Enforced disappearances

Terrorism and attempted arson of a person: what the Russians accuse Kostiantyn Zinovkin from Melitopol of and where he is held

The Russians occupied Melitopol in the first days of the full-scale invasion. They immediately seized the administrative buildings and started dispersing pro-Ukrainian protests with weapons, abducting local residents and holding them hostage. Kostiantyn Zinovkin, who stayed in Melitopol to care for his mother and grandmother, was not spared either.

12 February 2024

The price of freedom: the story of Snovsk mayor’s release from captivity

Oleksandr Medvediov, mayor of Snovsk in Chernihiv Region, was taken hostage in March 2022 when Russian forces invaded the city. Captured by enemy soldiers, he endured several days in handcuffs, subjected to brutal interrogation and physical abuse, including a broken shoulder blade, and faced a ransom demand for his release.

5 January 2024

Attack on a school, abduction, captivity. How residents of Mykhailo-Kotsiubynske in Chernihiv Region survived the occupation

Mykhailo-Kotsiubynske is a residential community near Chernihiv, where about three thousand people lived before the full-scale invasion. It was directly in the path of the Russian army to Chernobyl. The village came under occupation on February 28 and was liberated on April 2. An MIHR fact finder recorded accounts of the ordeal.

29 December 2023

MIHR discovered a torture chamber in Sumy Region: a victim recognized all of it

Boromlia and Trostianets are population centers in the Okhtyrka community of Sumy Region. At the start of the full-scale invasion by the Russian Federation, they came under occupation. The invaders kidnapped, tortured, and killed civilians. MIHR came here on a field mission and discovered five sites where Russians illegally detained civilians. In Boromlia, people were held on the premises of a local enterprise, and in Trostianets – at the railway station, brick factory, grain silo, and police department.

27 December 2023

For the first time, the UN illegally has recorded the problem of Ukrainian civilian hostages held by Russia: what will it do?

On 19 December, 2023, the UN General Assembly adopted an updated resolution on the situation of human […]

19 December 2023

How the Russians occupied Chernihiv Region: names of commanders and alleged perpetrators

“We came to liberate you." This is how Russian invaders responded to the residents of Chernihiv Region in February-March 2022. During this time, they committed numerous crimes against civilians. To document these, MIHR went to the village of Shestovytsia, where in March last year Russian troops established their headquarters.

12 December 2023

“Spotter from Chornobaivka”: how Maksym Bilychuk survived kidnapping, seven months of captivity, torture, and at last appeared in the territory controlled by Ukraine

Maksym Bilychuk is a thirty-year-old resident of Chornobaivka, the strategically important village near Kherson, where the airfield is located. He had neither military nor volunteer experience before a full-scale invasion. He spent the first month and a half of the Great War in the basement with his nephew, wife and neighbors.

30 November 2023

Hostages in Russia. How an ATO ex-soldier, Andrii Harasymenko, was abducted in the Chernihiv region and where he is now

During the last year’s occupation of the Chernihiv region, Russian military personnel abducted men, held them captive, and interrogated them in torture chambers in the Vyshneve village and Horodnia town. MIHR recounts the story of Andrii Harasymenko, a gas service master from the village of Novoukrainske, his abduction, and transportation to a Russian prison.

11 August 2023

Nothing Sacred: How Russian Forces Abducted UGCC Priests Ivan Levytskyi and Bohdan Heleta in Berdiansk

Ivan Levytskyi hails from the Lviv region, while Bohdan Heleta comes from the Ivano-Frankivsk region. Driven by their spiritual calling, both decided to become monks. They served in Berdiansk for approximately four years. The parish of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church was relatively small. According to relatives of the priests, their term of service in Berdiansk was due to conclude by the end of 2022, and they were planning to return home.

4 August 2023