Hryhory Sinchenko is in a prison hospital in occupied Donetsk after slashing his wrists, in protest at torture aimed at getting him to give up his lawyer and to sign whatever his Russian-controlled militants demand of him.

There are many ways of marking Ukraine’s Independence Day on 24 August, and the  Ukrainian Flag the day before. Except when you’re in the Russian proxy Donbas ‘republics’ where even posting a picture with the Ukrainian Flag can get you seized by the so-called ‘security service’, tortured and imprisoned for years. 

A Belarusian human rights activist has informed Radio Svoboda that the two Ukrainian rights activists brutally detained on 12 August are to face criminal charges over supposed ‘mass riots’.

50-year-old Vadim Dreyev from Luhansk disappeared on 26 April 2019. Nothing was heard of him for four months, until the so-called ‘Luhansk people’s republic’ produced a video in which the Ukrainian supposedly demonstrates his part in the blowing up of four monuments in the Russian proxy ‘republic’

Eight months after human rights NGOs declared Oleksandr Marchenko a political prisoner, Russia is dragging out his secret ‘trial’, while also refusing to allow the Ukrainian General Consul in Rostov to visit him

News only emerged of the arrest of 53-year-old former footballer Vasyl Vasylenko on 6 July 2020, nine months after he was arrested in Moscow

Much remains unclear about how 29-year-old Hryhory Sinchenko managed to escape from his militant captors in May this year.  What, unfortunately, cannot be doubted is that the young Ukrainian’s life in the Russian proxy ‘Donetsk people’s republic’ [DPR] is in danger, and publicity is urgently needed.

20-year-old Bohdan Maksymenko has been imprisoned by militants from the self-proclaimed ‘Donetsk people’s republic’ [DPR] for two and a half months, almost certainly for his pro-Ukrainian views that he expressed openly on social media

31-year-old Pavlo Podvezko was accused by the self-proclaimed ‘Donetsk people’s republic’ of communicating on Twitter with a blogger who provides important information about Russian military and militant losses, military technology, etc

At least 14 people are reported to have been seized by Russian-controlled ‘Luhansk people’s republic’ militants over a strike by miners demanding pay arrears

There are grounds for fearing this to be the latest FSB offensive against Crimeans whose ‘extremism’ probably consists of agreeing with all democratic countries that Crimea is Ukrainian territory.

Yevhenia Yepes-Vinuesa, a Ukrainian living in Spain, has been taken prisoner in the self-proclaimed ‘Donetsk people’s republic’ [DPR], probably in response to her removing the Russian flag which the militants had hung from the balcony of her private apartment.

Russia’s FSB knew very well that Rustem Asanov is not living in Crimea and their armed search of his mother’s home on 2 June 2020 had no purpose except to terrorize

Marina Yurchak is a 40-year-old environmental chemist, who has been held hostage in the Russian proxy ‘Donetsk people’s republic’ [DPR] for two and a half years

Olena Fedoruk is from Kalmiuske, a city in Donetsk oblast whose proximity to the Russian border made it a convenient location for the Russian military whose involvement in the war in Donbas Russia is continuing to deny

29-year-old Hryhory Sinchenko has been placed on the ‘wanted’ list by the same Russian-controlled Donbas militants who took him prisoner in October 2019

Olena Piekh never concealed her pro-Ukrainian position and is paying a huge price for it

The Russian proxy ‘Donetsk people’s republic’ [DPR] has ‘sentenced’ a 55-year-old neuropathologist to 13 years’ maximum security imprisonment for posts on Twitter which were claimed to “destabilize the situation” in the unrecognized ‘republic’

Despite considerable hype from Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and his administration, the last exchange of prisoners in April appears to have been a win for the Russian-controlled Donbas militants

Oleh Shevandin, a well-known Wushu and KungFu champion, was taken prisoner by militants from the Russian proxy ‘Donetsk people’s republic’ [DPR] five years ago