On June 17, the Mission together with the NGO “Media Initiative for Human Rights”, held an event “Letters from Captivity: The Stories of Civilian Women in the Occupied Territories and in Russian Detention”. The event focused on the situation with women’s rights in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, as well as on women, unlawfully detained by Russia. 

During the event, letters by Ukrainian civilian women in captivity were read aloud. In particular, Tetiana Sybiha, spouse of Ukraine’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Head and co-founder of the Ukrainian Diplomats’ Spouses Association, read a letter by Fevziie Osmanova; Natalka Cmoc, Canadian Ambassador to Ukraine, read a letter by Kateryna Korovina; Inga Stanytė-Toločkienė, Lithuanian Ambassador to Ukraine, read a letter by Larysa Machilska; Inês Cabral, Political Officer at the European Union Delegation to Ukraine, read a letter by Iryna Danylovych; Mary K. Leonard, President of the International Women’s Club of Kyiv, read a letter by Halyna Dovhopola.

Each of the women, whose letters were read aloud, has a unique story, but all of them are behind the Russian bars on politically motivated and fabricated charges. 

Halyna Dovhopola is a 71-year-old lady, who was one of the first women accused of politically motivated “high treason” charges. She was detained in 2019, accused of collaborating with Ukrainian intelligence, and sentenced to 12 years in prison. Kateryna Korovina and Iryna Danylovych were abducted by the occupiers in broad daylight, their whereabouts were concealed, and later they were sentenced on trumped-up charges to 10 and 7 years respectively. 

“My dearest, most beautiful and beloved mother!… We walked out [of the occupation court], and I heard shouting; I turned my head and saw so many people in that crowd. I immediately saw you and heard only you. We girls heard you all. But of course, we were not allowed to answer,” – from the letter by Fevziie Osmanova to her mother.

Fevziie Osmanova, a 22-year-old woman, was detained by the occupiers along with three other Crimean Tatar women — Esma Nimetulaieva, Nasiba Saidova, and Elviza Aliieva — on October 15, 2025. Since then, they have been held in custody and accused of participating in the organization Hizb ut-Tahrir, which Russia considers as “terrorist” and banned in 2003, and after the occupation of Ukrainian territories, illegally extended its legislation to those territories. The next hearing in their case will take place on September 14, 2026. Until then, they will remain in custody. They face up to 20 years in prison. 

The story of Fevziie Osmanova is just one of many that have come under the spotlight of human rights defenders and diplomats today.

The reading of the letters was followed by a panel discussion on supporting women from the temporarily occupied territories. The panelists were: Sabine Fraser Günes, UN Women Representative in Ukraine, Alina Grigoras, Head of Occupied Territory Unit at the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine; Tetiana Katrychenko, Head of the NGO Media Initiative for Human Rights; and Halyna Hlobchasta, Head of village in the Krasnorichenska territorial community in the Luhansk Oblast, former hostage by Russian military forces. The discussion was moderated by Nelia Hrynyshyn, Head of the Crimea Platform Department. 

The event was attended by diplomats accredited in Ukraine, human rights defenders, and journalists.

“The 193 women we were talking about today are only those whom our organization has documented and whose places of detention are known. I remember we supported Yana Suvorova, a young blogger from Melitopol who was detained in 2023. She is currently imprisoned in Rostov-on-Don. A Russian court sentenced her to 14 years,” said Tetiana Katrychenko, Head of the Media Initiative for Human Rights.

Halyna Hlobchasta, who lived in the village of Makiivka in the Luhansk region, worked as a math teacher for 34 years and later served as a local council member and village head, recounted her experience of being held captive by the Russian military during the occupation. Russian soldiers interrogated her along with her neighbors, threatening and beating her for her pro-Ukrainian stance and for hiding flags in her yard. Despite the torture by the occupiers, she eventually managed to escape. 

“The Luhansk region is Ukraine; it has never been Russian, and we didn’t want the Russians. I am 62 years old, and I have been speaking Ukrainian my entire life,” emphasized Halyna Hlobchasta. 

Such events are important because they bring the names and stories of unlawfully detained women back into the public sphere, prevent their cases from being forgotten, and remind the international community of Russia’s human rights violations in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.

The event was organized by the Mission of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea / Office of the Crimea Platform in collaboration with the NGO Media Initiative for Human Rights. We also extend our gratitude to UN Women in Ukraine for their assistance in organizing the event.