To mark the anniversary of the war, journalists of “Detector Media” in their article compared the views of leaders of the newly created initiatives and those of organizations with a 10-year experience on the changes in Ukrainian society and challenges of the future. Mr. Kotelianets, the Head of the Association, became one of the characters of this material. He shared his vision of the main lessons of the war and the priority tasks of our organization.

“Detector Media” asked the participants:

• How have you and the organization changed since the beginning of the war and since the beginning of the full-scale war?
• Continue the sentence: “The three main lessons of this war for me are...”.
• How do you see the problem of reintegration and restoration of the temporarily occupied territories, in particular Crimea, from the perspective of your organization’s sphere of activity?
• Continue the sentence: “The priority for Ukrainians in the coming year is...”.

Along with Mr. Kotelianets, representatives of nine other initiatives gave their comments, but we are publishing only his part in this material.

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How have you and the organization changed since the beginning of the war and since the beginning of the full-scale war?

With the beginning of Russia’s war against Ukraine, occupation of Crimea and the East, the problem of illegal political persecution of Ukrainian citizens for their pro-Ukrainian position has emerged. Peaceful expression of views became a pretext for fabrication of criminal cases by the russian occupation administrations. In 2016, when the problem of political prisoners became systemic, relatives of the prisoners united and our organization was founded. We set out as our goal to support the prisoners and consolidate the efforts of their relatives in the struggle for their release.

The full-scale invasion of russians in 2022 forced us to expand our scope of activities. Prior to these events, the Association provided assistance to the families of approximately 180 political prisoners, but now thousands of families of civilian hostages need help. On February 28, 2022, the Association, together with “Ukrzaliznytsia”, launched the Peremyshl logistics hub, which was engaged in the transportation of humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

The experience of the Association, which we had accumulated in relation to political prisoners, became relevant for a much wider category of people. Relatives of civilian hostages from the newly occupied territories began to seek our expertise. But no single organization is able to reach out to thousands of families of detained civilians. The relatives of prisoners themselves are the ones who are primarily able to help their loved ones and most motivated to do so. That is why our organization decided to do everything possible to start supporting these people with resources. In 2022, we launched a legal hotline for relatives and those released from captivity. So far, the lawyers of the Association have provided more than 350 counseling services and facilitated receiving financial assistance from NGOs and government agencies. We periodically provide financial assistance to relatives of civilian hostages and political prisoners: over the past year, we have allocated more than 1 million UAH for these needs. In addition, to help the victims regain their lost footing, the Association provided free psychological counseling.

For more than five years, the Association participated in the development of the text for the draft Law “On social and legal protection of people found to have been deprived of their personal liberty as a result of military aggression against Ukraine, and members of their families”, and advocated for its adoption by the Parliament. On November 19, 2022, the law came into force. However, this law was developed without taking into account the challenges of a full-scale invasion, therefore, not all the services it provides for are currently working correctly or have been implemented at all. We are currently preparing an analytical monitoring report on the effectiveness of the law’s implementation, which will be presented in March. We will use it to call on the Parliament and the Government to take concrete actions.

In the fall of 2022, the Association began documenting war crimes and crimes against humanity in the occupied districts of Zaporizhzhia region. Within the framework of the documentation, we pass the collected information to the Prosecutor General’s Office, the State Bureau of Investigation, the Security Service of Ukraine and the National Police.

Big russian business also tolerates violations of human rights in the occupied territories. For example, “Rosatom”. The occupying forces are conducting a systematic campaign of abductions and torture of ZNPP employees facilitated by this russian state corporation. One of the main tasks of our organization in the future is to advocate for excluding “Rosatom” from the UN Global Compact and imposing economic restrictions on it.

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The three main lessons of this war for me are:‍

• Russia has not changed and will never change its imperial ambitions to completely seize and enslave Ukraine.
• The front line in Ukraine is the actual border between good and evil, between the future and the Middle Ages. Indifference to our own culture and language preserves the kinship with Russia and passes this war on to the next generations of Ukrainians.
• The Armed Forces of Ukraine are the only entity we can trust and support the most in this time of existential war.

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How do you see the problem of reintegration and restoration of the temporarily occupied territories, in particular Crimea, from the perspective of your organization’s sphere of activity?

The lives and health of people currently detained in prisons in Crimea and in the basements of the newly occupied territories of mainland Ukraine are important to us. The small number of civilians who have returned home through exchanges or political prisoners who have been released due to the expiration of their sentences receive no systemic psychological, rehabilitation, or medical assistance from the state. Ukraine is currently not ready for the upcoming large-scale return of those who survived captivity. Being able to organize comprehensive support for those released is still an unresolved task by the state.

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The priority for Ukrainians in the coming year is to preserve themselves on their native land and pass it on to the next generations of Ukrainians.