Society & Culture

Several thousand people gathered near the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., on Saturday for a large-scale rally marking the third anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Demonstrators called for continued support for Ukraine. According to an Ukrinform correspondent, participants marched through the capital's downtown to the residence of the Russian ambassador, demanding an end to Russian aggression. People traveled from various U.S. states, some arriving individually and others on buses organized by Ukrainian community leaders. Many carried blue-and-yellow flags, Ukrainian symbols, and signs calling for continued military aid to Ukraine, NATO membership, and an end to Russian aggression to…

After prolonged negotiations last fall, the Russians indicated their willingness to release journalist Viktoria Roshchina, but they repeatedly postponed her return until reports emerged that she had died in captivity. This was disclosed in an interview with Ukrinform by Head of the Secretariat of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War Bohdan Okhrimenko. "The Coordination Headquarters made multiple requests for the return of Viktoria. After lengthy discussions last fall, we received a response from the Russians indicating that they were supposedly ready to return her. However, they postponed the return date several times. There were a number…

The International Committee of the Red Cross has only 130 representatives in Russia, while there are 800 in Ukraine. This was stated in an interview with Ukrinform by Bohdan Okhrimenko, head of the Secretariat of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War. “We have ICRC offices in Kyiv, Dnipro and Odesa. In total, about 800 ICRC employees work in Ukraine. There are also representatives of the National Red Cross Society. At the same time, we have five camps for prisoners of war. Russia is a much bigger country, but they have only about 130 ICRC representatives. And…

In 2024, Russia fulfilled 104% of its mobilization plan for men on temporarily occupied territories. This was reported by Head of the Secretariat of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War Bohdan Okhrimenko in an interview with Ukrinform. "In 2024, Russia was supposed to mobilize thousands of people from newly occupied territories and those that had been under occupation for some time. According to the Main Intelligence Directorate, this plan has been fulfilled by 104%. They have a plan for mobilization this year as well, involving thousands of people," he said. Okhrimenko did not disclose the total…

Negotiators from Russia are primarily interested in the repatriation of conscripts and Chechens from Ukrainian captivity, and at times, Ukraine has to persuade them to take back their citizens. This was reported in an interview with Ukrinform by Bohdan Okhrimenko, head of the Secretariat of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War. "Our negotiators sometimes have the task, aside from reaching agreements on the return of our citizens, to convince the Russians to take their own people. They have a huge number of forcibly mobilized soldiers, some of whom were recruited from prisons. Many of these people…

Reports about a possible shutting off Starlink service for Ukraine are false, according to Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX and head of the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Musk made this statement on X, as reported by Ukrinform. "This is false," Musk wrote in response to claims that Starlink access for Ukraine might be restricted. He also accused Reuters of spreading misinformation, stating: "Reuters is lying. They are second only to AP (Associated Propaganda) as legacy news liars," Musk posted. Additionally, he shared a visual post reinforcing his accusations against Reuters. Read also: U.S. may cut Ukraine’s access…

At the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, efforts are ongoing to extinguish a smoldering spot that emerged as a result of a Russian drone attack on February 14. As reported by Ukrinform, the State Emergency Service (SES) posted this on Facebook. "On February 22, the SES mountaineers are working on partially uncovering the shelter structures and extinguishing the smoldering spot on the northern side of the arch," the statement said. A constant monitoring of the situation is being conducted using drones equipped with thermal imaging cameras and handheld thermal imagers. According to the SES, the radiation levels at the Chernobyl NPP industrial site…

In 2022, Russia officially did not request the exchange of one of the leaders of the Opposition Platform — For Life (OPZZH) Viktor Medvedchuk. The request for his exchange was made by the so-called Ministry of State Security of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR). At the same time, the former MP and president of the Motor Sich corporation Vyacheslav Bohuslayev, who is under arrest for treason, is not of any interest to Russia. This was reported by Head of the Secretariat of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War Bohdan Okhrimenko in an interview with Ukrinform. "By…

Negotiations regarding the release of military personnel and civilians from captivity take place in temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, in Belarus, and in Russia. At times, meetings between the parties are held in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, which guarantee the safety of the participants. This was stated in an interview with Ukrinform by Bohdan Okhrimenko, head of the secretariat of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War. "Firstly, Belarus has only recently come into the picture. Secondly, throughout all exchanges, we have never seen representatives of the Russian side on our territory. We always go…

Before the renaming process started, there were 128 streets in Poltava region named after Russian poet Alexander Pushkin. Oleh Pustovhar, a representative of the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory in Poltava region, shared this information in an interview with Ukrinform. "To give you an idea of the extent to which the public space was marked by Russian enemy narratives, I’ll provide some figures. They show that the toponymy of Poltava region was not much different from that of Ryazan or Volgograd. The most common name was Yuri Gagarin (330 places), while there were none dedicated to Leonid Kadeniuk. Now, many…