Weekly newsletter
This is a newsletter of exclusive materials of "Ukrinform" for a week
Photo of the week:
Part of a residential building destroyed by a Russian missile strike in Zaporizhzhia, February 26, 2024.
Мaterials:
A witness to the war
Mass murder of 'Azovs' in Olenivka: story of surviving prisoner
Ostap Shved, a 30-year-old Azov combat medic, survived the explosion in the colony in Olenivka in the occupied Donetsk region on the night of 29 July 2022 and subsequent torture in Russian captivity for a year. He was exchanged on 6 May 2023. In total, Ukraine managed to return 23 soldiers who were held in the blown-up barracks. Around 120 Azov soldiers who survived that night in Olenivka are still being held by the Russians.
At a recent event in Vienna, organised by the Media Initiative for Human Rights in cooperation with the Ukrainian, US and EU missions to the OSCE, Ostap Shved testified about the circumstances of the most massive killing of Ukrainian soldiers in Russian captivity.
A two-year lie
“Kyiv in three days,” “dirty bomb,” and “another Stalingrad”: Russian propaganda adapting over two years of full-scale war
Two years ago, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. With the expansion and escalaction of the war theater, the information component of aggression was also enhanced. Kremlin propaganda simultaneously tries to justify an unprovoked attack, discredit Ukraine in the eyes of the international community and strip the nation of much needed support, demoralize and disorient the Ukrainians, and minimize the country’s ability to resist aggression.
Propaganda efforts are also aimed at mobilizing Russians, concealing their own military failures, and convincing the world of Russia’s “invincibility.” Depending on battlefield developments, domestic and foreign political situation, the Kremlin adjusts the topics of their propaganda and shifts public focus from one story to another.
Life during the war
Coffee and Fairy Tale by a combatant, his wife and children
It’s hard to come up with a life story like the one of Roman and Anna Slobodianiuk. And there’s no need to because it’s typical for modern Ukraine in many ways. Just two months before the enemy’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Roman signed a contract with the Armed Forces of Ukraine. On 24 February 2022, his wife Anna and their two children found themselves under temporary occupation in Kherson Oblast, a place they could not leave immediately. And then Roman was seriously wounded at the frontline...
So the entire family has been displaced twice by now: in 2014, from Luhansk to Kherson, and in 2022, from Kherson to Bohuslav in Kyiv Oblast—together. They were able to settle down again in a new place, set up two small businesses, and, together with their caring neighbours, built a playground for everyone. Ukrinform tells their story of resilience and faith in victory, no matter how many trials people have to endure.
Politics
Wartime elections: not in demand and impossible to run
On February 27, 2024, the Intelligence Committee under the President of Ukraine reported that in March-May, Russian special services would undertake an ultimate effort to destabilize Ukraine.
This is the final stage of the special operation Maidan-3, which the enemy has been implementing over the past few months and the total budget of which is $1.5 billion. One of the main information attacks will be directed at the political leadership of Ukraine.
As you know, on March 31, 2024, regular presidential elections would be held in Ukraine. The line in this issue has already been drawn: during a full-scale war, there will be no elections in the state. However, Russian special services are struggling to destroy the legitimacy of the central government in the eyes of citizens to plunge Ukraine into internal chaos and, taking advantage of this, to inflict a military defeat on it in the east.
To this end, the enemy is doing everything possible to make Ukrainians doubt the legitimacy of the central government after May 20, and therefore the legitimacy of its decisions. The manipulative and groundless nature of such messages is obvious, as is the impossibility of holding a nationwide vote in the context of a full-scale war. Therefore, let us once again go through the reasons why the postponement of the presidential election is an expedient and necessary decision.
Bloody sport
Neutral flag in Paris: Russian military at Olympics
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine highlighted the issue of Russian athletes participating in the Olympic Games. After all, waging an aggressive war directly contradicts the values of peace and respect for human dignity enshrined in the Olympic Charter. Moreover, the sports movement in Russia is extremely militarized and ideological. The Kremlin long ago turned participation in international competitions into a weapon in the information war.
That is why in December 2022, the International Olympic Committee decided to suspend the national teams of Russia and the Republic of Belarus from participating in the 2024 Games in Paris. Citizens of states that are accomplices in the aggression against Ukraine were allowed to compete only in a neutral status.
That is when the IOC requirements for neutral athletes were approved. Among other things, this status cannot be claimed by persons who actively support the war, serve in military agencies or public security agencies of Russia and Belarus.
Top Videos:
Terrorism
Consequences of the night drone attack on Odesa
Overnight into March 2, Russian invaders attacked Odesa with strike drones. A drone struck a nine-story residential building, destroying an 18-apartmnent section of the building.
The attack killed 12 people, including five children. Nine people were injured. Five people were rescued. The search and rescue operation was completed on March 3.
Society
Action in support of prisoners of war
Defenders
An exhibition about defenders of Ukraine "Following the Call of the Heart" opened in Poland
At the 9th Congress of Local Self-Government in the Polish town of Mikołajki in Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship (northeastern Poland), an exhibition about the defenders of Ukraine, titled "Following the Call of the Heart," was opened. The exhibition, featuring servicemen from the 103rd Territorial Defense Brigade from Lviv, was organized with the support of the Lviv Regional Council and the Consulate of Ukraine in Gdańsk.
News that may affect events in the country:
Politics
Law banning Russia-affiliated churches set to cleanse Ukraine’s religious realm of Russian ideology adherents - MP
"Today, our Committee did recommend that the Parliament adopt at second reading the draft law on banning the operations of religious organizations affiliated with the Russian Federation in Ukraine. It is worth emphasizing that the bill isn’t about banning the activities of religious organizations as such but banning their affiliation with the aggressor state," Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy Mykyta Poturaiev emphasized.
The lawmaker emphasized that the main goal of the document is to ensure that religious organizations operating in Ukraine have no connections and or remain openly subordinated to religious organizations that are actually part of the Russian regime.
Justice
Russian soldiers, commanders to be held accountable for executing POWs - Ukraine’s top prosecutor
Those who murdered Ukrainian prisoners of war, as well as their commanders who either issued orders or failed to interfere, will be held accountable for these war crimes.
Behavior by Russian invaders is part of a general trend observed during Russia's aggressive war against Ukraine. When perpetrators are identified, they are held accountable, even in their physical absence. That’s because the victims of these crimes, their families, cannot wait decades for these criminals to fall into the hands of Ukrainian justice. Justice cannot wait, it has no statute of limitations. So all the verdicts passed against murderers will be executed.
War
Ukrainian drones attack Russian iron ore factory in Kursk region
A drone attack on the Mikhailovsky GOK iron ore factory in Russia's Kursk region was a special operation carried out by Ukrainian intelligence.
See you next Friday!