Ukrainian journalist, writer, founder Justice Initiative Fund.
Free Media Awards 2020;
National Freedom of Expression Award 2020; Shevchenko National Prize 2021
So, the main book of my life - "The Torture Camp on Paradise Street" - is available for purchase at the link below. There is no fictional plot in it: it is a non-fiction book describing the events in the Russian concentration camp "Izolyatsia" in Donetsk.
This is Maxim. He is 11. At night, he came to the position of the Ukrainian military to become a volunteer and fight. He was safely handed back to his mother by Ukrainian soldiers:).
This is something Moscow will never understand.
I am Serhiy Volyna, Commander of the 36th Separate Marine Brigade named after Rear Admiral Mykhailo Belinsky, am addressing to you from the besieged Mariupol.
We will not give up and will fight to the end.
1/3
According to the Main Directorate of Intelligence of Ukraine, there is growing opposition to Vladimir Putin among political and business circles advocating for his urgent removal from power and restoration of economic and diplomatic ties with the West.
1/5
Mariupol can be saved. We are ready to fight to the last drop of blood. But we must know that the world has done everything possible for this. Then we are ready to do even the impossible for our country.
18.04.2022
Serhiy Volyna
But our loyalty to the oath was not enough to liberate Mariupol. We need heavy weapons. It is in the power of the EU and the US to provide it to us. Heavy weapons for the defenders of Mariupol will save the Ukrainian military group.
2/3
Oleg Kotsyuba:
Irpin, near Kyiv, in Ukraine. This is what Russia’s war against Ukraine looks like. If you teach Russian literature, culture, and history, you need to teach this side of Russia and its “greatness,” too.
Occupied Kherson. The inscription on a check from a supermarket, in Ukrainian: "I am a people whose power of Truth has not yet been conquered by anyone. (Pavlo Tychyna)"
It is possible, that the recent "leak" regarding the location of the Chechen units North of Kyiv, can be the FSB attempt to either weaken the influence of Kadyrov in Russia, or find the common ground with the Ukrainian government after the elimination of Putin.
5/5
According to Ukrainian intelligence, Bortnikov and other influential circles of the Russian elite are considering all options of removing Putin from power, not ruling out physical elimination under the guise of poisoning or another "eventuality".
4/5
While the Ukrainian trains arrive strictly on time even under the bombardment, I have never seen it worse than
@DB_Presse
. Yesterday I went by train from Copenhagen to Hamburg which resulted in me being forced to spend the night on the street together with other passengers. 1/5
Only several people know, but as a result of our joint investigation with
@christogrozev
the cruelest executioner of the Russian concentration camp "Izolyatsia" Denis Kulikovskyi (alias "Palych") was arrested in Kyiv. This happened on November 9 last year.
1/3
At the same time, the political elite of the Russian Federation rely on the head of the FSB Alexander Bortnikov, who has already fell into Putin's disfavor after the enormous miscalculations in the so-called military operation in Ukraine.
2/5
I'm alive, although according to all the laws of physics and probability I should have died. The positions, unfortunately, have been lost. Now I'm in the hospital with a concussion.
Soon I will ask you for help again, since in material terms our unit has lost a lot.
Above all, it was specifically Bortnikov and his special service who were responsible for the analysis of the mood of the local population and capabilities of the Ukrainian army, which became the two main miscalculations of the Russian Federation in Ukraine.
3/5
This photo was taken in 2018, during my captivity. Sitting across from me is Sladkov, one of Russian propagandists who called themselves journalists for Russia24 TV channel. I was brought to him from Izolyatsia for an "interview."
1/3
I never thought that one day I would have to create a Fund for hunting down Russian war criminals. Nor did I think that I would be able to add Russia’s president to our database of documented war criminals on the basis of an official international arrest warrant.
1/3
The fuel of Russian tanks is fear. This is the West's fear of Russia. Bombs are still falling on us, because many politicians in the West are simply afraid that their evening with a glass of wine in a warm house will disappear.
1/2
2/2
Russians practiced this in Chechnya. Also pictures of men with tied hands and killed execution style in small groups. When Soviets were overtaken by Germans in 1941, they have left behind prisons full of man executed in such a way.
In the last day alone, by releasing a video of the Russians cutting off a Ukrainian POW’s genitals and burning people alive in Olenivka, Russia itself has fundamentally changed the rules of the game in the treatment of prisoners of war. This is de facto.
1/2
And now it is extremely important for the whole West to understand one simple thing: if you still view Russian bombs ruining cities in Lithuania or Poland as impossible, look at us. And don't repeat our mistakes.
7/10
If you haven't read Orwell's "1984" yet, don't rush to do it. Just listen to this Russian propaganda for children: "War is victory. War is love. War is friend. War is the future of the world".
Waiting for the fight.
The guys haven't slept since the evening and the only opportunity to get some sleep is to lean our heads against the wall of the dugout.
You have no idea how much we need aircraft and ammunition.
One of our military units burned down. The fighters sent me a photo of the only thing that did not burn. This is my book in Ukrainian about the Russian concentration camp Isolation in Donetsk.
Dear friends, I am at the frontlines now. The Russians are likely to initiate a breakthrough in our direction after Avdiivka. Our unit needs two thermal imagers, costing a total of 3,000 euros. I would be grateful if you could help.
PayPal:
payment
@jif
.fund
Bank:
4149499377721319
A week ago, I also had a possibility to sleep in a warm bed, but now the sirens in Kyiv keep me awake guessing which kind of missile the Russians fired at us this time.
10/10
In Donetsk, I received two sentences for 15 years each. After the concentration camp, electric shock torture as a daily practice, the massacre in Bucha and the bodies in the sewer manholes, one has to be surprised not by the death sentences, but by the West's surprise at them.
A British prisoner was dead in occupied Donetsk. Russians reported hat he died "from illness and stress." I know perfectly well how one can die "from stress" in Donetsk. Even before the Izolyatsia, there was a suicide attempt in the neighboring basement cell:
1/3
Dear friends and fellow journalists,
thank you for your support, I’m fine, but I can’t give any comments now, I need to rest a little.
Thank you for understanding.
Let me say very briefly about Avdiivka: no matter what kind of hero you are, it is impossible to fight against air bombs with machine guns.
And I would like to wish a happy holiday to the House of Representative.
Now with a group of investigators, we are close to creating a national global Fund to search for Russian war perpetrators. My idea is not just to collect information about them, but also to open financial accounts under each name.
2/3
I already experienced being held captivе in Donbass. Basically, I spent 2.5 years in the Russian concentration camp "Izolyatsia". I was tortured with electroshock as a Ukrainian spy; I saw women being walked through the hall where men were nailed alive in coffins.
2/10
Great news from the front: the Ukrainian army pushed the Russians back to their border in Kharkiv region, and also destroyed a huge column of equipment (more than 70 pieces were confirmed from satellite images) in the Donbas.
Special thanks to the USA for the M777 howitzer.
Even when I took my mother out of Kyiv on the day of the Russian invasion and returned to capital the next day, Ukrainian train managed to arrive on time, although everything around was on fire and in smoke.
5/5
I also thought that these obvious failures would stop Putin, like many others in our country. But we were wrong: the Russian dictator has completely lost touch with reality and reached the point of no return.
6/10
They brought me there with a sack over my head and in handcuffs, and the same way back. I was warned that if I refused to speak or say what they wanted me to say, I should better remember that I had a mother, and there were still empty cells in Izolyatsia.
2/3
This is Denis Kustov, the man I helped to escape from Izolyatsia. Denis came from Russia to the Donbas "to protect the Russians," as he himself then believed. I met him in the basement, in a cell next to mine, in May 2017, where he had been imprisoned for about 200 days.
1/5
Ratio no longer defines decisions or actions. It is not about the NATO-Russia balance of power any more. It is only about the fear of a person having access to a nuclear button and hiding somewhere in the Russian Altai.
8/10
Whenever I travel to give lectures in Germany, when taking a train it is almost certain I would be an hour late.
I have never encountered such a disrespect for customers in any other railway company.
4/5
Couple of words to
@mich261213
Today in Ukraine people will not talk to you if you think that only Putin is to blame for the war. They will not listen to you if you offer them the Russian liberals’ favorite formulation: “not everything is so simple” “there are good Russians” 1/9
4) Russia got another "Chechnia" in Ukraine: the Ukrainian people have never been so united as they are now - Russians are being killed literally from every corner in every possible way.
5/10
But everything is exactly the opposite: we are ready to shed our blood for this evening of Europe. For Freedom. But if you don't give us airplanes, don't close the sky, soon you will have to shed your blood. Just understand. And don't be afraid.
Why? Because of a paradox of the whole situation: look what is happening now. Putins invasion in Ukraine resulted in
1) an economic collapse
2) Russia suffers colossal losses in manpower and equipment
3) the forces gathered around the capital are not enough to overtake Kyiv
4/10
Great illustration.
The problem is that the West still does not believe in Ukraine’s victory. The West believes in containing Russia until conditions for negotiations are ripe. Big mistake. Ukraine has no other choice but win.
I am saying all this not to shock anyone but to make the point that not that many thing have left for me to be considered "impossible" in life. And yet I thought the invasion was impossible.
3/10
So:
1. A private jet carrying Prigozhin has crashed killing all onboard;
2. A Russian S-400 worth more than $300 million was destroyed in Crimea;
3. As a result of GUR’s special operation, Ukraine acquired a Russian helicopter with a pilot;
4. Today is Ukrainian Flag Day.
Heavy fighting in the Ocheretyne area.
Once upon a time I was going to run from Kyiv to Lisbon with a backpack of 20 kg: it seems that this race began for me in Donbas.
Five minutes ago a Russian missile passed over me, which we had nothing to shoot down. When you ask why I went to the front, one of the answers is to show that we are not afraid to look the enemy in the face, through a trench.
Don’t be afraid to arm us, sitting far from Russia.
Next time one of the “good Russians” tells you that protests in Russia are impossible, and Russians want change but are afraid, just show this video from Dagestan. They are not afraid to seize the airport to lynch Jews. But they do nothing against Putin, because he suits them.
BREAKING:
Lynch mob breaks through police lines and storms the airport in Dagestan, Russia to look for Jewish passengers just as a plane for Tel Aviv is landing.
Putin's propaganda has targeted Jews in recent days
So whenever you hear that Russia has come to defend Russians in Ukraine - remember Denis, a Russian patriot, who was strangled in the basement with a bag and water by his native country.
5/5
In this photo, I am in a territorial defense unit, when it seemed that Kyiv would hold out for only another week.
Today is exactly half a year since the invasion, and we are still celebrating Independence Day.
Glory to Ukraine!
This is what our evening looks like without Western air defense: the Russians simply bomb us from aircraft, which we cannot counter either with our own aircraft or air defense.
We need more weapons right now.
Dear friends, we need your help again. There are losses in our unit: the guys are now holding back the Russian breakthrough, but often they cannot even get to the position because of Russian drones. That's why we need two electronic warfare stations (6K€)
PayPal
payment
@jif
.fund
After my release, one of the most frequently asked questions was "Is it possible to negotiate with Russia?" I always said "No," and that Russia itself would show why not, which is what happened on February 24th. Now the same with the West.
1/4
In one of our last meetings with former political prisoner Kozlovsky, I asked him about having been captured a second time. "It's a leap into a slow death. It's better to die right away." I agree. In my opinion, it is worth choosing death over captivity, if there is such a choice
Sometimes the front, from a certain angle of view, resembles Bolivia or Saigon more than Donbas: you make your way through the thicket for water and suddenly you encounter such beauty.
Many people liked the previous photo - so I decided to take another one.
The train was late for 1.5 hour to depart from Copenhagen. Then, at the German border at Padborg, the train simply stopped moving on and left more than hundred people - many of whom were women with children - on the street in the middle of the night.
2/5
There look like the heroes of our battalion, who for two weeks, completely surrounded by enemies, held their positions on Pervomaisky (see video with the flag below).
Now they are all safe and, I hope, will be nominated for state awards.