Blog
Return and Arrival
The teenagers’ pimped-up motorcycle roaring through the streets of Berlin could be a Shahed drone. The noises coming from the construction site resemble an explosion. Returning from Ukraine to Germany does not merely come with logistical baggage.
Ira Ganzhorn
Humanitarian Aid Officer
What is independence? Ukraine’s long fight for autonomy.
From the Ukrainian People’s Republic in 1917 to Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine’s struggle for independence has been shaped by repression, resistance and the defence of its right to self-determination. Writing from a Scottish perspective, this blog explores how Ukraine’s history has shaped a different understanding of what independence means to me and why Ukrainians continue to defend it today.
Grace Maclean
Intern
A little peace of mind
Hannah tells the story of two escapes, a dilapidated house in Saksahan, and the search for a place safe from shelling. When we visit her to talk about the new windows in her house, it quickly becomes clear how much loss, fear, and exhaustion lie behind this new home. What new windows can mean for a family that has already had to leave everything behind twice.
Ira Ganzhorn
Humanitarian Aid Officer
A normal workday – but make it Ukrainian
What does everyday life in Ukraine mean when meeting friends, going to cafés and working ordinary days exist alongside air raid alerts, explosions and nights spent in the hallway? In Dnipro, an apparently normal Sunday in a café ends with Shahed drones, ballistic missiles and burning residential buildings.
Ira Ganzhorn
Humanitarian Aid Officer
Reading Belarus
What would be the first thing that would come to mind thinking of “Belarus”? Would it be potatoes, repression and dictatorship? If so, it’s hardly surprising, for if news makes it out of the country, it’s mostly bad. But what if I told you that there’s a lot more to discover about the country and its people?
Thomas Brennecke
LIBERECO Volunteer
30 Years of Viasna – 40 Years Since Chernobyl: What a Nuclear Disaster Has to Do with Human Rights
When it comes to human rights work in Belarus, the Human Rights Centre Viasna is an indispensable part of the landscape. As the 40th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster approaches, Viasna is celebrating its own 30th anniversary. This is no mere coincidence...
Florian Wiedemann
Program Manager Belarus
What Russian occupation really means for Ukrainians
When politicians discuss occupied territories during peace negotiations, they speak as if these are empty spaces. But millions of Ukrainians live there. These people are caught in a gray zone with no tools to defend their rights, freedom, property, lives, children, or loved ones.
Oleksandra Matviichuk
Ukrainian human rights lawyer and the head of the Center for Civil Liberties.
How do you survive winter in Kharkiv?
I am sitting in the passenger seat next to my friend Ivanka. Suddenly she says: “Don’t put on your seatbelt.” I laugh. “Is that a new law in Kharkiv?” She answers seriously: “It depends what you’re more afraid of – a car accident or not being able to get out of the car quickly enough during a Russian drone strike.” We laugh. But we don’t buckle up.
Kseniia Levadna
Public Relations Officer
Belarus: the consequences of choosing freedom.
Thousands of people took to the streets in Belarus in 2020 to protest against the authoritarian rule of Alexander Lukashenko. They chose freedom. Today, half a decade later, many of them are paying a heavy price. In Belarus, waving a flag once can turn your whole life upside down.
Ken McBain
LIBERECO Representative in the UK
The light disappears, the life goes on.
Russia is systematically attacking Ukraine’s civilian energy infrastructure. Attacks on power plants and substations are causing massive electricity, heating and water outages and are deliberately targeting the civilian population. Around 60,000 households in Kyiv alone are without electricity, with outside temperatures at -15 degrees.
Kseniia Levadna
Public Relations Officer