After the occupation, a real stream of various "liberators" came to the Russian-occupied territories. The distribution of money for participating in the war against Ukraine allowed residents of subsidized regions to escape desolated dying Russian monotowns to some warmer and more vivid places, even despite the war.Читати українською

"Russians take children out of town, dress them in military uniforms, give them certain roles, such as a drone operator, sapper or paratrooper, and then organize 'military-patriotic games'. But everyone realizes that this is actually a way to prepare children in the occupied territories to be drafted in the war," says Stanislav Zakharevych, head of the occupied community in Zaporizhzhia Oblast.Читати українською

At the end of October 2022, we published a data project about the Russian "Telegram occupation", in which we investigated 120 Telegram channels that were set up by the Russians under the guise of Ukrainian local news channels to prepare for and justify the Russian occupation of Ukrainian territories. However, things didn’t turn out as planned, and by the end of September 2022, almost half of these news channels stopped working. As we learnt later on, not forever. Some Telegram channels still got a chance for a second life, although again, not for long. More details about Russian activity in Telegram and what Soledar offensive has got to do with it – in the article below.

Water supply to Crimea became one of Russia’s most impactful propaganda messages to justify its aggression against Ukraine.It’s worth noting that in 2014, Ukraine stopped the water supply to Crimea through the North Crimean Canal. Previously, the canal covered 80-85% of all the freshwater needs of the peninsula, but it was mostly used for growing rice in the north of Crimea. After the Russian occupation, this business stopped, so the need for water decreased.However, the slogan "water for Crimea" became a propaganda meme, and Russian occupiers didn’t wait too long to announce the restoration of the water supply – or, more precisely, the beginning of full-scale theft of water from the Dnipro river. Translated by Dmitry Lytov, Mike Lytov, and Tetiana Sykes

This is a painful question for those who remained in the occupied towns and villages.Is putting out a fire, rescuing people, assisting with childbirth or teaching children mathematics considered betrayal if you live in occupied Berdiansk?We talked to a firefighter, a teacher and a doctor from Berdiansk who love Ukraine and are awaiting the arrival of the Ukrainian military. Two of them did not leave Berdiansk that was captured by the Russian army in the first days of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.