What I realized about life under Russian occupation as a war crimes researcher (opens in new tab)

Some names have been changed to protect the identities of those featured in the story. After over two years of full-time reporting on the war in my country, I spent several months with the Reckoning Project, recording testimonies of alleged war crimes. I focused on forced displacement, deportation, and daily life under occupation, speaking with people who lived under Russian rule — from Crimea's annexation in 2014 to the occupation of parts of Kherson and Kharkiv oblasts in 2022. Many lost lo