanitarian assistance, and their families are often left without information about their whereabouts.
Ukraine cannot exchange Russian military personnel for Ukrainian civilians. Doing so could also lead Russia to detain even more civilians in the occupied territories.
Who are they? They are ordinary Ukrainian citizens — engineers, doctors, teachers, drivers and journalists. People of all ages and professions, primarily detained because of their pro-Ukrainian views and resistance to the occupation.
Some Ukrainians are put on trial for fabricated charges. They are sentenced to between 10 years and life imprisonment for crimes they did not commit, and must serve their sentences in Russian penal colonies.
