Farewell and memory, democracy as the key to resilience, and responsible reporting on occupation – PIJL news
Hello, this is Zarina Mykytenko and the Public Interest Journalism Lab (PIJL).
This August has been a month of farewells to close friends and colleagues.
On August 10, Ukrainian anarchist artist Davіd Chichkan died from combat wounds. Listen to our podcast in memory of David (in Ukrainian), where you will hear the voices of his loved ones, friends, and comrades. You can also read our publication (also in Ukrainian).
Earlier, on August 8, also on Maidan, we bid farewell to our colleague journalist Victoria Roshchyna, who was killed in Russian captivity in September last year.
For our team, it was an honor to take part in both farewells. David’s and Viсtoria’s graves at Baikove Cemetery are located side by side.
We continue to inform the world about events in Ukraine. Nataliya Gumenyuk’s essay in Foreign Affairs, “The Real Limits of Ukrainian Power,” explains why social cohesion and Ukrainian democracy are the foundation of Ukraine’s resilience at a time when U.S. support is waning.
We followed the protests in defense of anti-corruption institutions. Watch our video report for Austrian public broadcaster ORF Topos, as well as Nataliya Gumenyuk’s column for The Guardian and Angelina Kariakina’s for The Ukrainians. The voices of those who took to the streets of Kyiv are featured in the video (english subtitles available) and in the podcast episode (in Ukrainian) When Everything Matters.
We launched the LiqPay service, making it even easier to support our team’s work!
Nataliya Gumenyuk spoke to Volodymyr Yermolenko for the UkraineWorld podcast about her research on the war of drones, and in the U.S. podcast The Delegates’ Lounge about how to pursue accountability for war crimes when the protection of international law is being pushed out of the global discourse.
Our team continues to cover attacks on Ukrainian cities – listen to and watch Nataliya Gumenyuk’s reports for Monocle Daily on how interruptions in Patriot missile supplies affect civilian security. On CNN, she discussed how Ukrainians view the talks between Putin and Trump.
The authors of the documentary The Last Family (english subtitles available), Anna Tsygyma and Ghanna Mamonova, held screenings in Krolevets, Sumy region, and at the Kyiv Veterans’ Home – for the displaced residents of geriatric institutions whose lives were changed by the war. A month ago, the film was also shown at the National Museum of the Revolution of Dignity. The post-screening discussion included representatives of the Ombudsman’s Office, managers of the geriatric institutions, and activists involved in the issue.
As part of artist Maria Kulikovska’s project The House of Permanent Exile, Nataliya Gumenyuk gave a lecture at the Museum of War on preserving memory during wartime – particularly, how stories can be transformed into evidence.
Together with the n-Ost network in July, we organized a five-day training Life under Occupation for 15 journalists from Ukraine, France, Poland, and Germany. The Lab team provided journalists with specialized skills, knowledge, and resources for deep, safe, and responsible coverage of life in Ukrainian territories temporarily occupied by Russia. Among the speakers were human rights defender and former prisoner of war Maksym Butkevych, journalists from occupied territories Oleh Baturyn and Andrii Dikhytiarenko, researcher Jaroslava Barbieri, Crimean Tatar activist Leniie Umerova, Head of the War Department of the Prosecutor General’s Office Yuriy Byelousov, Head of the Victim Support Coordination Center Veronika Plotnikova, and others. Following the training, participants will create both individual and joint reports on life under occupation.
We congratulate our former colleague and friend, The Reckoning Project lawyer Ibrahim Olabi, on his appointment as Syria’s Permanent Representative to the UN! We also invite you to listen to our podcast with Ibrahim (conversation in English starts at 08:34), where he talks about Russia’s “manual” for waging war, Syrians’ attempts to achieve justice, and how to make life harder for war criminals.
Wishing you a peaceful month,
Your Public Interest Journalism Lab (PIJL)
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