#Russian occupation

For Ukrainians, peace is not just an end to fighting—it is the full restoration of their land, the return of their people, and accountability for those who waged war against them.

In the shadow of relentless shelling and under the iron grip of Russian occupation, ordinary Ukrainians like Maria, Server, and Valentyn endure unimaginable hardships.

Refusing to bow to an occupier in Russia’s world labels you as “mentally ill.” Through forced diagnoses, drugging, and institutionalizing—even children—Russia’s modern occupation of Ukraine echoes a horrifying Soviet tactic: punitive psychiatry.

Russia is using torture and coercion to forcibly enlist Ukrainian civilians from occupied territory into the Russian army and fight against their own country. Eradicating Ukrainian identity is a systematic, violent, and planned process by Russian forces to use the lives of Ukrainians, instead of their own.

"Current whereabouts remain unknown" is the reality for many Ukrainian journalists captured and detained by Russian forces. Even before the full-scale invasion in 2022, reporters covering Russian aggression in occupied territories faced arbitrary arrests, kidnappings, and torture—a pattern that continues today.