KHPG’s Annual Media Report 2023

In 2023, the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group’s media team was working on various topics related primarily to the ongoing Russian Invasion of Ukraine. Apart from this, some internal human rights issues were also covered, as well as KHPG’s own achievements in the war crimes documentation, providing various help to the victims and vulnerable groups, etc.

List of main issues covered:

• Russia’s international crimes
  • Shelling and attacking Ukrainian cities with missiles, drones and other means
  • Forcible movement of the Ukrainian children
  • Torture
  • Genocide
  • Tribunals and investigation
  • Damage to Ukraine’s educational facilities
  • Bio weapon related disinformation
  • Enforced drafting on the occupied areas
• Personal war stories and Ukrainian resistance
• POWs and civilian captives held by Russia
• Prisoners’ rights in Ukraine
• Freedom of Expressions
• Refugee and IDPs’ rights in Ukraine
• Ukrainian Army legal issues
• Psychological and humanitarian assistance
• Rule of Law

KHPG operates two websites, a YouTube channel and various social media in Ukrainian, English and some other languages.

Human Rights in Ukraine website (khpg.org)

KHPG’s main website has been running since 1999 and is considered by many as the biggest web project on human rights in Ukraine. In 2023, on average 4 news or analytical articles were published daily. The total number of the khpg.org posts is 1551.

The website has Ukrainian and English editions.

The Tribunal for Putin website (t4pua.org)

Launched in late 2022, the website of the T4P initiative is a unique project that collects data on Russia’s war crimes in Ukraine, presenting it in seven languages (Ukrainian, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Russian). The most unique feature of the website is the live stats tool that shows structured data on destructions, civilian casualties and other crimes committed by the Russian army.

YouTube channel

YouTube is the main platform for KHPG’s “Voices of War” project and other human rights or war-related videos. The total number of views for 2023 is roughly 3 mln.

The most viewed video now has 1,373,000 views.

KHPG embraces other YouTube content creation tools as YT Shorts and channel posts.

Facebook

In Facebook, KHPG Media Team operates many pages, the most prominent of which are:

The majority of posts are khpg.org links. There were also image posts, live streamers and video posts (in both horizontal and vertical aspect ratios). Content analysis shows that video is the type of content that gathers the biggest numbers of engagements (more than two times more than website links). Facebook distribution mechanics give video a priority and a possibility to become viral. One of the KHPG’s videos on Facebook received more than half a million views organically.

Instagram

KHPG’s Ukrainian Instagram page has more than 1,600 followers. It is designed in accordance with the modern Instagram standards, embracing such tools as Reels, multiple posts, stories, Instagram Live, multi page joint posts.

X (Twitter)

X page of the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group is an aggregator of human rights and war crimes related news about Ukraine in English. It is updated very frequently (10-20 tweets per day)—the strategy was to be as active in content publishing as possible. This strategy, however, is being reviewed in 2024, possibly changing focus to less frequent and more exclusive and targeted content.

Telegram

Telegram has a relatively small yet refined audience. Among the news and analytics from the website, the media team was preparing dedicated short posts on the history of human rights and other topics.

Overall, the Telegram channel now has 700 followers, which have been gathered through mixed SMM techniques of promo posts in some related channels, Facebook groups, Telegram communities. Even though the number of followers isn’t too large, KHPG’s channel is being followed by many target groups, journalists, and influencers. It has been discovered several times that other media have written articles after KHPG’s posts (including with direct citation).

The ‘Voices of War. Mariupol’ book

Illustrated collection ‘Voices of War. Mariupol’ was published in June 2023 by the KHPG’s in-house ‘Human Rights’ publisher. The book was introduced in Kharkiv, Sumy, and Kyiv. It is based on 24 interviews with the residents of Mariupol who were in the city on February 24, 2022 and managed to flee during various periods of its siege and subsequent occupation.

This book has become the visual representation of KHPG’s one-year documentation effort and its ‘Voices of War’ project, which now has collected and published more than 300 war stories, some of which were translated in English and many other languages using KHPG’s partner network within the International Memorial Association.

The testimony collected by the KHPG became not only the basis for legal submissions to the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court but also the visual stories, which received hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube and on websites.

The book contains unique photos of the besieged city by Yevhen Sosnovskyi and paintings by the prominent Ukrainian painter Matviy Vaisberg. It was presented in Ukrainian, Russian, and with an English sample during the 2023 Frankfurt Book Fair.

It is planned to internationally release the English and the German editions of the book in 2024.

Selected media pieces of 2023

• Prison for ‘likes’ in the social networks? How people are punished in Ukraine for justifying Russian aggression https://khpg.org/en/1608813317
• Officers don’t work https://khpg.org/en/1608812745
• A collection of the aerial footage from the different parts of the Kharkiv Region that shows the enormous level of destruction and the consequences of the Russian occupation https://t4pua.org/en/90
• Українці, що виїхали з РФ, живуть у невизначеності в Україні https://youtu.be/J6DTKIsy7iI?si=1R4sUVd1GkPDk1J_
• З білою хусткою назустріч російському танку https://youtu.be/GWnUMDMjvBE?si=MdSMrT71j5tQlwMK
• They refused to cooperate with the invaders in Vovchansk https://khpg.org/en/1608812132
• A year of full-scale war: the Kharkiv Region https://t4pua.org/en/1496
• Russia has been striking civilian sites 75 times a day on average: T4P investigation https://t4pua.org/en/1825
• ‘I’m not used to having four coffins with soldiers in the temple’, — priest Viktor Marynchak https://t4pua.org/en/2057
• Russia’s biolab lies may be a cover for its own crimes https://t4pua.org/en/2008
• Torments, Torture Chambers, Executions: T4P Initiative Presents Two Submissions to the International Criminal Court https://t4pua.org/en/1973
• Trampling the starry firmament in their filthy boots https://t4pua.org/en/1946
• Sources of Russian cruelty https://t4pua.org/en/1933
• ‘The concept of genocide needs to be re-examined’, says author of submission to the International Criminal Court https://t4pua.org/en/1917
• American Volunteer at Bucha Morgue https://t4pua.org/en/2211
• During the first three months of the war, the Russian military destroyed two educational buildings in the Kharkiv Region a day https://t4pua.org/en/2035
• Transferring children to Russia is an Act of Genocide: Q&A https://t4pua.org/en/2200
• Вони розмовляли з нами мовою кулеметів: Спогади Євгена Грицяка про Норильське повстання https://khpg.org/1608812589
• Дмитро Вовк: Чи можна заборонити УПЦ? https://khpg.org/1608812977
• ‘Більшість була за смертну кару’. Євген Захаров розповідає, як в Україні скасовували покарання смертю https://khpg.org/1608812903
• І ти, Бруте? Хто був першим терористом і чому це явище таке суперечливе https://khpg.org/1608812662
• Як підходили до евакуації дітей інші країни? https://khpg.org/1608812147
• Ukraine’s new Media Law is ‘soaked in censorship,’ expert says https://khpg.org/en/1608811882
• Як підготуватися до відсутності світла? https://khpg.org/1608813010
• Viktoriia Ivlieva: ‘I would never defend Russia’ https://khpg.org/en/1608812515
• The year of the Mariupol Drama Theatre: a look from inside https://khpg.org/en/1608812073
• ‘If we don’t invest in art, we can fail’, Matvii Vaisberg says https://khpg.org/en/1608812726
• ‘Children, I won’t be able to teach the lesson because the war has started’ https://khpg.org/en/1608812321
• ‘Чао-какао і я на свободі’. Довічно засуджений добровільно здався владі після звільнення з окупації https://youtu.be/x_dI1AsUn78?si=G6GsYZ3mHo0dUhJS
• ‘Моїм клієнткам від 5 до 67 років’, — психолог про сексуальне насильство на війні https://khpg.org/1608812484
• ‘A soldier must be a coward and, when necessary, a hero’ https://khpg.org/en/1608812276
• ‘We don’t have an apartment anymore, Katia.’ A story of the Kharkiv student https://khpg.org/en/1608811955
• Тихе місце для спогадів: рідні загиблих воїнів мріють про хаб у Барвінковому https://khpg.org/1608813069
• ‘То моє серце...’ Оля та її хата посеред великої війни https://khpg.org/1608813009
• Картопля під обстрілами та корови на мінному полі — 11 мешканців Грушувахи кілька місяців жили на лінії фронту https://khpg.org/1608812802

Media Communications

In 2023, the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group or its members were mentioned 543 times in various international and Ukrainian media outlets, according to KHPG’s communication registry.