Life Under Occupation, War's Toll, and Chernobyl's Legacy

Life and Conditions in Russian-Occupied Ukrainian Territories

General Conditions

Ukrainians who have fled Russian-occupied areas of eastern Ukraine have described challenging living conditions. Inna Vnukova, who now lives in Estonia, reported hiding in a basement for days in Kudriashivka following the February 2022 invasion, with soldiers present in the streets and constant shelling. Her husband, Oleksii Vnukov, a civil servant, also faced threats before escaping.

Four years after the invasion, areas including Mariupol and Kudriashivka continue to experience difficulties with housing, water, power, heat, and healthcare.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has publicly acknowledged these as "pressing, urgent problems."

Citizenship and Russification

Russian authorities have enforced Russian citizenship, language, and culture in the annexed regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia. By spring 2025, approximately 3.5 million people in these regions had received Russian passports. Residents reported that holding a Russian passport is necessary to access essential services such as healthcare.

In Mariupol, changes include renaming streets, implementing Moscow-approved school curricula, and using Russian phone and TV networks. New apartment blocks have been constructed, but are reportedly sold to newcomers from Russia rather than former residents. By mid-2025, at least 12,191 apartments in Mariupol had been added to a list of "ownerless" flats for expropriation. Moscow offers benefits including salary supplements to Russian citizens who relocate to these regions.

Human Rights and Detention

Human rights groups have reported that residents in occupied regions live in fear of being accused of sympathizing with Ukraine. Mykhailo Savva of the Center for Civil Liberties in Ukraine stated that the Russian military maintains "systemic and total control" and continues to identify and detain individuals deemed disloyal. Practices described include document checks, mass searches, and denunciations.

Human rights organizations have indicated that Russian authorities utilized "filtration camps" to identify individuals considered disloyal, including government workers, those who aided the Ukrainian army, military relatives, journalists, teachers, scientists, and politicians. Stanislav Shkuta, who lived in occupied Nova Kakhovka, recounted narrowly avoiding arrest and witnessing strip searches for tattoos on a bus.

Oleksandra Matviichuk, head of the Center for Civil Liberties, reported that Russia has established a "vast network of secret and official detention centers" where thousands of Ukrainian civilians are held without charge.

Ukrainian Human Rights Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets estimated at least 16,000 civilians have been illegally detained.

A United Nations report from summer 2024 detailed accounts from 57 civilians detained in occupied regions. According to the report, 52 of those individuals reported experiencing severe beatings, electric shocks, sexual violence, degradation, and threats. The case of Ukrainian journalist Victoria Roshchyna, who disappeared in 2023 and whose body reportedly showed signs of torture upon its return in 2025, was cited.

Infrastructure and Healthcare Challenges

Many occupied cities face issues with heat, electricity, and water supplies. In Sievierodonetsk, one ambulance crew serves the remaining 45,000 residents, with doctors rotating in from Russia. In Alchevsk, over half of homes lacked heat for two months due to poor municipal heating networks. Oleg Tsaryov, a pro-Moscow politician, criticized authorities for repeating past infrastructure failures.

In the Donetsk region, residents experience constant water shortages, with trucks delivering water that freezes in winter. Residents have appealed to Putin regarding a "humanitarian and environmental catastrophe." Putin acknowledged these issues and stated that a "large-scale socioeconomic development program" has been launched for the regions.

Personal Accounts of War's Impact on Ukrainians

Ukrainian civilians and soldiers have shared accounts of the war's impact over four years. The following are factual summaries of individual experiences:

• Tetiana Khimion, 47: A former ballroom dance teacher, now serves as a sniper in the Ukrainian army. She joined after her husband enlisted. She is a mother of two grown sons.

• Oksana Osypenko, 43: A secondary schoolteacher. Her husband, Oleksandr, a welder, was killed in a Russian airstrike in Chernihiv on March 3, 2022, while serving with territorial defense. She learned of his death more than two weeks later.

"I learned of his death more than two weeks later."

• Liliia, 30: A dancer and theater performer. Her boyfriend Bohdan, a volunteer with the Azov Brigade in 2015, was among the first to respond to the 2022 invasion and was subsequently captured. By the end of 2024, a Russian court sentenced him to 18 years in prison. She attends rallies in Kyiv to support prisoners of war.

• Ruslan Knysh, 20: A war veteran. He joined the Ukrainian army in February 2024 at age 18. In October 2024, he was wounded in the Kharkiv region during a drone attack, resulting in the loss of both arms and legs. He is undergoing rehabilitation and planning for prostheses in the United States.

• Yaroslav Nehoda, 40: On October 22, 2024, a Russian Shahed drone struck a house in Pohreby, Kyiv region, that was built by his grandfather. The strike killed his wife, 6-month-old daughter, and niece. Nehoda was in Kyiv that night.

• Ivan Khmelnytskyi, 25: Previously worked in a call center. He joined the State Emergency Service months after the February 2022 invasion. Now a sergeant in an emergency rescue unit, he primarily responds to missile and drone strikes.

• Liudmyla Shytik, 77, and Viktor Shytik, 78: Built their lives in Vuhledar, Donetsk region. On February 24, 2022, shelling began near their home. They sheltered in their basement for nearly a month before evacuating. They have moved nine times since. An apartment in Kyiv they occupied was damaged by a missile strike in October 2022, injuring them and their daughter. They currently reside in social housing near Kyiv.

40th Anniversary of the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster

Event Overview

On April 21, 2026, a group of workers known as "liquidators" who participated in the cleanup of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster visited the Chernobyl exclusion zone ahead of the 40th anniversary of the accident. The workers, aged 60 to 72, came from Ukraine's Poltava region for a one-day excursion.

Background

After the April 26, 1986 explosion and fire at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, approximately 600,000 people were mobilized from across the Soviet Union to contain and clean up the radioactive contamination. Over four years, tasks included dropping sand on the exposed reactor core, washing radioactive dust from buildings, burying contaminated equipment, clearing forests, and culling animals.

The 40th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, noted as the worst nuclear accident in history, continues to affect the health and memory of the liquidators.

Worker Accounts

• Anatolii Prylipko (66): Drove a fire truck for one month starting nine days after the accident. He reported a health crisis in 1990 and stated the landscape had changed significantly since his deployment.
• Anatolii Krutik (63): Served in an army battalion fencing off contaminated territory. He stated workers had little knowledge of the risks and few safety precautions were taken.
• Volodymyr Vechirko (62): Helped remove topsoil and clean buildings in summer 1986. He attributed chronic health issues to his work.
• Oleksii Harbuz (72): Served as a medical officer from May to September 1986.
• Mykola Chudak (66): Worked as a firefighter within 10 km of the plant from November 1986.
• Oleksii Lebedynets (65): Served in the military from 1986 to 1991 building fences in contaminated areas. He reported lasting health effects.
• Stanislav Tolumnyi (65): Worked on decontamination in Pripyat from 1987 to 1988.
• Serhii Buriak (60): Served in a special unit patrolling Pripyat in 1988.
• Anatolii Taranenko (62): Worked as a security officer in 1989.
• Viktor Hluhovtsov (66): Was sent to fence off areas in Ukraine and Belarus.

Significance

The site of the worst nuclear accident in history remains restricted due to contamination. The liquidators' visit ahead of the anniversary underscores the lasting human and environmental cost of the disaster, four decades later.