Home page » Topics » War » How the Trostianets community is being restored where reconstruction and development have been consistently hindered by Russia Almost all infrastructure essential for community development and comfortable living needs to be rebuilt a Russian missile struck just 100 metres from the nearly rebuilt hospital Trostianets began restoring the damaged infrastructure and rebuilding what was destroyed we are discussing the experiences of communities in Ukraine’s Slobozhanshchyna and other regions as they recover from the devastation caused by the Russian army This article focuses on the city of Trostianets and the surrounding settlements A few years before the full-scale invasion Ukraїner visited the Trostianets City United Territorial Community (UTC) to discuss its development plan In developing the city and its surrounding villages under the leadership of community head Yurii Bova the community has made significant improvements to various services It has also focused on developing residential and natural areas Thanks to the efforts of its economic department the Trostianets UTC secured funding for around 20 projects the restoration of architectural monuments and the establishment of an educational centre the number of grants awarded and funds raised has increased significantly most of these funds were allocated to address the consequences of the Russian occupation and relentless shelling Despite the constant threat from a neighbouring state the residents and authorities of Trostianets remain committed to their plans and dreams They aim to rebuild the facilities destroyed by the enemy Yurii Bova says that the primary task after the liberation of Trostianets and its surrounding community was to encourage the return of as many residents as possible this goal can be achieved in several ways: ensuring safe living conditions and delivering quality service in state institutions this approach will motivate people to return on their own 95% of the community’s pre-war population had returned to Trostianets which had more than 28,000 residents in 2024 The community has also sheltered almost 2,000 internally displaced people from war-affected areas of Slobozhanshchyna and Donechchyna Yurii Bova believes that reconstruction should not only focus on practical benefits but also boost the morale of its residents and demonstrate that the community has a future “The faster you restore an object and show progress the stronger is people’s belief that not everything is lost The community head shares his observation that local entrepreneurs are also gaining confidence the enemy forces looted and destroyed buildings of small the Trostianets-based Mondelēz International chocolate factory the flagship of the Slobozhanshchyna food industry and a notable exporter The company is currently rebuilding its facility Despite significant losses and the need for restoration funds Mondelēz International also supports the hosting community the company allocated $12 million to fund Trostianets’ reconstruction efforts Yurii Bova believes that it is not quite possible to separate the impact of restoration from that of business development Entrepreneurs are motivated to invest as they see the support from the local administration while authorities realise that their efforts are not in vain and they resonate with the community’s residents Some of Trostianets’ facilities were rebuilt or renovated before the full-scale war as outlined by the 2019 UTC development strategy local authorities are guiding their efforts based on the master plan The master plan was adapted and supplemented nearly a year after the community’s liberation This was made possible through cooperation with the Austrian-Ukrainian company IC Consulten Ukraine which provided free advice to deputy mayors and local specialists Yurii Bova appreciates that the partners did not try to create everything from scratch they considered the history and achievements of the Trostianets community while suggesting improvements and future possibilities “Almost 90% of our plans were absolutely supported by those experts,” he says He mentions that the community development priorities were also reviewed in the process the investments into local tourism had to be postponed for at least several years as the invasion significantly altered the security situation They also put off the construction of large facilities due to the challenges in attracting influential investors to such projects Yurii Bova notes that rethinking the strategy requires a more philosophical approach and believes that drawing conclusions and making decisions from painful and frightening experiences can strengthen the community every destroyed object must be restored in a way demonstrating to the whole community that it has improved.” the Trostianets community had restored 60–70% of the destroyed objects Remaining projects include buildings that require substantial capital investment all of which were completely destroyed during the hostilities One of the factors contributing to the high rate of complete restoration projects is the community’s cooperation with the government particularly the State Agency for Reconstruction and Development of the Infrastructure of Ukraine After President Volodymyr Zelenskyi’s visit to Trostianets along with five other war-affected settlements was included in an experimental project for comprehensive reconstruction from 2023 to 2025 Yurii Bova recalls that prior to starting the work and allocating funds the local self-government approved three key aspects of future reconstruction: inclusiveness these principles were laid in the foundation of all projects and became a key aspect of communication with other investors local authorities managed to attract more than 130 partners ranging from individual volunteers to large charitable foundations The search for investment opportunities continues it feels like navigating a large building with numerous doors “How do you choose which doors to knock on You should try knocking on every door you see.” He views every thematic exhibition or forum as an opportunity to attract new investors believing that a personal conversation is more effective than a formal letter Yurii Bova always brings booklets that briefly outline the community’s history and critical projects requiring restoration “We showcase the full potential of our community’s future projects When you provide this information to foundations they start deciding [whom and how to help] Each foundation has its own focus and preferences: some support cultural projects all the connections established and support received are the fruit of these efforts he personally sent about 200 appeals and always carried several flash drives with project presentations Yurii Bova admits that planning and fundraising in uncertain conditions can be exhausting and emotionally draining a Russian missile or another attack could undo all the restoration efforts he finds consolation in the words of Vilnius Mayor Valdas Benkunskas “Who told you that the war will end tomorrow […] Why do you assume you have time to wait for better conditions to restore?” The community head refuses to play along with the enemy’s desire to halt restoration; instead he is preparing to invest in the next projects in line The first building restored in the community was the library in the village of Soldatske Located roughly 23 kilometres from Trostianets the settlement voted to leave the Velykopysariv UTC and transitioned to Yurii Bova’s community in 2020 At the first meeting with the Soldatske residents Yurii Bova asked what they wanted to change in their village He also presented the example of the recently modernised public library in Trostianets recalls that the villagers enthusiastically supported the idea of following Trosianets’ example and updating their own library we need a library,’ because it gives children a place to gather and [access] computers.” The newly renovated library operated for only two months before the Russian troops invaded the village On the first day of the full-scale Russian invasion Russian military equipment passed through Soldatske staying by the road outside the village for about a day the occupiers shelled the settlement for the first time “It (the library – ed.) was partially damaged on March 7th when Grad (Russian multiple rocket launcher) hit here Only the door remained,” recalls Soldatske head Antonina Vyskrebentseva part of the library’s collection was saved by librarian Valentyna Hantseva who volunteered to rescue the books amid ongoing hostilities she collected the surviving books and brought them to her home Despite the relentless shelling and the active Russian advance on Trostianets she wasn’t afraid of further attacks or the risks stemming from keeping Ukrainian literature at home (under occupation keeping Ukrainian literature could result in reprisals if discovered during a Russian raid – ed.) and the local government began drafting a restoration plan After his first visit to Soldatske after the attacks Yurii Bova announced that the library would be restored The community attracted funding for restoration from various programs and donors An additional UAH 450,000 (roughly $15,400 — ed.) was allocated from the city budget Soldatske head Antonina recalls that the villagers did not stay aside and made their own contributions we barred the windows [in the damaged library] the residents started coming together with a strong sense of purpose The city council provided the slate [to fix the damaged roof] Both our residents and internal refugees were helping us and they came to help voluntarily — my friends The library reopened in the summer of 2022 only several months after the Russians were driven out of the community Antonina Vyskrebentseva emphasises that restoring the building was undeniably important and everyone wants their child to grow and not just stay at home So why shouldn’t our children have the chance to develop?” the Soldatske village library is a welcoming space where children gather to communicate and study The Trostianets community includes three villages many children visit the village to see their relatives and frequently go to the library to socialise and play with their peers The building has several rooms to hold master classes making it a preferred venue for children’s parties organised by the cultural department the current facility continually updates its collection with new books for both children and adults Readers also have access to newspapers and magazines through subscription Librarian Valentyna Hantseva shares that periodicals are especially popular among older people who appreciate the library as a place to socialise Charitable foundations or caring individuals also contribute to the collection and the librarians are always open to collaboration with publishers and other organisations in an attempt to offer their readers as much Ukrainian literature as possible A shelter near the library protects visitors from Russian attacks and activities are paused during air raids every manager is aware of the wartime risks and genuinely cares about their staff She agrees that the news of potential offensives or new shelling can be frightening but people’s faith in their defenders and the desire to support them outweighs the fear One of the hardest-hit areas in the community was the station square in Trostianets now renamed Kholodnyi Yar Square in honour of the 93rd Brigade “Kholodnyi Yar” that liberated the city The Russian military established an artillery division there including nine self-propelled artillery units and four Grad multiple rocket launchers that were used to shell Okhtyrka and nearby settlements the occupiers used a 60-apartment building on Blahovishchenska Street as an additional firing position they broke into apartments by kicking doors down Yurii Smirnov was the only resident who stayed in the apartment building from the first to the last day of the occupation He watched the enemy’s actions and later realised that his new “neighbours” were most likely scouts “They (Russian soldiers – ed.) came with the Russian troops but pretended to be protecting us ’What are you doing here?’ They couldn’t answer It was especially true for the younger [soldiers] Under the pretence of protecting civilians the Russian army used them as human shields forcibly keeping residents inside the house Yurii Smirnov recalls being trapped in a basement with Russian soldiers during the shelling a local cat that had sought refuge there was killed in the attack several waves of Russian soldiers returned to the high-rise building along with military vehicles taking up combat positions during the battles for Trostianets there a drone struck a concrete slab on the fifth floor sparking a fire that partially damaged the house Yurii placed three buckets of water on each floor as a precaution ‘You won’t have a life here; we’ll smoke you out.’” Yurii says that the building was ultimately destroyed by the second wave of soldiers from the Russian-occupied Donechchyna was positioned right in front of the building I was walking just below when I heard machine-gun fire so intense that bricks began to fall the self-propelled guns fire from who knows how many kilometres away photos of the utterly charred high-rise building The community head Yurii Bova says that a group of regional experts initially recommended demolishing the building and replacing it with a new construction after the additional consultations with experts he was convinced that reconstruction was still feasible The State Agency for Reconstruction and Development of Infrastructure of Ukraine is now coordinating the restoration efforts Yurii Bova also shares that the building will be the first in the settlement to operate without gas Trostianets strives to completely transition to heat pumps and solar panels eliminating the use of natural gas within 26 years The new technology for the high-rise building is financed by the environmental protection organisation Greenpeace A group of residents representing the building’s interests supported the idea of a modernised restoration even though this approach takes longer than a conventional renovation The main restoration work is planned for completion by the fall of 2024 when the multi-story building will be habitable Residents are eagerly awaiting this moment “Everyone wants to return as soon as possible to live where they lived after so much has happened Everyone has their own story and memories.” a district hospital serving nearly 40,000 patients came under the control of the Trostianets community The authorities planned to renovate the entire inpatient facility by 2022 and replacing outdated Soviet-era equipment the full-scale Russian invasion undid all previous financial investments and completed works The occupiers intentionally destroyed the Trostianets hospital by shelling the floors with tanks and firing on the windows with machine guns After the town was liberated in late March 2022 its central medical facility closed for a month the hospital resumed operations despite broken windows and damaged wards with staff attending to patients in any usable rooms The first state funds for restoration arrived in the fall of 2022 the community had spent six months rebuilding the hospital at its own cost it was determination to press on with the work without waiting for help that convinced the government to invest in the reconstruction of local facilities “Regardless of whether there are state funds available The state’s primary focus today is the war — winning it whether from our resources or those from our partners half of the restoration plan for the Trostianets city hospital had been completed; the roof and walls were rebuilt an Iskander (a Russian ballistic missile – ed.) struck 100 metres from the medical facility This includes purchasing and replacing nearly 180 windows The inflicted damage was eliminated within a month Yurii Bova explains the unusual speed by the fact that the front-line settlements like Trostianets cannot afford to wait for a better moment to conduct repairs so the building is undergoing gradual restoration we move on and on without halting the operations of any department.” Most of the key departments at the Trostianets city hospital and much of the medical equipment has been set up providing access to other buildings even during air raids Generators are running at the hospital to manage potential power outages they plan to use energy from solar panels installed on the roofs of several buildings this approach helps save money and enhances the hospital’s resilience to voltage drops and critical blackouts that follow Russian attacks Another critical facility damaged during the occupation of Trostianets is a three-story polyclinic near the city The completely destroyed building is now being rebuilt by the State Agency for Reconstruction and Development of Infrastructure of Ukraine the German Society for International Cooperation set up a modular outpatient clinic as a temporary solution The clinic was installed about eight months after the city’s liberation German partners financed not only repair and restoration work but also the purchase of new equipment Yurii Bova reveals that the polyclinic lacked some critical equipment until 2022 the inclusivity requirements were also taken into account When an Iskander missile struck 100 metres from the dispensary in March 2022 the building was saved from destruction by gabions – mesh structures filled with loose materials the explosive wave knocked out the door of the nearby infection ward Yurii Bova says that this episode convinced the local authorities to prioritise the protection of the buildings during restoration “[The installation of gabions] is something we learned after the city’s liberation and through the shelling in Sumshchyna (Sumy region is the administrative region of Ukraine to which the Trostianets community formally belongs – ed.) We will seek funds to protect as many buildings as possible because it really works.” the community head notes that staff will return and equipment will be reinstalled once restoration is complete the authorities plan to repurpose the German-sponsored modular building for other needs such as a hospice for the elderly or a rehabilitation centre Stanova is one of the largest villages in the community Pre-medical and medical care in the village is exclusively provided by the paramedic-midwifery centre (PMC) The previous centre was closed in 2021 because its poorly-maintained building could not be restored the city authorities decided to establish a new facility considering the needs of both medical personnel and patients Oksana Hrobova agreed to lead the PMC in the village having returned from maternity leave shortly before construction began A modernised PMC reopened half a year before the full-scale war a convoy of Russian vehicles stopped on the outskirts of the village the occupiers broke down the doors and shattered the windows Even the internet router was cut off [and taken] They probably thought it could work wirelessly.” Oksana Hrobova hosted fellow villagers in her home medical workers were given a room in the local cultural centre to carry out their duties Dutch benefactors from the OpenDoorUkraine.NL foundation agreed to finance the restoration of the destroyed facility They provided funds to the Dobrota charitable foundation which managed to find contractors and carry out repair and restoration works personally visited Trostianets and assessed the condition of the restored facility The PMC was rebuilt according to the original plan and in its exact location The director of the Trostianets Primary Medical Care Center Svitlana Loboda claims that the layout of the office premises was slightly altered The changes improved the building’s inclusivity by creating more comfortable waiting areas and spacious rooms to accommodate wheelchair access The facility fully replaced the medical equipment that was stolen by the occupiers Oksana Hrobova and chief physician Svitlana Loboda began receiving patients in the restored medical facility we either call a family doctor to the [patient’s] house or summon an ambulance.” One of Stanova’s immediate plans is establishing a pharmacy kiosk This new improvement will allow residents to conveniently purchase prescribed medications on-site According to Svitlana Loboda’s observations the number of patient declarations with doctors has recently declined as many people frequently leave the border areas many residents that have left the village due to hostilities are returning because the PMC offers a comprehensive range of services arranges home visits for seriously ill or disabled patients “Almost all of our medical workers remain on the ground and keep working There may be some panic because we are not far [from the Russian border] Editor-in-Chief of Ukraїner International: Involved in the preparation of the material 43 volunteers Project support: Fundacja Euromaidan-Warszawa Use of materials is only permitted upon providing the source: Ukrainer.net Дизайн — Артем Зубкевич Розробка — Deluxcode the Guardian found evidence of summary executions a sleepy town 20 miles from the Russia-Ukraine border occupying a number of buildings: the forestry agency headquarters the railway station and a chocolate factory Their top general set up his office in room 23 at the local administration building where the council’s accountants used to sit His bottle of single malt is still on the desk the butts of his slim cigarettes perched on the edge of an ashtray He slept on a single bed stolen from a nearby hotel judging by the bloodied Russian uniforms littering the floor View image in fullscreenA car with the letter Z a symbol of support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine occupied by the Russian army and heavily damaged by the Ukrainian army when it recently retook the town Photograph: Anastasia Taylor-Lind/The GuardianThirty days after they arrived the Russians left Trostianets in a convoy of tanks trucks full of loot and numerous stolen vehicles they had daubed with Z signs The carnage they left behind will be remembered by the residents of this quaint historical spa town of 20,000 residents for the rest of their lives and is yet another indictment of the results of Russia’s unwanted “liberation” mission in Ukraine Hundreds of green ammunition boxes and casings remain evidence of the shells and Grad missiles the Russians fired from Trostianets into neighbouring towns Surviving buildings have been daubed with pro-Russian slogans and crude insults about the Ukrainian president torture and systematic looting during the month of occupation but it will a take a long time to catalogue all the crimes the Russians committed in places like Trostianets View image in fullscreenA resident of Trostianets pushes her bicycle past destroyed Russian military equipment Photograph: Anastasia Taylor-Lind/The GuardianFor now the long and difficult clean-up is under way Ukrainian sappers have removed mines and tripwires from the cemetery the train station and even the chocolate museum housed in an elegant villa where the composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky once stayed Electricity returned for the first time in weeks on Sunday The first passenger train since the invasion arrived at the wrecked station on Monday But the streets are still littered with the twisted remains of Russian armoured vehicles and there is nothing to buy because everything has been looted residents wheeled bicycles to the points across town where parcels of food aid were available: cartons of eggs jars of pickled cucumbers and plastic bags bulging with potatoes sent by volunteer groups in other parts of Ukraine In the orderly but irritable queue to receive them people embraced acquaintances who they were happy to see still alive and swapped horror stories from the past month View image in fullscreenTrostianets residents queue to receive food aid Photograph: Anastasia Taylor-Lind/The GuardianSpotting a journalist “They smashed my place up.” “They stole everything even my underwear.” “They killed a guy on my street.” “The fuckers stole my laptop and my aftershave.” A symphony of stories people had mostly good things to say about Russia which is just a short drive away and where many people have friends and family Now they competed to heap insults on the neighbours that had brought misery upon them View image in fullscreenThe mayor of Trostianets in his office in the town administrative building Photograph: Anastasia Taylor-Lind/The GuardianYuriy Bova said it was too early to give a reliable estimate of how many civilians the Russians had killed a pistol tucked into the front of his body armour The idea of a Russian invasion had seemed fanciful to him as the crescendo of US intelligence warnings continued he called a meeting of those who would like to join a territorial defence force There are no military installations in Trostianets a couple of pistols and a few policemen with Kalashnikovs a huge column of Russian armour was already on the outskirts of the town Bova sent a group of foresters to cut down trees along the entrance road and in mid-morning he called another meeting of the territorial defence unit “Trying to fight against tanks with a few rifles would have meant certain death so I took the decision that we would become partisans,” said Bova People had a few minutes to decide whether they would stay or go View image in fullscreenDestroyed Russian military equipment in Trostianets. Photograph: Anastasia Taylor-Lind/The GuardianView image in fullscreenMembers of the territorial defence unit survey destroyed Russian equipment in Bilka Photograph: Anastasia Taylor-Lind/The GuardianWhen Ukrainian forces blew up a bridge to the south of Trostianets and the town became a hub of Russian servicemen and armour Local residents retreated to their basements and waited to see what would happen Some of the first interactions with the occupiers were relatively painless they stank and they looked completely lost,” said Yana Lugovets who spent a month sleeping in the basement with her husband She said a soldier who had come to search the house where they were staying left without completing the task his eyes filled with shame as her daughter cried out in fear at the intruder who ran a beauty salon near the train station said when she went to check on it and found seven Russian soldiers had broken in and were sleeping there View image in fullscreenDaria Sasina in her beauty salon in Trostianets Photograph: Anastasia Taylor-Lind/The Guardian“I started crying Many people recalled similar polite exchanges or flickers of shame in the eyes of the intruders but any interaction with the occupiers involved enduring a game of Russian roulette her husband and father went on a risky mission across town to deliver bread to a 96-year-old great aunt a group of Russian soldiers sprang onto the street behind them and pointed their weapons at them bitches!” We ran through the mud as fast as we could our legs were freezing and soaked and we were terrified When Sasina went back to check on her small salon the day after the Russians had left she found they had stolen thousands of dollars worth of expensive hair dyes several lightbulbs and the art on the walls An air conditioning unit was left dangling down from the wall its cables having proved stronger than the desire to steal it View image in fullscreenElectricians work to restore power to Trostianets Photograph: Anastasia Taylor-Lind/The GuardianIn return the Russians had left clumps of their own shaved hair on the floor and piles of faeces in the neighbouring grocery shop the wives and girlfriends of soldiers will presumably soon receive gifts of high-end beauty products she does not know how she will afford to rebuild her salon “Everything I worked to build has been destroyed,” she said The mayor has been criticised by some for his decision to flee but Bova insists it was the only sensible option Flicking through photographs on his phone from the occupation days he showed how people had sent him information about Russian deployments including from one brave local who managed to fly a drone over their positions View image in fullscreenPolice officers observe heavily damaged buildings in Trostianets Photograph: Anastasia Taylor-Lind/The GuardianAs the Ukrainian army called in strikes on the Russian positions An expletive-laden audio recording released by the Ukrainian security services purportedly shows a Russian general ordering a missile strike on civilian targets after receiving incoming fire from a nearby village “Wipe the whole place from the Earth from the eastern side to the west,” he says the Russians cut mobile reception in the town demanding to examine people’s telephones for compromising information A handwritten note found amid the mess of the soldiers’ quarters in the train station lists the names of possible enemies to hunt down View image in fullscreenMembers of the territorial defence visit the grave of Alexander Kulybaba a pig farmer killed by Russian soldiers in Bilka village Photograph: Anastasia Taylor-Lind/The GuardianIn Bilka where the Russians based more than 200 vehicles a pig farmer who protested against the takeover of his barn the day the Russians arrived in the village a kindly electrician with a handlebar moustache went out on the first morning to find somewhere to charge his and his wife’s mobile phones because the electricity was already down “I’m just popping out for five minutes,” he told her View image in fullscreenLudmyla Savchenko whose husband Mykola was killed by Russian soldiers Photograph: Anastasia Taylor-Lind/The GuardianLudmyla stood outside her home weeping on Monday holding a stamped death report from the police that explained in neat handwriting that her husband had been “brutally tortured and then killed with a shot to the heart and one to the head” An inspection found broken bones in his fingers and arms because they are small and they still don’t understand everything Every day they waited for their dad to come home Ludmyla insisted her husband had not been active in the resistance to the Russians a farmer explained how he hid his smartphone in the dirt inside the pig enclosure and carried round an old brick phone as a decoy to show to Russian soldiers if asked scurry to the one spot where he knew there was still reception and send the new locations of Russian hardware to a relative in the Ukrainian army “Then they sent in the Bayraktars and fucked them up,” he said with a cackle referring to the Turkish-made drones that Ukraine has used with deadly effect against Russian columns View image in fullscreenMembers of the territorial defence unit survey Russian positions at Alexander Kulybaba’s pig farm Photograph: Anastasia Taylor-Lind/The GuardianThe boiling fury felt towards the Russians in villages such as Bilka where people speak a mishmash of Ukrainian and Russian and previously felt far removed from geopolitical concerns will be a lasting consequence of Vladimir Putin’s grim decision to invade there is confusion and disappointment about the attitudes of ordinary Russians cowered in the hospital’s basement together with her patients as a Russian tank took potshots at the building Her nearby apartment block has also been reduced to a skeleton with all the windows blown out and serious structural damage View image in fullscreenNadezhda Bakran Photograph: Anastasia Taylor-Lind/The GuardianBut when she called her best friend in Moscow with whom she has been on holiday almost every year since they met in Crimea 43 years ago she heard only sceptical derision and accusations I said: ‘Your people are destroying my town’ She said: ‘You caused this war yourself’… We were friends what we had was even closer than just friendship this sense of betrayal from their friends and family has hit almost as hard as the material losses listed the losses her family had taken from a month of Russian occupation: her house was destroyed Her brother now walks on crutches after his car was shot at on the first day at a checkpoint and a bullet lodged in his lower back Russian soldiers even shot her grandmother’s cat during a house inspection who lives outside Moscow and had visited her in Trostianets most summers her aunt told her she was talking nonsense she said probably the soldiers are Ukrainians dressed up as Russians She has stopped speaking to me now,” Sasina said View image in fullscreenThe town administrative building in Trostianets Photograph: Anastasia Taylor-Lind/The GuardianThe Russian soldiers who made it out of Trostianets alive may never speak about the anger they witnessed and the carnage they caused as they return to a country where their operation in Ukraine has been referred to by state propaganda as a heroic mission to save their neighbour from the clutches of radicals and neo-Nazis Russian television viewers may never see the ugly truth of the cost of their army’s unwanted intervention although many Russian families will now be mourning lost sons and brothers The yellowed bodies of three Russian soldiers lie unclaimed and unrefrigerated in the Trostianets hospital morgue A Ukrainian soldier involved in retaking the town estimated that up to 300 may have died here weak torchlight reveals an improvised field hospital where the Russians treated their wounded Silver padding had been placed over two desks to create makeshift operating tables The floor was littered with tablets and other medical supplies View image in fullscreenA hand written card taped to the wall in the basement of Trostianets train station which was used as a military position by Russian soldiers Photograph: Anastasia Taylor-Lind/The GuardianOn the wall in the corridor outside was perhaps the most jarring sight in all Trostianets Children’s drawings brought from Russia were taped to the wall gifts from schoolchildren in honour of Army Day colourful flowers and messages of support written in spidery youthful handwriting and came with drawings in crayon and a printed message for making sure I live under a peaceful sky.” Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker The “horrific conflict,” in Ukraine shows no signs of abating the UN political and peacebuilding chief told the Security Council on Tuesday pointing out that since her last update on 5 April “countless Ukrainian civilians” have been killed in indiscriminate attacks and much of the country’s arable land “horribly disfigured by shelling”.   “The cycle of death, destruction, dislocation, and disruption must stop”, underscored Rosemary DiCarlo.  Amidst a new wave in recent days of missile and airstrikes in Kyiv, Chernihiv, Odesa, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv and other cities far from the frontlines, the senior UN official drew attention to the missile strike in Kremenchuk on a shopping mall that killed at least 18 civilians and injured 59 others.  She warned though that “the final toll may be much higher”.  The most intense fighting now is in and around the towns of Sievierodonetsk and also reportedly around the cities of Kharkiv and Kherson.   large-scale artillery duels are devastating industrial areas with thousands of civilians forced to hide in basements or to flee for their lives,” said Ms “Large military casualties are claimed on both sides”.   “Civilians continue to pay too high a price in this war,” she continued, telling ambassadors that as of 26 June, the UN human rights office (OHCHR) has recorded 10,631 civilian casualties in the country – 4,731 dead and 5,900 injured.   She said that these figures are based on verified incidents and the actual numbers are “considerably higher”.  Most were caused by explosive weapons with a wide impact area many of which are inherently indiscriminate when used in populated areas increasing casualties and devastating humanitarian impacts The UN Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine reported back earlier this month its first mission to the country Though only in the initial stages of its work she said that the Commission received information and visited sites that “may support claims that serious violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law perhaps reaching war crimes and crimes against humanity The Commission, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court and other fact-finding efforts are “essential” for establishing accountability for the crimes and atrocities being committed.  “This work must lead to justice…if we hope to be able to prevent such violations in the future wherever they threaten to occur,” underscored Ms Although more than 8.8 million people across Ukraine have received some form of humanitarian assistance and protection services Meanwhile, humanitarian partners are working on a winterization assistance plan and extending the Flash Appeal to provide support until the end of 2022.  the political affairs chief said that women in particular She cited a Rapid Gender Analysis by UN Women and anti-poverty and injustice NGO that explained how they are increasingly becoming heads of households and leaders in their communities as men are conscripted.   “They must be included in formal decision-making processes related to humanitarian efforts and other areas that directly impact their lives,” she spelled out.  At the same time, the World Health Organization (WHO) has now recorded 323 attacks on healthcare facilities and personnel “We strongly remind all parties of their obligations under international humanitarian law: All adequate measures must be taken to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure,” underscored Ms in her first briefing to the Council for ten weeks.  have been forced from their homes.   over 7.1 million remain displaced.   The UN refugee agency, UNHCR estimates that over 5.2 million have taken refuge across Europe and over 3.5 million Ukrainian refugees have registered for temporary protection or similar national protection schemes on the continent.  Given the conflict’s increasingly protracted nature Ukraine’s long-term recovery and rebuilding needs must also be considered now She said the Council that the UN Development Programme (UNDP) has launched a Resilience and Recovery Programme to support the Government’s emergency response help keep the economy running and help assess priority needs.   The war is having devastating consequences on Ukraine On top of the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change energy and fertilizer markets are escalating.  strong political will across the multilateral community and a comprehensive approach is foremost necessary,” said the political affairs chief Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy argued that Russia’s actions in his country had now made it a “terrorist State” that should be expelled from the United Nations.  Acknowledging that the Organization does not have a legal definition of what constitutes a “terrorist State” he stressed that the Russian invasion of Ukraine “demonstrates not only the meaning of this notion but also the urgent need to enshrine it legally”.  “Russia has no right to take part in discussions and votes on the war against Ukraine” in the Security Council urging ambassadors “to rid the delegation of the terrorist State”.  President Zelensky highlighted Russia’s “full-scale war of aggression” saying that in the Kremenchuk shopping centre blast and that it was inconceivable that the Russians could have been unaware it was “a regular shopping centre”.  He invoked the names of several dozen civilians killed he said by Russian fire and concluded by asking for a moment of silence to commemorate the tens of thousands of innocent people killed.  to prosecute Russia at the “global level”.  Russia’s First Deputy Permanent Representative Dmitry Polyanskiy argued that his country simply was not striking civilians or civilian infrastructure during its special military operation in Ukraine.  He urged the Council to take heed of what he said were eyewitness accounts which would confirm that a strike on an apartment building in Kyiv on Monday was not the result of a Russian cruise missile but of two unsuccessful Ukrainian operations that led to the shooting down of “their own anti-aircraft missiles”.  the Russian ambassador argued that the West supplying weapons to Ukraine only serves to prolong the “criminal regime” in Kyiv.  At least ten people have reportedly been killed by what Ukrainian authorities have said was a Russian missile strike on a crowded shopping centre, and attack which the UN condemned on Monday as “utterly deplorable” The UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide briefed the Security Council on Tuesday reinforcing concerns already voiced by other senior UN officials in the chamber over “the heightened risks” of sexual violence which are “significantly impacting women and children” following the Russian invasion of 24 February the draw for the first preliminary round of the Vbet Ukrainian Cup 2024/2025 season will take place at the House of Football The draw will be broadcast live on the YouTube channel of the Ukrainian Association of Football The first preliminary round will feature 32 teams: 17 from the First League (Epiсentr (Kamianets-Podilskyi)/Mynai (Mynai) Livyi Bereh (Kyiv)/Metalist 1925 (Kharkiv) 13 from the Second League (Skala 1911 (Stryi) Trostianets (Trostianets)) and two representatives from the Association of Amateur Football (Olimpiya (Savyntsi) and Mykolaiv (Mykolaiv The first preliminary round matches are scheduled for August 3 The final match of the Ukrainian Cup 2024/2025 season is planned for May 14 The host city for the final will be determined by the UAF Executive Committee Read the full series: The Toxic Toll of War Russia’s hallmark military tactic is to target and destroy hospitals and clinics, a strategy we have seen play out in other conflicts including Syria, Chechnya, and Georgia. The human rights organizations we work for have documented compelling evidence that Russian forces carried out widespread indiscriminate attacks on Ukraine’s health care system as part of a broader assault on its civilian population and infrastructure Such attacks are war crimes. We highlighted hundreds of cases in which hospitals or targeted by Russian forces for simply providing medical care to the wounded and sick Attacks on health care are widespread in conflicts around the world but Russia’s determination to decimate Ukrainian health care is unprecedented in scale More than a third of all reported attacks globally on health care last year were perpetrated in Ukraine alone the global community must prioritize investigations and prosecutions of attacks on health care by international and domestic prosecutors including the International Criminal Court domestic legal systems in Ukraine and countries with universal jurisdiction and by United Nations investigative bodies.   a town of 20,000 close to the Russian border They cut off cellular networks and electricity isolating residents from the outside world Then they began attacking the city’s hospital told us the building was attacked regularly from March 18-25 a Russian tank launched explosives that damaged hospital walls and windows an eyewitness at the hospital told our investigators an armed Russian officer entered the building and fired a weapon at random before warning staff that the area surrounding the hospital was littered with landmines at least one Russian tank fired directly at the hospital and hit the second and fifth floors of the building doctors and nurses at the hospital worked under dire Repeated shelling destroyed the hospital’s operating room The roof of the infectious disease department was fully destroyed and the exterior walls of the hospital were shelled by tanks By the time the occupation ended in late March Trostianets City Hospital had almost no staff left Patients in need of medical care were forced to travel up to 50 kilometers away “We used to have almost 400 staffers there before the war, but only 20 people are left,” Yuri Bova, the mayor of Trostianets, told Bloomberg The bombardment of Trostianets City Hospital was just one of at least 707 attacks on Ukraine’s health care system our organizations documented between February 24 and December 31 This represents an appalling average of more than two attacks on health care every day over the past year.  or forced to work under Russian occupation as well as on facilities — have profoundly destabilizing effects on civilian populations and communities limiting access to care and sowing fear of seeking treatment It is often for this reason that health care is targeted in conflict.  hospitals and clinics damaged or destroyed Source: "Destruction and Devastation: One Year of Russia's Assault on Ukraine's Health Care System." By eyeWitness to Atrocities a pregnant Ukrainian woman in need of medical care was carried out on a stretcher following a hospital attack and would later die together with her baby The staggering tally of deaths and damage should not obscure the human beings behind each statistic who sought only to deliver or receive medical care amid the conflict Ukraine’s health workers have displayed resilience remained in the heavily bombed village despite continued fighting so she organized a makeshift clinic at the local school risked her life to get medicines and supplies and provided care to civilians and combatants throughout the fighting The costs of rebuilding any health facility are high, and reconstruction will take years.  Patient care at Trostianets City Hospital has since resumed but remains severely compromised and enormous needs remain. The global health community must stand in solidarity with their colleagues under fire in Ukraine. An attack on health anywhere is an attack on health everywhere. Unless Russia is finally held to account for this brutal strategy, attacks on health care will continue to be an accepted military tactic in conflicts around the globe. Top image: The intensity of three attacks destroyed part of the Izium Central City Hospital’s main building, including the intensive care unit and the operating block. Photo credit: Ukrainian Healthcare Center with the eyeWitness to Atrocities app, November 2022. where the Russian composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky once stayed—are damaged from artillery fire Cultural sites in Ukraine connected to the Russian composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky have been damaged by Russian forces The palace at the Koenig Estate in 2018 after restoration Photo: Demmarcos The statue of Tchaikovsky in Trostianets Photo: Venzz torture and summary executions of residents Many local groups and residents posted on Facebook with memories of the estate and photos and videos of the damage Several expressed shock and anger that Russian troops would target a site devoted to Tchaikovsky One woman said it is time to break with the past reverence for Russian culture and any connection of Russian cultural figures with their region and move on, which she illustrated with a photo of a ballerina leaping over ruins labelled “Russian culture.” “After the war Tchaikovsky will be mentioned less and less often,” she wrote “All of this being transfixed before Chekhov and Tchaikovsky in the Sumy region must come to an end,” she said referring to the name of the province news24 July 2023Russian attacks on Odesa damage Orthodox cathedral The bombing of several buildings including in the historic city centre—a World Heritage Site—has been strongly condemned by Unesco news15 March 2022Museum building heavily damaged in Ukraine's battle-ravaged city of ChernihivDirector has been posting emotional updates on Facebook as Russian forces shell area news10 June 2022Is Ukraine's cultural heritage under coordinated attack?Sites are suffering widespread destruction but a coalition of organisations is working to provide evidence of deliberate targeting by Russian forces news15 July 2022Ukrainian churches and places of worship devastated by warAs Russia's war continues conservation is proving impossible—but heritage groups priests and volunteers are doing their best to document the destruction TROSTYANETS, Ukraine (AP) — The bodies of two Russian soldiers lie abandoned in the woods Ukrainian forces piled atop a tank flash victory signs Dazed people line up amid charred buildings to reach for aid These are the sights in a Ukrainian town that has seized back control from Russian forces Arriving in Trostyanets shortly after Ukrainian forces announced the northeastern town near the Russian border had been retaken following weeks of Russian occupation The Associated Press on Monday saw a civilian landscape that has seen some of the worst of war WATCH: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine hits an impasse amid fierce fighting and looming peace talks They rode their bicycles past craters in the road and past the ruins of homes It is not yet clear how many civilians have been killed left behind like the soldiers in the woods One of the soldiers had a red band around his leg The other had an arm flung over his head as if napping on the leaves in the late afternoon light A Ukrainian soldier nudged him with his toe Curious residents peered into an open box of shells It is not clear where the Russian forces went under what circumstances they fled or whether the town will remain free of them in the days ahead President Volodymyr Zelensky in his overnight address emphasized that the situation remains tense in Ukraine’s northeast around Kharkiv But the returned presence of Ukrainian forces in Trostyanets is a relief to a country that hopes some Russian forces defense official said Washington believes the Ukrainians have retaken Trostyanets who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss U.S said Russian forces largely remained in defensive positions near the capital and were making little forward progress elsewhere in the country Late last week, with its forces stalled in parts of the country, Russia seemed to scale back its war aims, saying its main goal was gaining control of the Donbas in the east. after weeks of occupation and intense fighting some residents appeared to have lost all sense of normal READ MORE: Ukraine retakes key Kyiv suburb as battle for Mariupol rages Many buildings beyond the railway station are damaged he and others ventured out to see what had been left behind Unexploded ordnance littered the square in front of the train station Trenches and berms lined the square in a sign that Russian forces tried to defend their position rooms were full of army uniforms and boots On the walls were patriotic messages including drawings signed by children in Russian reading “Thanks for the peace soldier.” Another room had been used as a clinic with unused drips ready and desks turned into beds Packets of Russian food rations were seen amid the debris But residents indicated that the soldiers were still hungry lard and cucumbers,” said one resident who didn’t give her name She called the Russians “orcs,” or goblin-like creatures Militias from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions were there as well there were battles here over the past month and people were saying they were frightened,” said Evgeni Kosin with the emergency services There was a horrible humanitarian situation Now that there are no flyovers or shelling in the last three days © 1996 - 2025 NewsHour Productions LLC PBS is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization Subscribe to Here's the Deal with Lisa Desjardins 3 June 2022 – Natalia was running through a field with her five-year-old son Tymofii and her mother Tamara looking back at her house burning after an airstrike “We spent a week in a cold basement hearing shelling When we saw helicopters flying towards Borodianka We grabbed a few things and ran out of the door,” she said An embroidered icon of the Virgin Mary reminds Natalia of a home that does not exist anymore The icon and a tiny backpack with superhero toys belonging to Tymofii travelled with them hundreds of kilometres Once a green suburb of Ukraine’s capital it witnessed the most intense fighting since the Russian invasion helped the family to get on one of the evacuation buses to western Ukraine Natalia and her family have lived in several temporary centres for internally displaced persons (IDPs) and finally settled in a centre in Kolomyia in Ivano-Frankivsk Region Tamara and Tymofii have nowhere to go and their need for long-term housing will increase as the war drags on when Russian forces attacked Ukraine from the air IOM has supported about 475,000 people with food and information to help prevent human trafficking and lost without clear plans for their future and convinced of their ability to rebuild their lives During the first 100 days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine They represent the fate of millions of people who grabbed what they could and fled while shells fell around them the site of some of the worst horrors of the war and fierce shelling After days of repeatedly climbing up and down the stairs from their 10th floor apartment to the shelter in the building’s basement the elderly couple packed a few belongings and fled with their dogs to safer locations in western Ukraine “The near-constant shelling and planes overhead – it was very scary We packed at night and got into the first train It took us 27 hours to get here,” the couple explains “We were nervous that we would not be allowed to live in the dormitory with our dogs they have been living in one of the dormitories in Stryi where several floors are designated for displaced families families with children and people with disabilities Spare rooms on one of the floors were turned into a kindergarten and dorm rooms have become homes for people fleeing the war Iryna and Kostiantyn are not planning to return home as it remains unsafe dormitories and other buildings that opened their doors to internally displaced persons were not designed to host a large number of people old electrical systems and sanitation facilities and a lack of privacy are the most common problems In the western Ukrainian region of Zakarpattia IOM has started rehabilitating old premises Its mobile repair teams are working tirelessly to improve the living conditions for thousands of families in Ukraine blankets and bed linen and installs water treatment units Three quarters of IDPs surveyed by IOM at the end of May identified cash as one of their priority needs IOM has provided cash to over 72,000 vulnerable war-affected people in Zakarpattia “As autumn and winter are not far away there is a need to find sustainable solutions for the accommodation and integration of internally displaced people,” says IOM Ukraine’s Chief of Mission “In addition to the immediate humanitarian response in Ukraine we will support resilience and recovery efforts.” The provision of psychosocial support – primary care, individual or group counselling and training – remains a key concern. The IOM toll-free hotline 0 800 211 444 offers tailored and confidential support through calls by a team of 30 psychologists. Moreover, IOM mobile clinics also provide mental health services in Lviv Region and will be expanded to other locations. As democratic nations rally behind Ukraine and President Zelenskyy, one voice has been remarkably silent: our Rep. Chuck Fleischmann. His absence from this conversation affects not just international relations, but directly affects our community in East Tennessee, including our growing Ukrainian population in Chattanooga. Copyright © 2025, Chattanooga Times Free Press, Inc. This document may not be reprinted without the express written permission of Chattanooga Times Free Press, Inc. Zelensky met with officials and local people in two cities in the region, which borders Russia. It was partially occupied by Russian forces after the war started more than a year ago The Russians withdrew from the region by early April The Ukrainian president visited the Sumy region cities of Okhtyrka which saw fierce battles last year but was never occupied which was held by the Russians for a month after the invasion but liberated by Ukrainian forces March 26 Zelensky’s trip followed his visits over the last seven days to the Kherson and Kharkiv regions, parts of which were retaken last year from the Kremlin’s forces; to the intensely contested area near Bakhmut, in the eastern Donetsk region; and to Zaporizhzhia in the south. Also Tuesday, at least three civilians were killed and 43 others were wounded by the latest Russian attacks involving drones, gliding bombs and heavy artillery, Zelensky’s office said. In the Donetsk region, Russian shelling hit 12 towns and villages, killing two and wounding 34. The Russian attacks also targeted the southern city of Kherson, where five people were wounded. In Bilopillia in the Sumy region, a Russian strike damaged a school building and an apartment building. World & Nation A new drive is underway across Russia this spring seeking volunteers to join the military and replenish Moscow’s troops for the war in Ukraine Addressing a crowd of people on a square in Okhtyrka Zelensky promised that the battle-scarred city would be rebuilt “We won’t let any wound remain on the body of our state,” he said In Trostianets, Zelensky honored soldiers at the local railway station, where Ukrainian authorities say the Russians tortured prisoners. He also met with Ukraine’s minister for reconstruction, Oleksandr Kubrakov. Many buildings in the city are damaged or destroyed by the war, with crumbling walls and punctured roofs. Russian atrocities number in the tens of thousands Trostianets resident Dmytro Zaiats told the Associated Press that the president’s visit to the city meant a lot to him “It’s a symbol of unity and the iron will that brought the country together,” he said Expectations of a Ukrainian push against Russian positions are mounting as the weather improves and Western-supplied weapons for Kyiv arrive. Germany said late Monday that it has delivered the 18 Leopard 2 tanks it had promised Ukraine. Poland, Canada, Portugal and Norway have also delivered promised tanks. Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said on Twitter that the first British Challenger 2 battle tanks had arrived, too. “These fantastic machines will soon begin their combat missions,” Reznikov said. Russia is stepping up its own production of materiel. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visited factories in the Chelyabinsk and Kirov regions producing artillery rounds and rockets, Russia’s Defense Ministry said, adding that the plants would increase the output of certain items by seven or eight times later this year. Slovakia says the first four of 13 Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jets that it decided to give Ukraine have been safely handed over to Kyiv’s air force Russia has kept up its long-range bombardment of Ukraine areas, but its nighttime attacks with Iranian-made Shahed exploding drones are causing little damage. The Ukrainian military downed 14 of the 15 Shahed drones that Russia fired late Monday, the General Staff of the Ukrainian military said. The Kyiv regional military administration said that wreckage from a downed drone hit an administrative building in the Sviatoshynskyi District in the western part of the capital, causing a fire. There were no casualties. The Dnipropetrovsk regional governor, Serhii Lysak, said that the Ukrainian military shot down two drones overnight, but another one hit a privately owned industrial facility in the city of Dnipro and caused a fire that took hours to extinguish. Subscribe for unlimited accessSite Map The UN deplored the horrendous civilian cost of the Russian invasion of Ukraine which reached the 500-day mark on Friday.  The war began on 24 February 2022, and the UN’s Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) has confirmed that more than 9,000 civilians though the real number could be much higher “Today we mark another grim milestone in the war that continues to exact a horrific toll on Ukraine’s civilians,” said Noel Calhoun The HRMMU reported that overall monthly casualties decreased earlier this year when compared to 2022 but the average number rose again in May and June with the last two weeks among some of the deadliest since fighting began Recent attacks include the missile strike on a busy shopping area in the eastern city of Kramatorsk on the evening of 27 June Among the victims was award-winning writer and human rights defender Viktoriia Amelina who succumbed to her injuries earlier this week 10 civilians were killed in another missile strike in Lviv The information about civilian deaths is contained in the latest report on civilian casualties in Ukraine, published by the UN Human Rights Office, OHCHR which covers the period from the start of the war through 30 June 2023 61 per cent were men and 39 per cent were women Boys comprised more than 57 per cent of casualties among children whose sex was known OHCHR also received information regarding 22 civilian casualties in Russian-occupied Crimea and the city of Sevastopol They included five men and one woman who were killed and 16 people who were injured – two children and 14 adults Meanwhile, experts deployed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) at the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) in southern Ukraine have not observed any visible indications of mines or explosives there, Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi said on Wednesday Europe’s largest nuclear plant has been in Russian hands since the early days of the war and both sides have accused the other of shelling the facility The IAEA had previously indicated that it was aware of reports that mines and other explosives have been placed in and around the plant which is located on the frontline of the conflict our experts have gained some additional access at the site they have not seen any mines or explosives including to the rooftops of reactor units 3 and 4 and parts of the turbine halls,” Mr expressing hope that access will be granted soon The experts have inspected parts of the plant in recent days and weeks and continued to conduct regular walkdowns across the site.  they were “also able to check a wider section of the perimeter of the ZNPP’s large cooling pond than previously” The Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) in Ukraine is now reconnected to its only back-up power line after four months but the power situation at the site remains “highly vulnerable” head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Monday Foreign Affairs has been the leading forum for serious discussion of American foreign policy and global affairs The magazine has featured contributions from many leading international affairs experts ANDREI KOLESNIKOV is a Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Andrei Kolesnikov the coffin containing the body of 75-year-old Vladimir Zhirinovsky—the ultranationalist and populist who was a crucial pillar of the Russian state for two decades—was taken to the Hall of Columns in central Moscow for people to pay their respects it was there that Stalin had lain in state in the process killing one last wave of Russians who were crushed to death in the huge crowds that had gathered to bid farewell to the Soviet dictator There was no stampede to see Zhirinovsky although his funeral recalled a different moment from the Soviet era His body had been brought to the Hall of Columns in an Aurus Lafet—the strictly limited-edition black hearse made by Aurus Motors Russia’s much-hyped new luxury car manufacturer lafet means “funeral carriage,” and for Russians like me who are old enough to remember the early 1980s the name of the car evokes a darkly comic joke: when the elderly Soviet leaders Leonid Brezhnev and Konstantin Chernenko all died in quick succession Could Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle now be facing a new Race of the Lafets there are many Kremlin figures who are of a similar age to their counterparts in the late Soviet years: Putin will be 70 in October; Alexander Bortnikov Much like Brezhnev’s aging Politburo when it decided to invade Afghanistan thus demolishing what remained of the moral foundations of the Soviet empire these gerontocrats’ decision to launch a war in Ukraine has quickly become a disaster for Russia—and especially its youth the regime has Russian public opinion on its side that it can turn Russia into a self-sufficient based on the idea of Russian superiority over other nations the “special military operation,” as Putin insists on calling it seems destined to undermine all of Russia’s political The Putin regime seems to regard the Russian people with nearly the same attitude that it does their Ukrainian counterparts one has to look no further than the public and police pressure now being put on anyone in Russia who dares think differently the shutting down or purging of almost every independent media outlet and research organization and the persecution of anyone who protests or even merely disagrees with the patriotic hysteria homogenous mass that must be subjugated to the Kremlin by means of denazification a process that in actual fact means de-Ukrainization But Russians are also considered by their leaders as an unthinking mass that must blindly follow their leader they face administrative or criminal charges and social ostracism Russian soldiers—a group that includes not only military die-hards but also tens of thousands of very young conscripts who are performing obligatory national service—have become cannon fodder Putin’s senseless ideas are costing Russian teenagers their lives In one of his few speeches in recent weeks Putin declared open season on “national traitors” and on a “fifth column” that was supposedly undermining the unity of the nation he urged a “self-cleansing of society.” Russians quickly heeded the call: after the speech with students condemning their teachers—and vice versa—and colleagues reporting on each other The Russian president also encouraged acts of barbarity against his critics the independent radio station that was shut down by Putin’s government soon after the invasion began the editor in chief of the newspaper Novaya Gazeta and the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize last year by dousing him in red paint mixed with the toxic chemical acetone Both opponents and supporters of the Russian leader have become more radicalized most of those who oppose the war are Putin critics and young people Some soldiers have refused to fight in Ukraine and some families of those who have been slain are furious with Putin Young people have bravely taken to the streets to protest the war despite facing immediate arrest and the prospect of losing their job or place at university a clear majority of Russians have rallied around Putin according to independent polling conducted last year most Russians were afraid of war and didn’t believe it could actually happen or at least the broad mass of ordinary Russians it is difficult to measure opinion in a system that has one leader and that for all practical purposes no longer has any free media But it is clear that Russians feel besieged and Consider the data of the most recent poll by the independent Levada Center respondents did not refuse to answer questions any more than in past surveys by in-person interviews rather than by telephone The results are telling: 81 percent of respondents said they supported the “special operation,” with a full 53 percent “definitely” supporting it It is also worth noting another figure: in connection with the special operation a slight majority—51 percent—of respondents said that they felt “pride in Russia.” Those who did not—many of them young people—described their feelings as “anxiety At the same time, Putin’s approval rating, again according to Levada, soared to 83 percent in March, up 12 percent from the previous month. The surge of public support tracks closely with what occurred after the annexation of Crimea in 2014; but back then and those who opposed Putin’s actions did not face humiliation by their peers Putin labeled anyone who spoke against his policies as a “national traitor.”) Moreover in contrast to Russian actions in Ukraine now the annexation was accomplished without any bloodshed and many saw the “reunification” of Crimea with Russia as restoring and enhancing Russia’s greatness the dominant response of ordinary Russians to the war is aggression It is undergirded by what seems to be an almost subconscious effort to block out any bad news any sense that the nation might be in the wrong Fear of authority not only prevents people from protesting against a barbaric war; it also makes them unable to admit even to themselves that Putin’s Russia has committed something dreadful It is frightening to be on the side of evil It is frightening to look at the monstrous photographs and video footage coming out of Ukraine—using a virtual private network to circumvent the Kremlin’s Internet controls—and to discover just how dangerous the truth is it is easier to imbibe the official propaganda and know that you’re on the good side: the Ukrainians were going to attack us; we just carried out a preventative strike; we are liberating a fraternal people from a Nazi regime supported by the West; all the reports about atrocities supposedly carried out by our army are fake As one woman in a Levada Center focus group said Russians are collectively experiencing a version of Stockholm syndrome sympathizing more with their own captor than with his other victims are tethered to the Kremlin—are divided over what to do next such as the Putin’s chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky and the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov advocate “seeing it through to the end”—though what kind of end?—and consider any negotiations a form of betrayal This range of views is reflected in society at large: for some victory means a peace agreement that gives Russia significant new territory; for others victory requires going all the way and conquering all of Ukraine intoxicated by what they take to be patriotism attack anyone who criticizes the war and claim not to understand why some people are protesting against it: 32 percent of respondents in another Levada poll said they believed that protesters were paid to do so How else to account for the thousands of people who have taken to the streets to oppose the liberation of Ukraine from Nazis No matter that they cannot explain who and how these thousands of people were paid to risk their freedom and livelihood to protest against the massacre But such illogical assertions are nothing new: a portion of Russia’s hard-bitten mainstream has often said this about political protesters in recent times but Russians have yet to realize that in doing so he has also destroyed the foundations of the post-Soviet state Everything was built on the defeat of fascism in the Great Patriotic War Yet in the eyes of Ukrainians—and much of the rest of the world—Russians themselves are now behaving like fascists Russians can hardly draw on their country’s experience fighting Hitler to justify their own brutal militarism they are making themselves in the very image of the Germans in the wake of World War II This is what Putin has done: Russia is no longer on the winning side of the Great Patriotic War; it is no longer on the right side of history And they must be convincing enough to make the triumph resemble 1945 But many Russians already seem to view what Russia is doing now as equivalent to the defeat of Hitler: the letter Z most people feel trapped: the West is more hostile toward them than ever but there is nothing left for them in Russia They support Putin as the supreme commander of their fabled army but deep down they are beginning to understand that the president has led them to a place from which escape may be impossible the brilliant revolutionary thinker Alexander Herzen identified the tension: “The Russian’s position is becoming interminably difficult,” he wrote from Italy “He feels more and more foreign in the West while his hatred for what is being done at home grows deeper and deeper.” Then And Russians cannot admit it to themselves and a profession—and the means to do so—are voting with their feet and leaving the country those who go abroad say they are doing so temporarily: they are sitting out the war and waiting for change to come to Russia but they have no intention of establishing a permanent new life in another country They are motivated less by a fear of persecution than by a lack of belief in Russia’s prospects and disgust at what the regime has become Russia is hemorrhaging its professional class the people on whom its aspirations for a modern the exodus will fundamentally harm the country’s human capital And the population that is left behind may well be even less open to Western values and liberal ideas the state seems likely to aim its efforts at those Russians who can be relied on to support the regime provided they are offered enough cash and other basic rewards to do so These are the broad masses whose loyalty must be bought with social payments and salaries in the state-dependent sectors and who must be fed a steady diet of propaganda in order to stay in line Yet as the growing effects of sanctions set in this project has become far more expensive and the resources for supporting these people may begin to dry up This will be especially true if Russia loses the ability to sell oil and gas the country will continue to be regarded as a hostile enclave it will be up to Russians themselves to prove by their own actions that their country is more than Putin and what he has wrought Subscribe to Foreign Affairs to get unlimited access Already a subscriber? Sign In Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan Francis Fukuyama Natasha Hall and Joost Hiltermann Julian G. Waller Andriy Zagorodnyuk and Eliot A. Cohen Ivo H. Daalder and James M. Lindsay Tong Zhao Zongyuan Zoe Liu Anne Neuberger Liana Fix and Michael Kimmage * Note that when you provide your email address, the Foreign Affairs Privacy Policy and Terms of Use will apply to your newsletter subscription Published by The Council on Foreign Relations Privacy Policy Terms of Use From the publishers of  Foreign Affairs This website uses cookies to improve your experience You can opt-out of certain cookies using the cookie management page * Note that when you provide your email address, the Foreign Affairs Privacy Policy and Terms of Use will apply to your newsletter subscription Today's print edition Home Delivery Russian forces bombarded the outskirts of Kyiv and a besieged city in northern Ukraine on Wednesday, a day after promising to scale down operations there in what the West dismissed as a ploy to regroup by invaders taking heavy losses Nearly five weeks into an invasion in which it has failed to capture any major cities Russia said it would curtail operations near Kyiv and the northern city of Chernihiv "to increase mutual trust" for peace talks.googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1499653692894-0'); }); But journalists in Kyiv heard intensified bombardment on Wednesday morning from the direction of front-line suburbs but windows rattled from the relentless artillery on its outskirts In a time of both misinformation and too much information quality journalism is more crucial than ever.By subscribing Your subscription plan doesn't allow commenting. To learn more see our FAQ Sponsored contents planned and edited by JT Media Enterprise Division On the ground in the devastated Bucha and Trostianets; when rape is used as a weapon; and will Putin face a war crimes tribunal Every week we wrap up the must-reads from our coverage of the Ukraine war Daniel Boffey visited the devastated town of Bucha speaking to the residents of blighted Vokzal’na Street as they emerged from their hideouts after Russian forces retreated “We were in our cellar the whole time,” says Serhiy Savenko, 43, who lives with his mother, Larisa, 72, at No 35. “The Russians set up their weapons and a fire in the front garden He said he was a nice guy but his colleagues would get us on our knees and shoot us She faces the prospect of telling her daughter that her husband is dead killed by soldiers after going to pick up some items up from a neighbour’s house “He walked just 20 metres from the house and the Russians killed him If you want to read more about Bucha, journalist Nataliya Gumenyuk has written about how the atrocities there have changed the way Ukrainians look at the war Yet residents described an initial sense of guilt among Russian soldiers they stank and they looked completely lost,” says Yana Lugovets She said a soldier who had come to search the house they were staying in left without completing the task Daria Sasina said soldiers who had broken into the beauty salon she ran were apologetic We didn’t know it would be like this.” However after the Ukrainian army called in strikes View image in fullscreenDestroyed Russian military equipment in Trostianets Photograph: Anastasia Taylor-Lind/The GuardianWhen rape is used as a weaponInvestigators are uncovering the scale of sexual violence committed in Ukraine Rape and sexual assault are considered war crimes and both Ukraine’s prosecutor general and the international criminal court have said they will open investigations “Every break between curfew and bombing I was looking for emergency contraception instead of a basic first aid kit,” said Antonina Medvedchuk in Kyiv who woke up to the sound of bombing on the day the war broke out “My mother tried to reassure me: ‘This is not a war like that Russia and Ukraine are not members of the international criminal court but dozens of prominent lawyers and politicians and the former British prime minister Gordon Brown have launched a campaign to create a special tribunal to try Russia for the crime of aggression in Ukraine Models include the tribunals set up to prosecute war crimes committed during the Balkan wars in the early 1990s and during the 1994 Rwanda genocide View image in fullscreenPeople in Sofia demonstrate holding the Ukrainian national flag during a march in support of Ukraine Photograph: Belish/Rex/ShutterstockThe man who swam to safety from MariupolOn Thursday Luke Harding in Lviv reported on the extraordinary story of Dmitry Yurin a man who witnessed the bombing of the Drama Theatre in Mariupol and decided that he had to escape the city by any means necessary Yurin’s plan involved wading into the frigid sea of Azov with four five-litre plastic bottles, for use as buoyancy aids, and swimming for two-and-a-half hours. His remarkable journey took him to the village of Melekine where he staggered out of the sea and was rescued by an elderly couple who gave him vodka and borscht The next phase of the war – which could yet be decisive – is expected to unfold in the Donbas in the next month as Russian forces seek to capture Mariupol expand the area of occupation in the self-proclaimed republics in Donetsk and Luhansk – and perhaps encircle Ukraine’s main fighting force ranged against it It is a struggle that will unfold over the course of April but it is probably not until the end of April that a clearer picture will emerge of the revised military balance Is the goal to allow Ukraine to force the Kremlin into peace talks – or try to inflict a more heavy defeat that would risk provoking an unpredictable Russian president Our visual guide to the invasion is updated regularly and can be found here The court sentenced in absentia two кussian servicemen who had fired a tank at Trostianets hospital in Sumy region for up to 11 years in prison SBI employees found that during the temporary occupation of a part of Sumy region russian military personnel shelled Trostianets city hospital from a tank they violated the requirements of European regulations on the protection of civilians The order to fire on the hospital was given by junior sergeant Petro Smirnov a tank commander of the 1st tank platoon of the 5th tank company of the 2nd tank battalion of the 1st Guards Tank Regiment "Chertkivsky" of the 2nd Guards Taman Motorised Rifle Division the junior sergeant ordered Mukhametkhanov to fire a 125 mm high-explosive fragmentation shell at the medical facility Right at the time of the attack of the hospital one of the women in labour was giving birth to twins the Trostianets District Court found junior sergeant Smirnov and private Mukhametkhanov guilty of violating the laws and customs of war (Article 438(1) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) Both russian servicemen were sentenced to 11 years in prison The court also ordered the aggressor country to pay damages caused by the inhumane actions of its military personnel As the whereabouts of the defendants are currently being established they were tried in a special court proceeding in accordance with the requirements of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine The Sumy Regional Prosecutor's Office provides procedural guidance and support to the public prosecution The Armed Forces of Ukraine repaired it and today it is "taking revenge" on the battlefield on the occupiers for their crimes Report corruption in the DBR Submit an appeal Ukraine: Dazed residents emerge from their homes to search for food while Ukrainian soldiers salvage what they can from damaged Russian vehicles abandoned amid the ruins A month under Russian occupation has left deep scars in the northeastern town of Trostyanets which is just 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the border on the second day of the war But it encountered fierce resistence from Ukrainian forces when elements tried to push further southwest as the remains of burnt out tanks scattered along a secondary road attest The Russians set up headquarters in Trostyanets' train station and the surrounds are badly damaged after heavy bombardment aimed at dislodging them A dozen destroyed or damaged tanks and other armoured vehicles plus a massive self-propelled howitzer litter the area The nearby bus station and shops where Russian soldiers had bedded down and stored their equipment are in ruins empty wooden ammunition cases are strewn across the ground In the night of the 25th to 26th they just up and left," said Pavlo who spent the past month hunkered down in the basement of his home located just nearby with drones or with I don't know what," he added and there are no bodies of dead Russian soldiers in the streets The only street battles took place in the south of the city near the hospital "It was dangerous to walk by here," Pavlo said of the area around the rail station where the Russians had set up "They arrested people and stole their phones so they could call home," he said Chechens and even pro-Russian Ukrainian separatists from the Donbas region forcing out people and taking their homes" "there was nothing left to eat in the town With a well in his yard and ample provisions in his basement Olga Kolcheniyenko and her husband didn't have it as easy in their third floor apartment without water and electricity "We're still in shock," said the English teacher in her sixties -- her face pale -- making her first foray into the centre of town since it was retaken by Ukrainian soldiers three days ago but getting supplies was a top priority for many people with long lines snaking outside food banks who was standing in line with her mother at a local church handing out food She spent the month shuttling between her apartment and the building's basement "I had to go out every day to help my mother find something to eat The town was brimming with rumours about civilians killed Kolcheniyenko said she heard one of her 13-year-old students had been shot by Russians the wreckage is a gold mine for spare parts One of the deminers took a headlight out of a truck "With two wrecked trucks we can jury-rig one that works," said the head of the local police "We'll be able to make a lot of ammunition for our army." By subscribing, you accept the terms and conditions in our privacy policy Home page » Topics » Space Transformation » Trostianets Hromada: industrial tourist cluster The Trostianets Urban Amalgamated Hromada in Slobozhanshchyna was created in 2017 Availability of robust financial base provided Trostianets with powerful resources for strategic development after Hromada unifying The Hromada implements quality projects that go beyond its territory The Hromada took over the regional hospital and conducts major renovation of in-patient department; the Hromada organizes music festivals and historic reconstructions hosting tourists from all over Ukraine A biathlon training facility for international competitions is on the waiting list for reconstruction The Trostianets Urban Amalgamated Hromada consists of the town Trostianets and four villages The population of the Hromada is almost 22 thousand people The budget quadrupled in two years to the amount of 200 million UAH Budget share on development is also increasing and is used by the Hromada on parks The head of the Hromada Yurii Bova says that according to the long-term plan another 11 village councils are planning to join the Hromada — It’s a fair chance of success for small villages to join rayon (region) centers and to solve issues jointly We have repaired roads in the village Kamyanka purchased buses and launched the transport connection This year we got state funds to repair roads in other villages we conduct repair works of the community center We also layout a park just like the one in Trostianets because people say: We want a park just like yours since we are one Hromada now Trostianets proceeds working within the strategy framework created back in 2007 This year they plan to approve a development strategy for the Amalgamated Hromada that will define the direction of development for the villages of the Hromada: — The following city priorities remain unchanged: workplaces In Hromada development strategy we put on our radar benefits of the rural areas and focus our attention on their strong sides development of their historic or architectural landmarks preferable enterprises and creation of workplaces In fall 2018 a project “Trostianets Urban Hromada ID” got implemented It enables welfare beneficiaries to travel free on public transport The buses got equipped with scanners for this type of cards The cardholders can get services out of turn in the local library and get discounts in one of the town pharmacy chains One of the objectives of ID cards implementation is accountability and optimization of budget funds expenses allocated for social programs The community services can learn promptly about breakdowns in the town and are able to respond to them as soon as possible due to a platform ”Open City” With its help the inhabitants can pin a spot on the map where a problem has occurred (a light bulb burned out and the city crew would have to fix it within three days The head of the Hromada Yurii Bova says that one can track the status of any issue online in real-time: — Throughout 2018 we had about 300 tickets we have someone who created about 20-30 tickets for one year This person walks the streets of the town and pays attention to details like a lopsided curbstone and creates a ticket Some people would walk past such issues and will not pinpoint them on the map It depends on people’s background and understanding that this town is your home The system “Open City” is a platform created for the whole of Ukraine The Hromada pays 35 thousand UAH annually to the Association of open cities that provides support to numerous electronic services The head of the Hromada Yurii Bova says that apart from this platform the Hromada offers other digital services: live streaming of the city council sessions Over 10 years the Trostianets community has been working on modernizing city infrastructure and introducing energy-efficient technologies All apartment houses switched to individual heating facilities by 2008 The stairway utility connections got repaired and equipped with smart lighting systems with motion sensors The street lighting systems use more efficient sodium-vapour lamps All water intake structures got equipped with pumps and automatic systems of water supply Today water from a well gets directly into the system bypassing water towers that are usually heavily littered Most of the town yards don’t have garbage containers The dump trucks arrive on schedule and the residents take the garbage out They have decided that this system is going to be more effective 98% of residents have signed contracts for garbage disposal the Hromada organised similar services for rural areas as well “Comfortable Yard” is another program on outdoor space beautification that gets implemented in Trostianets In 2018 a yard on Tatarenko street got accommodated and the Hromada plans to beautify a couple of yards each year The renovated yard has clear zoning: car parking we have separated transport area from the pedestrian area The entrance to the yard is under camera surveillance after camera instalment the burglaries stopped taking into account the ratio of the number of residents to parking spots and recreation space Yurii Bova has been the head of Trostianets since 2005 He believes that every inhabitant of the Hromada has to learn to be respectful to the environment of their residence and take responsibility for its development Nowadays each community competes for investments Ukraine consists of small towns like this one A tidy country starts with tidy stairway cases and yards pay taxes and demand the authorities to be accountable for taxes expenditures Ukraine will turn into a different environment The Hromada has an office of economic programs working on grant projects it has received funding for over 20 projects: an inclusive playground the Hromada constantly seeks for new solutions and ideas: the breakthrough will be visible even a dozen years afterwards If one is asleep on the switch and misses the opportunity It seems to me that people lack only confidence and faith that we are capable of changes We can create good quality yard areas and hospitals I believe that the biggest success of Ukraine is the engagement with the next generation They will differ in a good way if we invest resources in them Yurii Bova travels to other countries learning their beautification experience He brings the ideas from his trips that he gradually implements in Trostianets: — In 2017 I was given a tour to hospitals in Poland I saw a doctor entering the surgical department and not touching a single door handle every single detail is well thought through I have also noticed a very high-quality level of career and technical education They understood that you wouldn’t be able to teach a good fabricator or welder if they don’t have enough practice They disassemble an electric car to the last screw and then put it back together Now we work on the concept of trade school system development the ways to make the classes competitive and the future graduates to have an on-fire speciality in 2-3 years In 1974 a chocolate factory “Ukraine” began operating In 1994 the enterprise became part of the international corporation Kraft Foods (since 2012 the company is part of Mondelēz International) The factory fulfils the full processing cycle of cocoa beans since 2005 a coffee packaging facility operates here and since 2011 a cookies production facility as well We have persuaded the investors that we could provide 30 hectares very attractive tax conditions and ultimate cooperation in the solution of any issues We granted that attaining permits and all paper related procedures would take three days and not a month We brought here a branch of customs so that all export goods were arranged here The enterprise got regular investments and over the years the amount of investments equals 200 million USD The war has somewhat influenced the processes It is the furthest east factory of the corporation that used to sell a lot of goods to the Russian market the priorities have changed and we managed to surpass the volume of production from before the war The head of the Hromada tells us that the factory has a good level of salaries and social security People from other towns come to work at the factory To attract an employer and investor like this the Hromada has to be transparent and interested in the partnership: — You have to understand that any business comes to a community to make money and not to be a sponsor It is constant cooperation and monitoring of investors’ needs Where do you think we patch the roads first of all after winter We took a dormitory from the factory because it was a financial burden for them If a business would like to do something for the city You can’t demand anything from the investor the representatives of the factory and other enterprises are on the board in the city council They can have a clear vision of where the city is heading Trostianetska Hromada took over the rayon (district) hospital in addition to other primary care facilities In half a year the medical ward went through capital repair right now the department of obstetrics and gynaecology is going through a renovation process By 2022 the Hromada plans to finish repair works at in-patient department: — The medical ward was completely stripped off and newly re-equipped Everything is new: furniture and equipment The nurse’s area has video surveillance so that she could see what’s going on in the corridor All rooms are standard and there are no VIP ones We spent about 2 million UAH on repair works in the medical ward and about 1 million on equipment The funds were exclusively coming from the Hromada budget we wouldn’t have been able to implement such a project and together with the regional administration we also purchased a new biochemical blood analyzer for 800 thousand UAH — The patient has to cover only the price of the film for the x-ray machine (30 UAH) or the price of the diagnostic reagents (up to 2 UAH) The analyzer operates very quickly automatically and requires a very little blood sample People from other towns and villages are coming to get these services The Trostianets Hromada is planning on thermal modernisation of the five-storeyed medical ward to provide people with comfortable conditions and to save on energy consumption the Hromada has defined the hospital renovation as the priority in the Hromada development plan: — We consider the hospital to be a selling point of our Hromada the inhabitants have to go to another town and that causes inconveniences That’s why we will strive for our hospital to be the best in the region equipment-wise We are working on providing up-to-date diagnostic assessment and provision of services and it would be rewarding for the medical staff to stay here and provide services A big portion of the budget is spent on education Apart from financing schools and kindergartens were not working on power efficiency and didn’t have multimedia equipment We had to put money into a lot of renovation works and other necessary things During 2018 we repaired 13 classrooms mostly due to Hromada funding We decided to create an equally comfortable environment in all schools: a game area Every teacher is provided with a laptop in every classroom The head of Trostianets Amalgamated Hromada Yurii Bova says that they manage frugally use government grant for education and to save some money for developmental projects Software MozaBook that enables demonstration of a very complicated phenomenon and mechanisms in 3D or video format was purchased for teaching sciences The Hromada implements the usage of digital school diary so that parents could learn about their children’s progress in real-time — Step by step the chalkboards have to be gone We changed the heating elements used at school canteen to heat food quicker and save energy The boiler facilities that provide heating to schools In 2018 a renovated public library opened on Trostianets Town Day The chief librarian Liudmyla Yefremova tells us that the library implemented an e-catalogue and library e-card —  Cloud technologies have reached out province library at last It is the younger generation who come to the library because we have a great environment for work We have transformed from a book depository into a modern cultural information center The head of Trostianets Hromada Yurii Bova tells us about the concept of social cafe that is going to work in the library — Coffee and tea in the social cafe will have a flat price without any mark-ups We also want to experiment with optional pay The kind donations will be used to buy tea Any child will be able to buy a beverage for one UAH That is our reasoning behind trying to engage children into environments like this When the state claims that culture centers and clubs have to be united with libraries we interpret this idea the way we transformed our library In summer 2018 an inclusive resource center for children with special needs opened in Trostianets The specialists of the center provide psychological and pedagogical support as well as encourage their social adjustment The Trostianets centerpiece of tourist landmarks is the Golitsyn Palace built in the 17th century Today the culture complex includes local history museum One of the halls is accommodates classical music concerts The confectionery factory presented us with a German brand grand piano Bechstein we can invite interesting and outstanding performers from all over the world From November till April we regularly host concerts in this hall and during warm months we organize open-air festivals When we just began organizing concerts we had concerns that nobody would attend them As occurred the hall is packed with audience Annually Trostianets hosts plein airs for painters that donate their works to the city The paintings are exhibited in the gallery in the Golitsyn Palace Each painter presents to the city two paintings The painters from all over Ukraine as well as from Poland and Russia come here They are professional artists demonstrating speed painting technique They are brought to a spot and they have to finish their work in half-day while the sun hasn’t turned to the west We have more than 100 paintings with local landscapes We change the display in the Palace regularly He created an overture to the symphonic poem The Storm here there is a memorial room dedicated to the composer Another memorial room is dedicated to the sugar manufacturer Leopold Koenig the last owner of the estate who turned the town in an industrial empire — The memorial room display shows the 25 years of Leopold Koenig’s work on the transformation of a small village in a big industrial town Interestingly he invested money beyond production libraries as well as developing the community Children come to field trips here and the historians tell them about both his creative career and the way to organize industrial clusters in small communities The museum of chocolate appeared in the complex in 2012 The museum exhibits showpieces narrating about the history of chocolate and the process of its production The idea to create the museum belongs to the city council and the confectionary factory provided samples of their goods for the project and some out of use equipment — We have a great partnership with the factory Since there are no tours for tourists at the factory it made sense to organize something for tourists in another place There are rooms devoted to different kinds of chocolate and coffee Another architectural landmark of Trostianets is Round Yard built in the 18th century Both the manège and the mansion were repaired in 2007 Round Yard hosts mass events like music festival “Skhid-Rok” (East-Rock) the Tchaikovsky Festival and the historical festival “Old Fortress” — It is a unique building structure with a circus manège in its center in Eastern Europe It is an architectural landmark of national importance We put all our efforts into its preservation We received funds from the European Union in its restoration and at this point This building is on our coat of arms and we believe that it has to be filled with life Trostianets park named after Tchaikovsky is transforming into the leisure center for the city inhabitants The park has three functional zones: recreational the children’s area has an inclusive playground basketball and volleyball courts and outdoor fitness equipment — The sports grounds are accessible at any time We add fish regularly because they eat out water weeds The park has changed a lot over the last 3-4 years Gradually it turns into a real European place Trostianets Hromada strives to transform the town stadium named after Volodymyr Kuts into a modern sports complex In spring 2019 as part of the reconstruction project a new soccer field with artificial turf opened next to it — We built the field in a month and a half on funds from both the Ministry of Regional Development and the Hromada You should have seen the faces of the children when they had their first training here They get inspired because they train in a good quality environment Trostianets Hromada decided to focus on strategic directions of town development It was located in the arboretum park Neskuchne during the Soviet times After the Soviet Union collapsed the base was torn down The Hromada inhabitants have cleared up the area and the youth biathlon competitions take place here: — Why was Trostianets picked for this base There is suitable terrain with elevation changes that meet the standards of the biathlon championships We had a survey about whether we should restore the base because it presupposes serious resources The majority of the population was positive because they remember the base Hundreds of people used to work there and it hosted thousands of tourists We have begun work on project design documents and have consultations with the Biathlon Union of Ukraine and Czech experts that built the biathlon stadium in Nové Město na Moravě we want a base that in 2035 will be one of the best in the world The material was created with the support of the Program “Ukraine – Local Empowerment Accountability and Development” (U-LEAD with Europe) financed by European Union and its members: Denmark Involved in the preparation of the material 17 volunteers This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page Ukraine exported 99.3 thousand tons of bioethanol The majority of the export (87.6%) was undenatured bioethanol Bioethanol supplies were provided by companies with production facilities in 7 regions of Ukraine Everyone can personally meet with representatives from all bioethanol producers in Ukraine on April 3rd in Kyiv at the B2B Meeting with Leaders of the Ukrainian Oil Market which was organised by NaftoRynok and the Ukrbioethanol Association Location: Kyiv (the venue will be announced to participants later) How the gasoline and bioethanol markets operate in Ukraine and globally Stages of the revival of the alcohol industry: from demonopolization to the market Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy Regulatory and technical aspects of market operations Head of the Representative Office in Ukraine Discussion Panel: "The future of market integration" How to transport bioethanol and bioethanol-blended gasoline Head of the Ukrainian Parliament's Finance Bioethanol Producers (16 Ukrainian plants) For subscribers to NaftoRynok Daily Fuels & LPG*: Register to participate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrives at the train station in Trostianets in the Sumy region of Ukraine on Tuesday The first shipment of German and British tanks have arrived in Ukraine ahead of an expected spring counter-offensive Ukraine’s defense ministry said British Challenger 2 tanks had arrived in Ukraine while Germany’s defense ministry said 18 Leopard 2 tanks ammunition and spare parts had been sent Tuesday Germany has faced criticism during the war for an apparent reluctance to send heavy weaponry to Ukraine It eventually decided to send battle tanks to Kyiv in January The UK was the first country to pledge tanks to Ukraine early on in the new year Russia’s Pacific Fleet fired supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles at a mock target in the Sea of Japan The combat exercise saw Russia fire Moskit cruise missiles at a “mock enemy.” It said the target was hit Japan’s foreign minister said his country would remain watchful of Moscow’s military operations EU countries seek legal option to stop Russian LNG imports European Union countries agreed to seek a legal option to stop Russian companies sending liquefied natural gas to EU nations by preventing Russian firms from booking infrastructure capacity EU energy ministers proposed that new EU gas market rules should include the option for governments to temporarily stop Russian and Belarusian gas exporters from bidding up-front for capacity on the infrastructure needed to deliver LNG into Europe The proposal is part of their negotiating position on new EU gas market rules It must be negotiated with the European Parliament – a process that can take months The 27-country European Union has pledged to ditch Russian gas in response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine Europe’s pipeline imports of gas from Russia have plunged since the invasion Zelensky visits Ukrainian positions near Russian border in Sumy region Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky visited positions of the Ukrainian border guards near the border with Russia in the Sumy region to mark the anniversary of its recapture from Russian troops The Sumy region was briefly occupied by Russian forces at the start of the war several towns became the focus of fierce battles It is the latest stop in Zelensky’s tour of the country he has visited the Kherson and Kharkiv regions as well as Bahkmut in the Donetsk region and Zaporizhzhia Addressing a crowd in a square in Okhtyrka They hit the town of Bilopillia in the Sumy Oblast on Tuesday morning damaging a school and an apartment building At least two people died and 25 were injured following Russian shelling on the city of Sloviansk in Donetsk a high-rise building and seven residences were destroyed by S-300 rockets the head of the Donetsk Regional State Administration noting that the rescue operation was ongoing Intense attacks on the eastern Donetsk town of Avdiivka and the damage they’ve caused prompted a Ukrainian official to liken the destruction to what you would see in a “post-apocalyptic” movie Utility workers were evacuated from Avdiivka a town just over 50 miles southwest of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine “Avdiivka is becoming more and more like a site from post-apocalyptic movies … Therefore a difficult decision was made to evacuate the rest of our heroes — utility workers who at least tried to keep the city clean and livable,” Vitaliy Barabash head of the Avdiivka City Military Administration Barabash told any remaining residents to leave the town while they were still able to because Russian rockets and projectiles do not spare anyone or anything Ukrainian military officials have already warned that the town could be a “second Bakhmut,” where there has been heavy fighting for over seven months Ukraine’s general staff said Russia was concentrating its offensives around Lyman Bakhmut and Avdiivka and two other settlements and added that its forces had repelled more than 60 attacks in the past 24 hours along the eastern front Belarus says NATO’s behavior has pushed it to host Russian nukes Belarus’ Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that it had decided to host Russia’s tactical nuclear weapons reportedly because of NATO’s “coercive measures” and “the build-up of military potential” in neighboring countries “Unilateral coercive measures in politics and the economy are accompanied by the build-up of military potential in the territory of neighboring countries — NATO members in close proximity to our border,” Belarus’ Foreign Ministry said in a statement reported by Russian news agency Tass “Considering these circumstances and the legitimate concerns and risks in the field of national security arising from them Belarus is taking forced response actions to strengthen its own security and defense capability,” the ministry said Russia’s ally Belarus is seen as something of a bulwark for Moscow against NATO Lithuania and Latvia — all NATO members — Ukraine to the south Russia announced that it would locate tactical nuclear weapons (designed for use on the battlefield rather than mass wholescale destruction) within Belarus saying President Alexander Lukashenko had made the suggestion to do so very closely,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters on a conference call the US has not seen reason to change its own nuclear posture Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba has taken part in a virtual session at the US-led Summit for Democracy “No other nation wants peace more than Ukraine,” he said “But peace at any cost is an illusion The cessation of Russia’s aggression and the restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity are essential conditions for peace.” Moscow says it is willing to talk peace but stresses security concerns come first Why Silknet's eSIM could be your top choice in Georgia  Since its introduction The Vbet Ukrainian Cup Directorate has approved the schedule for the First preliminary round matches of the 2024/2025 season Chernihiv (Chernihiv) vs Chaika (Petropavlivska Borshchahivka) Victoriya (Sumy) vs Metalurh (Zaporizhzhia) Hirnyk-Sport (Horishni Plavni) vs Mariupol (Mariupol) Lokomotyv (Kyiv) vs Metalist 1925 (Kharkiv) Trostianets (Trostianets) vs Poltava (Poltava) Revera 1908 (Ivano-Frankivsk) vs Podillya (Khmelnytskyi) Vilkhivtsi (Vilkhivtsi) vs Metalist (Kharkiv) Skala 1911 (Stryi) vs Epicentr (Kamianets-Podilskyi) Uzhhorod (Uzhhorod) vs Prykarpattia (Ivano-Frankivsk) Olimpiya (Savyntsi) vs Kremin (Kremenchuk) Employees of the State Bureau of Investigation together with other law enforcement agencies are making utmost efforts to ensure that every occupant who came to our land while documenting the crimes of the russian military in Trostianets the SBI managed to identify servicemen from the 1st tank regiment of the 2nd guards Taman motorized rifle division They had shot the premises of the district hospital at close range a native of the Republic of Tatarstan Petro Smirnov ordered his subordinate to shoot at the medical institution with direct fire Another russian - Ainur Mukhametkhanov - fired a 125-mm high-explosive fragmentation shell At the moment of the attack on the hospital one of the women in labor was giving birth to twins the SBI employees have completed a special pre-trial investigation against the military and the servicemen were put on the wanted list They are accused of violating the laws and customs of war (Part 1 of Art The sanction of the article provides for punishment in the form of imprisonment for up to 12 years The procedural supervision is carried out by the Sumy Regional Prosecutor's Office The Armed Forces of Ukraine repaired it and today it "takes revenge" on the battlefield on the occupiers for their crimes More Take note – story published 2 years and 10 months ago Trostianets is located close to the Russian border and for a long time In response to Trostianets' request for assistance the municipality of Valmiera provided a transport bus filled up with donations from residents: bed linen “The bus has been removed from the register in Latvia it has been assigned transit numbers for removal from the European Union There are also items for Chernograd volunteer firefighters – fireproof outfits [..] They will collect them on the border," said Valmiera Municipality Mayor Jānis Baiks The executive director of the association of small cities of Ukraine who has lived in Valmiera since March with her children said that she does not think that the gift to Trostianets is merely a drop in the sea of needs strengthen our faith in victory and bring it closer with each day The most effective help is to hear the request and make a decision quickly as has happened with this bus to Trostianets,” Kiriliuka said Select text and press Ctrl+Enter to send a suggested correction to the editor Select text and press Report a mistake to send a suggested correction to the editor