Valery Matiushenko’s family have heard nothing from or about him since 8 October, and it appears that the Russian-controlled militants are deliberately hiding him

It is over five years since the Russian proxy ‘Donetsk people’s republic’ [DPR] seized five young lads and forced them to give videoed ‘confessions’ for DPR and Russian propaganda.

Although a solo father with a small son, Ihor Hordiychuk saw no choice but to join Ukraine’s Armed Forces in 2015. According to his sister, Yulia, he said, if I don’t defend our country, who will?

It is impossible to imagine the torment that Roman Onishchuk’s elderly mother has endured over the last six years since her son was seized by militants from the self-proclaimed and Russian-controlled ‘Luhansk people’s republic’

The Russian-controlled ‘Donetsk people’s republic’ has added another weapon to its arsenal of torture methods used against Ukrainians it accuses of ‘spying’

The Russian proxy Donbas ‘republics’ are holding a huge number of Ukrainians whom they claim were spying for Ukraine. Most have been savagely tortured, sometimes for reporting Russian military engagement on social media

70-year-old Vitaly Atamanchuk has been held prisoner by Russian-controlled Donetsk militants since September 2018, and his very life is now in danger

Natalia Statsenko has been held hostage by Russian-controlled militants from the self-styled ‘Donetsk people’s republic’ [DPR] since 10 July 2019, and there are serious grounds for concern about her state of health

Oksana Parshyna is in her fifth month and also has a 6-year-old son, yet has been held prison in occupied Donbas since 14 May 2021

Russian FSB officers in occupied Crimea are probably hoping for bonuses after claiming to have ‘caught two spies’ (at least) over recent months, with a video of the most recent arrest lingering ponderously over video shots of the man’s Ukrainian flag, etc

One of the most brutal places of incarceration in the occupied territories of Eastern Ukraine – the so-called “Donetsk” and “Lugansk Peoples Republics” – is the secret Izoliatsiia (Isolation) prison in the city of Donets’k

Yevhen Stavtsev turned 35 on 2 June, his fourth birthday held hostage in the self-proclaimed and Russian-controlled ‘Donetsk people’s republic’,

Valery Matiushenko has spent almost four years imprisoned in Russia’s proxy ‘Donetsk people’s republic’ [‘DPR’], with his captivity and the horrific torture he was subjected to for 10 months linked with his pro-Ukrainian views that he never concealed

Russia’s military court of appeal has upheld the five-year sentence passed on 63-year-old Oleh Prykhodko, a Ukrainian activist from occupied Crimea

Russia is clearly planning a new ‘Ukrainian spying trial’ in occupied Crimea, with the victim, 42-year-old Ivan Yatskin, imprisoned since October 2019

Among hostages held prisoner in the Russian proxy ‘Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics’ [DPR/LPR] are a number of men and women seized because of photos or comments posted on Twitter

A cassation court in Russia has overturned the previous court ruling in Russia’s persecution of Yunus Masharipov and ordered a new appeal hearing, under different judges, with respect to the 56-year-old rights activist and victim of punitive psychiatry.

The two Ukrainians who disappeared soon after laying flowers at the monument to Taras Shevchenko in Russian-occupied Crimea were seized by the FSB, with one of them still imprisoned.

Exactly 7 years ago, Ukrainians from all over Crimea gathered at monuments to Taras Shevchenko in effectively the last demonstrations possible against Russia’s invasion

The sentence was significantly lower than that demanded for Oleh Prykhodko by the prosecutor, but the Russian judges can have been in no doubt that they were sentencing an innocent man to a term of imprisonment that he may not survive