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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
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Oleksandr Mykhed

Russia is taking my friends one by one – and now I struggle even to write about them

The aftermath of a Russian missile strike on the Holy Transfiguration cathedral in Odesa, Ukraine, 23 July 2023
The aftermath of a Russian missile strike on the Holy Transfiguration cathedral in Odesa, Ukraine, 23 July 2023. Photograph: Scott Peterson/Getty Images

Day 563 of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Ninth year of the war. Kyiv is saying goodbye to Ihor Kozlovsky, philosopher, religious scholar and lecturer. A Teacher. A man whose reputation was crystal clear.

In the winter of 2016, 62-year-old Kozlovsky was seized in his apartment in Donetsk by terrorists of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic. He was accused of being pro-Ukrainian and of having educated many students who took a pro-Ukrainian patriotic stance when Russia began its aggression against Ukraine. Kozlovsky found himself in Russian captivity, which did not comply with any norms of international humanitarian law: humiliation, beatings, limbs broken while handcuffed, electric shocks, strangulation, hangings.

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