The Vabamu Museum of Occupation and Freedom in Tallinn opened an exhibition on the fate of Ukrainians in Russian captivity.
The photographs presented at the exhibition tell the stories of Ukrainian soldiers who were captured and tortured, demonstrating the brutality of war and the incredible courage of those who managed to survive. These images are horrific testimonies to the gross human rights violations and incredible brutality of the Russian regime, which were made possible because the international community, including the UN, the Red Cross and other international organizations, ignored the problem for so long.
The exhibition is organized by Reforum Space Tallinn in partnership with the Anti-War Committee of Russia, Activatica media project and with the support of Vabamu Museum. Photos provided by the POW exchange coordination center in Kyiv.
The event was opened by Erika Ellamaa-Ots from the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, followed by the Ambassador of Ukraine to Estonia Maxim Kononenko, who thanked the organizers for drawing attention to the topic of Ukrainian prisoners. Natalia Kovyliaeva from Reforum Space and Russians Against War, Anastasia Shevchenko from the Anti-War Committee, and Evgenia Chirikova, founder of Activatica.org, spoke about how important it is that politicians do not forget about the fate of Ukrainian prisoners – especially now that attention is focused on politicians’ talk of a possible ceasefire.
The story of Ukrainian refugee Natalia Logozinskaya, who became a refugee twice: the first time – during the “hybrid war” in Donbass in 2014, and the second time – because of the destruction of Mariupol by Russian troops in 2022, made a particularly strong impression.
After the opening of the exhibition, visitors went to the museum’s movie hall, which was almost full. Two movies were shown. The first was Prisoners by the Activatica.org team about civilian Ukrainian prisoners captured by Russian security forces in the occupied territories. The second movie was Voice From Captivity. Ukrainians in Russian Prisons – about how Ukrainian prisoners of war are held in Russian prisons. This film by the Dossier Center presents real recordings of calls of those who found themselves in captivity.
After the movie screening, some of the attendees stayed late to write letters to Ukrainians in Russian prisons.
For a report on the exhibition, see here.
