Tetyana Katrychenko
She’s an alumna of the Institute of Journalism of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, who used to work for the Glavred magazine and the STB television network, collaborated with the newspapers Den and Ukrainska Pravda. Currently, she is a political columnist for the Focus magazine.
She has been covering the topic of illegally detained Ukrainian citizens on the territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Donbas since 2015. She started with journalistic materials, later joined organizing advocacy campaigns to promote the release of illegally detained persons. She’s the author of the reports Military and civilian detainees in Donbas: searching for the efficient mechanism of release and Female face of Donbas hostages.
Since February 2020, she has been a member of the Interdepartmental Commission for consideration of issues related to the recognition of persons deprived of their personal freedom as a result of armed aggression against Ukraine and the implementation of measures aimed at their social protection.
Since July 2020, as an expert, she has been cooperating with USAID Human Rights in Action Program.
The Southern District Military Court in Russia’s Rostov-on-Don sentenced three civilians from Melitopol in the Zaporizhzhia Region in a case involving explosions in the city. 31-year-old Artem Murdid was sentenced to life imprisonment; his common-law wife, 28-year-old Hanna Voshkoder, was handed down a sentence of 20 years in a general regime colony. Artem’s 50-year-old mother, Hanna Murdid, received 22 years.
4 June 2025
Gaunt men — former prisoners of war — step off the bus. In the hospital yard, families of the missing hold photos, searching for a glance, a word, a sign of recognition. Nearby — silence, sirens, and the hope that someone might say: “I saw him.” A report from the exchange.
25 May 2025
The Southern District Military Court of Rostov-on-Don has handed down sentences to 24 current and former members of the Azov Brigade. They were sentenced to between 13 and 23 years of imprisonment, all to be served in maximum-security penal colonies. Eleven were tried in absentia, and one died in a pre-trial detention center.
26 March 2025
Ukrainian pilots Oleksandr Morozov and Dmytro Shymanskyi have been sentenced in Moscow to 22 and 26 years of imprisonment. The Russians convicted them as terrorists, even though they are, in fact, servicemen of the Ukrainian army. However, unlike Shymanskyi, Morozov is not recognized as a prisoner of war even in Ukraine.
5 March 2025
The 37-year-old Nataliia Vlasova and 46-year-old Viktor Shydlovskyi were detained by representatives of the pro-Russian quasi-structures of the so-called DPR on March 21, 2019, while crossing the Olenivka checkpoint. Both were traveling to the occupied Donetsk, allegedly using forged documents under the surname Petrenko. In Donetsk, their acquaintance, 47-year-old Serhii Hruzynov, was already waiting for them. During the court hearing, all three stated that they had incriminated themselves under torture, confessing to crimes they had not committed.
30 December 2024
“I disagree with the court’s decision and will appeal it. I consider myself an innocent person who has been criminally prosecuted. I am a soldier who followed the orders of the state of Ukraine. I regret nothing and repent for nothing.” This is the stance Ukrainian soldier Oleksandr Maksymchuk expressed to “Mediazona,” a Russian online platform covering court proceedings in Russia after his 20-year prison sentence was announced.
21 December 2024