Easter Under Fire: East Publishes Testimonies of russian War Crimes

Easter is the brightest and most joyful holiday for Christians all over Ukraine. And yet today, as we wrote in an earlier article, it is overshadowed by profound grief. russia’s full-scale invasion is still ongoing, and the number of war crimes committed by russian forces keeps growing day by day.

To mark Easter, the East SOS team has prepared a series of testimonies from people who lived through occupation and witnessed war crimes committed by the russian army.

These stories describe the shelling of civilian towns and villages, the use of civilians as human shields, looting and speculation on basic needs, the militarization of religious life and pressure on civilians, as well as the systematic deprivation of human dignity even on the holiest of days.

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the East SOS team has conducted over 1,235 interviews and documented 2,176 possible war crimes. The names of the respondents have been changed for security reasons, as all of them have fled the temporarily occupied territories.

No matter the circumstances, russian military forces do not cease their attacks on Ukrainian cities and civilian infrastructure. Even during the Easter holidays, towns and villages in Donetsk Oblast faced horrific artillery fire.

“Then came the Annunciation, and it was literally hell on earth – what was happening was terrifying. After that, we dreaded Easter in fear, because we knew it would be the same again. On April 24, 2022, a terrifying cannonade began at around 4 a.m. they shelled from everything they could. A tank drove down the street, repeatedly stopping in front of our house and to shell Vuhledar. An artillery system was stationed right behind our house. They [the russian army] didn’t care where they shot from, using our buildings and our people as cover. At that point, there were still many people in the village, not everyone could leave, even with their own transportation. There were many children, and tanks were everywhere, absolutely everywhere,” OIha recalls.

In April 2022, the occupation authorities in Mariupol speculated on the prices of food and basic necessities. Even more cynically, they sold their “Easter kulichi” at inflated prices.

“Of course, food prices were outrageous. Next to the destroyed shopping center, where the occupation authorities were located at the time, huge trucks arrived loaded with food and other supplies people desperately needed. Naturally, there was pushing, chaos, enormous lines. Everything was very expensive, but they even brought in Easter cakes – russian kulichi,” says Viktoriia.

In the spring of 2022, attending church on Easter in occupied Kherson Oblast meant encountering columns of russian military vehicles driving past the parishioners, with weapons aimed at them.

“I remember walking out of church on Easter. We had our Easter cakes blessed in small groups, everyone was not allowed to come at once. Everyone was crying because they had taken away our beloved holiday – Easter. On this day, we used to gather in church, walking along beautiful candle-lit paths, and people stood in reverence, waiting for dawn and the special sun – bright and beautiful. But that was no longer possible. Now, we could only go to church during the day because the curfew lasted until 7 a.m. We could only go after 7 a.m. to bless our Easter cakes. And when we left the church, columns of russian military vehicles were driving straight toward us. And they were all armed, with guns aimed at us, machine guns ready from the BMP hatches,” said Oleksandra.

Holidays are especially important for children. That’s why, every year, the teachers in Kherson Oblast tried to bring all their students together for Easter, both those who had left and those who had been forced to stay in the temporarily occupied territories. The students prepared greetings for one another and for their teachers.

“Recently, for Easter, my sister and her children, who are scattered around the world and in the occupied territories, participated in preparing for the holiday and sending greetings to their parents and teachers. And when the video was finished, we sat down to watch it, and I burst into tears,” said Vira.

Perhaps the heaviest burden now falls on those who were forced to leave their homes – or lost them entirely. That is why Easter matters deeply to adults as well. Each year, a social services center in Kyiv Oblast tries to give Ukrainians hope and at least a little joy.

“There’s always something going on here. I believe that different celebrations can be a form of psychological support for displaced people. Whenever there’s a holiday, we prepare little gifts for everyone. For Easter, we ordered a traditional Easter bread for each person, and I dyed eggs myself. The girls packed sweets, and we handed everything out. People were so happy, smiling all around, and they thanked us so much,” Alina recalls.

For Ukrainian soldiers, Easter is a reminder of the day when the whole family gathers together. That is why soldiers who manage to come home on leave for the holiday try to send a piece of home back to their brothers- and sisters-in-arms at the front:

“My daughter and her husband both serve in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The very first thing they did when they came home on leave was pick out twelve Easter breads, some with icing, some without. They took them to Nova Poshta to send to their fellow soldiers. When military personnel come home on leave, they want to share a piece of that family joy with their brothers-in-arms. They had jokingly given them an order: “Send us homemade Easter bread.” And they did it. It meant so much to me that they are such warm-hearted people,” Olha says.

The documentation of war crimes by the East SOS team is carried out as part of the project Support for War-Affected Vulnerable Populations and Residents of Remote Areas of Ukraine, funded by the European Union.