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 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
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.
Keeping the memory alive: Interview with our president Lars Bünger
In an in-depth interview with The Philanthropist, our founding member and president Lars Bünger talks about the situation of political prisoners in Belarus, the work of Libereco, and why every letter counts.
Lars Bünger
President
Imprisoned and ill – my life in prison
Belarusian journalist Kseniya Lutskina was arrested in 2020 after joining the protests against election fraud and repression. She was later sentenced to eight years in prison for helping to establish independent media. In her blog, she writes about the bad medical situation in pre-trial detention.
Kseniya Lutskina
Journalist, former political prisoner
#WeStandBYyou: Five years of European solidarity with political prisoners in Belarus
2025 marks the 5th anniversary of our international campaign for political prisoners in Belarus. Over the past years, #WeStandBYyou has developed from an emergency solidarity initiative into an international advocacy movement.
Emma Simpson
Member