Kaharlyk is a science fiction novel set in Ukraine that examines war and creativity a novel that began as Facebook posts to evade censors tells story of man whose brain is controlled by Russian army A book that the Ukrainian writer Oleh Shynkarenko published in chunks on Facebook during the Maidan square protests in order to avoid censorship has been translated into English for the first time The writer, who now works for the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union in Kiev has subsequently turned the story into a novel which is due to be published by the Kalyna Language Press Kaharlyk “tells the tale of a man who has lost his memory because the Russian army have used his brain to control satellites,” writes translator Steve Komarnyckyj in an introduction for Index on Censorship before the extract opens: “The wind blows listlessly through every cranny two identical 26-storey buildings are visible by the road in the distance Their sole inhabitant is a mummified 45-year-old wearing elegant spectacles.” Index on Censorship’s editor, Rachel Jolley, said: “When Maidan square was filled with burning tyres and demonstrators, [Shynkarenko] started to write a few thoughts about a Ukraine of the future. He scribbled down these thoughts on Facebook posts that he shared with his friends, after blogposts he wrote were deleted, probably by official censors. Read more“Facebook was a freer space and less open to the vagaries of the authorities Some of the scenes mirrored the violence that was happening and had happened around him… the dark world he has created is undoubtedly drawn from Oleh’s fears about the future for his country where he sees restrictions on freedom being drawn more and more tightly.” and fired a shotgun over her head to terrorize her The officer then allegedly raped the woman several times another man was reportedly beaten with the truncheons and threatened with rape at the same police department suffering fractured ribs and a broken nose Quarantine restrictions are not the only reason why the case in Kaharlyk has sparked little protest The truth is that it was by no means an unprecedented act of police violence in Ukraine Ukraine's Interior Minister Arsen Avakov has allowed police abuse to remain a systematic problem which has reincarnated itself under each new government in the Rada Avakov himself has been part of this systemic problem Journalists and human rights defenders argue that the recent rape case is just the tip of the iceberg -- one of those few examples among many others that occasionally get the media spotlight this latest incident is a small encapsulation of how rotten the law enforcement system in Ukraine really is Besides what could be seen as a sudden outbreak of criminal skirmishes that no one was prepared for, the public still remembersa shocking killing of a 5-year-old Kyryl Tliavov by a drunk policeman almost exactly a year ago in Kyiv Oblast no one has been convicted of the negligent homicide and the two suspects have been released on bail thus showing a police system far more broken than in Avakov's rosy representations All of this together has given Ukrainians another reason to express their fury with the rotten law enforcement system headed by Arsen Avakov While the international Black Lives Matter protests initially held the attention of most social media users Ukrainian activists and journalists have tried to call their fellow citizens’ attention to Ukraine’s own problems of police abuse and support protests against Avakov Carrying signs with messages like  mottos like "Avak-Off" [a play on words with the Interior Minister's surname - ed.] "Avakov is a devil," and "Whom can we call when the police kill?" hundreds of people in Kyiv and Uzhhorod took to the streets to  call for his dismissal on June 5 as Avakov  was addressing the Parliament after being summoned to account for the results of his tenure Anger at the "forever interim minister," as Avakov is often called (in reference to his original interim appointment to his position) has accumulated steadily as he has remained in office and gathered more power for himself over the past six years Yet, this is not an isolated case. The Ukrainian public has repeatedly reminded Avakov that the Interior Ministry under his supervision has sabotaged the investigations of high-profile cases. As with the Sheremet case no instigator has been found or held accountable for the death of Kateryna Handziuk an anti-corruption activist in Kherson who was doused with acid and independent journalists have gone without serious investigation and have left many bloody stains on Avakov's reputation she noted that "93 percent of those [policemen] dismissed after the re-certification have been reinstated through the courts," and the criminal investigative units have not been properly reformed In addition to his lack of political will to drag Ukraine out of the post-Soviet swamp where law enforcement is more of a threat than a protector Avakov keeps boasting about his ministry's dubious achievements Whatever the Interior Minister boasts as his accomplishments in a self-praising Soviet manner, be it with an increase in criminal referrals for police misconduct, or his far-fetched claims of a 92% success rate in solving murders The infuriating lack of discipline and accountability in law enforcement under Avakov is what made far-right nationalists and Crimean Tatars stand side by side against him in a protest in the Western city of Lviv "No Ukrainians can feel protected as long as such [professionals -ed.] as Avakov are in office. Because they generate danger," said Serhiy Sternenko during the protest against police misconduct This is the ultimate sign that now is a critical time for change in Ukrainian law enforcement culture Since the start of Vladimir Putin’s cold-blooded invasion of Ukraine in 2022 the stories and images being broadcast from the country are horrifying but the ambitious and quirky place where I have lived and worked is still there to learn that Ukraine has several cricket teams The father of cricket in Ukraine is a man named Hardeep Singh who brought the game to the city of Kharkiv in 1993 After first arranging hit-arounds in local parks where he and other expats from India could stave off homesickness Singh went on to create a cricket league with several teams If in the 1990s his most important task was bailing his players out of police cells before matches by the 2010s he was making plans to build an international-standard ground The land he ended up buying used to belong to a rugby union team Instead of preparing to host international cricket in Kyiv and Kharkiv those cities were being hit by Russian bombs Cricket really took off in the country when Ukrainians got involved Already a subscriber? Log in Jonathan Campion is a writer and editor. He is also the author of Getting Out: The Ukrainian Cricket Team’s Last Stand on the Front Lines of War Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for £3 Already a subscriber? Log in based on the materials provided by the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) the court issued a verdict regarding two former employees of the Kagarlytska police department in the Kyiv region for the acts of torture Article 152 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) The court found the two defendants guilty and sentenced the former head of the criminal police (former head of the criminal search sector) and the operative officer of the district department to 11 years of imprisonment the SBI conducted extensive work during the pre-trial investigation to establish the circumstances of the crimes and obtain indisputable evidence of the suspects' guilt the police officers tortured a woman who had been called to the police station as a witness handcuffed her and fired a gun over her head They then sexually assaulted her several times took them in the trunk of a car to the outskirts of the city Then they handcuffed them to a radiator in the corridor where the victims remained until the next day During the investigation into the abuse of the woman the SBI officers discovered several other cases of torture in the mentioned police department involving other law enforcement officers It should be noted separately that the defendants in the case used their professional skills and official capacities to conceal their crimes and the evidence that could be used in court SBI officers seized and examined dozens of hours of video recordings from surveillance cameras at the Kagarlytska police station which captured the movements of the suspects and victims The entire complex of measures taken by the SBI enabled the prosecution to substantiate and prove the guilt of the suspects the SBI presented indictments against five policemen from the Kagarlytska Police Department on charges of torture the court has issued a verdict on two of the defendants while the material on the remaining three former Kagarlytska District Police officers has been assigned to a separate trial Procedural guidance was provided by the General Prosecutor's Office Report corruption in the DBR Submit an appeal Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time One evening during the most brutal early days of Russia’s invasion a young sniper in Ukraine’s armed forces sends a late-night text fighting on the front lines in the eastern Donbas region relays stories from the war zones of Bakhmut of coming face-to-face with Wagner mercenaries and from the counteroffensive in Russia’s Belgorod what I want to be doing most of all right now is playing cricket,” Romanenko “But I have a sniper’s rifle in my hands right now instead of a bat Known to his friends in his rural hometown outside Kyiv as “Sasha” regarded as one of Ukraine’s best home-grown cricketers Ukraine was poised to become the world’s newest national team its application to join the International Cricket Council as an associate member having been all but accepted instead of preparing to host international cricket in Kyiv and Kharkiv those cities were being hit by Russian missiles It’s when many of Ukraine’s aspiring cricketers were really put to the test Oleksandr Romanenko on the frontline in 2023 Romanenko is still fighting on the frontline for his nation’s survival and cricket has all but disappeared from the sporting fields of Ukraine’s cities and towns One of the men who helped promote and grow the game there is Wayne Zschech an Australian who landed in Ukraine from Hervey Bay in 1993 Zschech had been intending to return to Australia to join the Air Force after a gap year in his ancestral home but instead found his calling as an evangelical pastor in Kaharlyk It’s there he taught the game to the members of his congregation and then the wider community 2000 Ukrainians were playing regular cricket along with migrants from the subcontinent as well as a handful of Brits and Yuri Zahurskiy are batting partners at Kaharlyk CC But the school field Zschech leased in Kaharlyk is no longer used for cricket he is still bringing his community together in other ways hosting and raising funds for displaced families who are staying at his Calvary Chapel church Romanenko and Zschech are just two of the fascinating characters in a new book by British author Jonathan Campion Getting Out: The Ukrainian Cricket Team’s Last Stand on the Front Lines of War Campion has travelled and worked in Eurasia since 2005 Campion said he wanted to blend the history of the game in Ukraine with eyewitness accounts of the start of the war with Russia like first and foremost as a sporting book to be on sports shelves to be read by cricket fans,” Campion says “So I did try and keep a balance between the kind of the quirky really positive inspiring cricketing stories that I hope cricket fans will really enjoy but also to go a bit further and talk about what these guys were doing when the war began.” A match at Hardeep Singh’s cricket oval in Kharkiv before the Russian invasion The father of modern-day cricket in Ukraine is Hardeep Singh an Indian businessman who brought the game to the country’s second-biggest city Singh was so impressed by the quality of his education in Kharkiv that he set up a business to facilitate the arrival of other Indian students Located just 30 kilometres south of the border, the predominantly Russian-speaking city is a major cultural and education hub, which was a major target for Moscow early in the invasion After first arranging social matches in local parks he went on to create a cricket league with several teams Cricket’s popularity also spread to private schools across the country; by the end of the 2010s Singh was making plans to build an international-standard ground When Kharkiv came under fire in February 2024 would eventually help evacuate hundreds of Indian students out of the city As Russian tanks drove through the city’s streets Singh sent instructions to them to switch off all the lights in a student accommodation building when it became clear that Putin’s forces were targeting places where ordinary civilians lived Singh and his family fled to Dubai but have vowed to return to the city when the war is over Despite Singh’s huge promotion of cricket in Kharkiv Campion said the game didn’t really take off in the country until local Ukrainians became involved who played a pivotal role with the team that he captained Zschech’s friend Yuri Zahurskiy became a big-hitting batter and an off-spin bowler While Russian soldiers were carrying out massacres in Bucha in March 2022 Zahurskiy repeatedly drove into the besieged town in an old Toyota and took dozens of children to safety Campion says he was struck at the way Ukraine’s cricketers think about cricket the same way an amateur player in England or Australia would “There was no difference in how he thought about the game to how we do so skipping university lectures to go and play cricket Missing dates with his girlfriend to go and play cricket,” he said everything else that he was at that point just stopped existing had a rifle thrust into his hands and was quickly learning how to use it.” but he thinks cricket might be finished in Ukraine But he does dream of a day when some of the country’s best players could put down their weapons and pick up a bat and ball again in a charity match “The war will have to end first and let’s pray “I think about if things had been different Some of these guys could have become international cricketers They could be playing in kind of ICC World Cup qualifying events The cricket world might know about them in some way.” Getting Out: The Ukrainian Cricket Team’s Last Stand on the Front Lines of War Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter One evening during the most brutal early days of Russia\\u2019s invasion a young sniper in Ukraine\\u2019s armed forces sends a late-night text of coming face-to-face with Wagner mercenaries and from the counteroffensive in Russia\\u2019s Belgorod what I want to be doing most of all right now is playing cricket,\\u201D Romanenko \\u201CBut I have a sniper\\u2019s rifle in my hands right now instead of a bat Known to his friends in his rural hometown outside Kyiv as \\u201CSasha\\u201D regarded as one of Ukraine\\u2019s best home-grown cricketers Ukraine was poised to become the world\\u2019s newest national team It\\u2019s when many of Ukraine\\u2019s aspiring cricketers were really put to the test Romanenko is still fighting on the frontline for his nation\\u2019s survival and cricket has all but disappeared from the sporting fields of Ukraine\\u2019s cities and towns It\\u2019s there he taught the game to the members of his congregation and then the wider community Getting Out: The Ukrainian Cricket Team\\u2019s Last Stand on the Front Lines of War to be on sports shelves to be read by cricket fans,\\u201D Campion says \\u201CSo I did try and keep a balance between the kind of the quirky but also to go a bit further and talk about what these guys were doing when the war began.\\u201D an Indian businessman who brought the game to the country\\u2019s second-biggest city Located just 30 kilometres south of the border the predominantly Russian-speaking city is a major cultural and education hub Cricket\\u2019s popularity also spread to private schools across the country; by the end of the 2010s As Russian tanks drove through the city\\u2019s streets Singh sent instructions to them to switch off all the lights in a student accommodation building when it became clear that Putin\\u2019s forces were targeting places where ordinary civilians lived Despite Singh\\u2019s huge promotion of cricket in Kharkiv Campion said the game didn\\u2019t really take off in the country until local Ukrainians became involved Zschech\\u2019s friend Yuri Zahurskiy became a big-hitting batter and an off-spin bowler Campion says he was struck at the way Ukraine\\u2019s cricketers \\u201CThere was no difference in how he thought about the game to how we do so Missing dates with his girlfriend to go and play cricket,\\u201D he said had a rifle thrust into his hands and was quickly learning how to use it.\\u201D But he does dream of a day when some of the country\\u2019s best players could put down their weapons and pick up a bat and ball again in a charity match \\u201CThe war will have to end first and let\\u2019s pray \\u201CI think about if things had been different The cricket world might know about them in some way.\\u201D Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what\\u2019s making headlines around the world