Two days ago, I met with the Pope and in this thread I'll tell you more about this meeting I presented him with a copy of Stanislav Aseyev's book, 'The Torture Camp on Paradise Street.' Stanislav spent two years in the secret prison 'Isolation' in Donetsk, where people were beaten and tortured every day.

I would recommend Western politicians to watch Putin's address to the Federal Assembly. It becomes clear who Russia is fighting against and what the next steps will be. 1/12 Putin defines Russia as "a pillar of traditional values on which human civilization is built." 2/12

I often recollect the large-scale rally that took place on February 26, 2014, at the walls of the Verkhovna Rada of Crimea. It was a bright day of unity, a day of resistance to the occupation, a day when everyone went home with relief because it seemed that we had defended Crimea On March 17, 2014, the Russian military held the so-called "referendum." After that, disappearances and arrests of people, discrimination against Crimean Tatars, and persecution of everything Ukrainian became more common.

For three days, Russia has been holding a sham election for which no opposition candidate has been registered. Putin has ruled Russia for 26 years and plans to die in this position. This staged performance has nothing to do with the right to vote. 1/5 Therefore, the largest turnout in March was not at the polling station but at the grave of the opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who was killed by Putin. 2/5

I know a lot of fantastic women in different fields of society. Women make government decisions, fight in the Armed Forces, coordinate volunteer initiatives, and document war crimes. Women are at the forefront of our fight for freedom. It is because courage has no gender. ⅕ This is not the war between two countries. This is the war between two systems – authoritarianism and democracy. This difference is clearly visible also through a gender perspective. ⅖

My colleague, the head of the human rights center "Memorial," 70-year-old Oleg Orlov, has just been sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in a Russian prison for his human rights activities. 1/4 Throughout these 10 years of war, we worked side by side with Memorial to defend unlawfully detained citizens of Ukraine during Russian aggression. There's much I cannot say right now, but I express gratitude and admiration for Oleg Orlov's courage. 2/4

Today is the anniversary of the full-scale invasion, and I would like to tell you the following. Alone we have been repelling a multimillion nuclear-weapon state for ten years already. Russia has been destroying our cities, burning our grain, killing our families. We were waiting for modern tanks from the allies throughout 2022, and yet, we have not received modern aircraft from them. Those who said they would be with us as long as it took are now busy with the elections. Nevertheless, we do not have the luxury of giving way to despondency

On the morning of Feb 20, 2014, we started receiving plenty of calls to the Euromaidan SOS hotlines. People called to say that peaceful demonstrators were being shot at the Maidan. Our volunteers went to morgues, churches, hospitals to document information about killed & wounded We were given photos of the victims' bodies, their documents, and an inventory of their personal belongings. We rushed because we did not know how much time we had at our disposal to identify all those killed by the Yanukovych’s regime.

Thai authorities arrested Russian musical band “Bi-2” on the request of Moscow. The musicians may be expelled to Russia. They takes a strong anti-war stance and could face criminal charges there. 1/7 On 24 January 2024 the band performed a concert in Phuket, Thailand. Immediately afterwards they were arrested by the immigration police for performing without work visas. They were initially fined, but then nevertheless detained in Bangkok. 2/7

I was in a taxi on my way to the Ukrainska Pravda Award when a car crashed into ours. I was jolted a great deal, and while I was trying to figure out if my head, arms, and legs were intact, I was thinking – just not today, I have to present an award to a special person. 1/8 Olena Tolkachova, the head of Azov’s patronage service, received the UP award in the "Civic Stance" nomination. She has been at war since 2014 and managed to build an institution that provides full medical support to wounded soldiers and takes care of the families of the fallen.

10 years ago, we created Euromaidan SOS. A few hours after the students had been dispersed in Maidan, we published the first post. It looked like this, "If you were beaten, you lost contact with your relatives, or they were arrested – text us, we can provide free legal aid.” 1/7 At that time, there were lawyers among us, but there was no advocate. So, the second post was an appeal to the lawyers who were willing to help for free. And it worked. We launched hotlines to help those who were beaten on the night of November 30, 2013. 2/7

#EmptyChairWeek is coming to an end, and during this week we were commemorating the people of culture who lost their lives due to Russian aggression. I would like to tell the story of 46-year-old musician Yurii Kerpatenko, who was the conductor of the Kherson Philharmonic. 1/6 Yurii loved music and his native Kherson. He spoke Russian in his everyday life, he was educated with Russian music and Russian culture, but could clearly distinguish between art history and occupation tools. 2/6

Today is my birthday. I would like to share a lesson that is important to me. Maybe it will help someone to get through difficult trials. 1/11 The war started for me in February 2014. We at Euromaidan SOS did not have time to mourn the slain –the Heavenly Hundred – and to reflect on three months of working 24/7, as we were already directing the first mobile groups to Crimea, and then to Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts. 2/11

On the night of July 28-29, 2022, a powerful explosion took on the territory of the former penal colony in the occupied Olenivka. Ukrainian prisoners of war were held there in a separate barrack. 1/9 A day before the explosion, the russians took roghly 200 soldiers of the Azov Regiment and moved them there. As a result of the explosion, about 50 people died, and another 70 were injured. 2/9

Russia is forcibly holding at least 500 Ukrainian doctors. There are both civilians and military medics among them. 1/5 The occupiers are committing war crimes against medical personnel. Doctors are intended to save lives and relieve suffering but they are punished for performing their professional duty till the end. 2/5

On June 14, the Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don began hearing the case of 22 Ukrainian defenders from the "Azov" brigade. Eight women are among them. This process violates the norms of international humanitarian law. 1/5 Accusing the Ukrainian military of "participation in a terrorist organization" and "actions aimed at seizing power," the Russian authorities violated the privilege of combatant. 2/5

On Europe Day, I had the opportunity to address Europe with a speech. This is an annual event at the memorial to the victims of the Holocaust in Vienna on the very day of the Schuman Declaration, which initiated the European Union. It was challenging for me. I have never considered myself a public intellectual or a social philosopher. My prism is the human dimension of this war. We protect people who have suffered from abduction, illegal detention, torture, rape and loss of their nearest and dearest.

At the 2023 TIME100 Gala, I was Cinderella. In the literal sense:) The airline lost my luggage and I ended up in New York having absolutely nothing. So, my fairy godmother, Julia Haart, dressed me. 1/5 Julia Haart is, without exaggeration, an incredible woman. At the age of 42, she sold her insurance to get some money and ran away from an orthodox Jewish family where women were not even allowed to read. She wanted her daughters to get an education and have a choice. 2/5

I often being asked about role of Ukrainian women during the war. Women fight in Ukrainian armed forces, women take important political decisions, women coordinate civil initiatives, women document war crimes. A woman can perform any role she chooses.
1/3 In autocracies a woman performs only assigned for her roles in the family and society. An authoritarian regime is based on these cultural attitudes. Established relationships between people reflect this society's idea of what political power can be. 2/3

In candlelight, I was composing this speech in my kitchen during the electricity disconnection. I was composing it in intervals between my working meetings. On the train, for long while I was meticulously considering what to mention in this speech. 1/6 My intention was to make my each uttered in this hall word be heard.
Eventually, people listened to and heard us. 2/6

Those who do not know their history are forced to repeat it. Today is the Memorial Day of the Holodomor victims. This is an artificial famine organized by soviet power in Ukraine in 1932-1933. They took away grain and everything that could be eaten from the people’s homes 1/3 Millions of people died in terrible agony. There are also ancestors in my family who didn’t survive the famine. Today, Russia is trying to erase the memory of this crime. Russia demolished the memorial to the victims of the famine in occupied Mariupol. But the memory lives on 2/3