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Ukraine Solidarity Group ✊ A Digest of News from Ukrainian Sources ⚔ 1-June-2026.

In this week’s bulletin

⬤ Ukraine’s military recruitment crisis.
⬤ China sends message.
⬤ Iron Man returns.
⬤ Kharkiv Hell’s Kitchen.
⬤ Occupied territories report. 
⬤ Russia indoctrinates children.
⬤ Russia tortures prisoners to death & commits other systematic torture.

News from the territories occupied by Russia

New Russian school textbook shows unoccupied Ukrainian territory as ‘Russia’ (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, May 29th)

Melitopol couple tortured in pre-trial detention (Mediazona, 29 May)

The Face of Resistance: Crimean Political Prisoner Volodymyr Maladyka (Crimea Platform, May 29th)

The health of Crimean prisoner Dmytro Shtyblikov has deteriorated sharply (Crimea Human Rights Group, 28 May)

Crimean Tatar political prisoner illegally returned to Russian captivity and denied treatment for cancer (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, May 28th)

Savagely tortured, then sentenced by the Russians to 13 years for letters to her Ukrainian defender son (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, May 27th)

Health of woman, 68, imprisoned by Russia, worsens (Ukrainska Pravda, May 26th)

“In the ‘DPR’ torture chambers, they used electric shocks and filed teeth” (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, May 26th)

Disinformation as a weapon against cultural rights (Crimea Human Rights Group, 26 May)

Weekly update on the situation in occupied Crimea (Crimea Platform, May 26th)

Russia brings new ‘treason’ charges against young Crimean Tatar political prisoner after months of torture (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, May 26th)

Russia sentences Ukrainian military pensioner to 18 years after itself admitting there were no grounds to imprison him (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, May 25th)

Massive sentences against Yalta couple two years after Krystyna Markova was abducted by the FSB and vanished (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, May 25th)

April 2026 report: Life Under Occupation (AlterPravo, 12 May)

News from the front

Russia spends a year and hundreds of lives to capture a Ukrainian village. And fails (Meduza, 29 May)

“No gas, no electricity, no heat. They won’t survive another winter”: Ukraine set to evacuate residents of Russian-occupied Oleshky (The Insider, May 27th)

Ukraine’s Achilles’ heel: How Kyiv is overcoming its military recruitment crisis (The Insider, May 25th)

News from Ukraine

Military medic Oleksandr Krokhmaliuk tortured to death in Russian captivity (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, May 29th)

Forged from hell on earth: Hell’s kitchen in Kharkiv (Ukrainer, 28 May)

Russia hits Kyiv with hypersonic ballistic missile in ‘deranged’ attack (Guardian, May 24th)

Civil society on a dual front in Ukraine (International Viewpoint, May 23rd)

War-related news from Russia

Armenia: Moscow turns the screw on Yerevan (Mediazona, 29 May)

Mapping power: Russia’s “game of thrones” (iStories, 29 May)

Propaganda film teaches Ukrainian children to “love life in Russia” (Meduza, 29 May)

Dzerzhinsky statue: The Iron Man Returns (Riddle, 13 May 2026)

Analysis and comment

Andriy Melnik: a fascist’s state funeral in a non-fascist state (Europe Solidaire Sans Frontieres, 29 May)

Ukraine: Türk warns against dangerous escalation and urges return to negotiations (UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, May 28th)

Playing host to Putin and Trump, China sends a message (Europe Solidaire Sans Frontieres, 21 May)

Research of human rights abuses

Statement of the Human Rights Centre ZMINA on the development of the Action Plan for the implementation of the National Human Rights Strategy (Zmina, May 28th)

The Expert Opinion (Amicus Curiae) of the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group in Criminal Proceedings No. 42025000000001123 (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, May 26th)

International solidarity

Humanitarian aid report (Solidarity Collectives, 25 May)
  

🔴This bulletin is put together by labour movement activists in solidarity with Ukrainian resistance. More information at Ukraine Information Group.

We are also on twitter. Our aim is to circulate information in English that to the best of our knowledge is reliable. If you have something you think we should include, please send it to 2U022ukrainesolidarity@gmail.com.


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News From Ukraine 💣 Bulletin 198

Rarewitch 🤣 with brilliant satire on the pernicious pastords that Hate Theology churns out. 

Recommended by Kate Rice.

Eternal Damnation Of A Thoughtless Mind

Right Wing Watch 👀 Written by Kyle Mantyla.

Hank Kunneman is, in addition to being a far-right MAGA pastor, self-proclaimed "prophet," and unabashed conspiracy theorist, a Christian nationalist who believes that "the devil and his demons" are trying to cover up the fact that this nation was "dedicated" to Jesus Christ at its founding.

During a recent episode of the "Elijah Streams" program, host Steve Shultz claimed that "more and more people" are realizing that "we were founded as a Christian nation," even though there is also "this huge movement that says we were never a Christian nation, we weren't founded as that."

"I don't even listen to that stuff because there's documents in our Constitution, in our Declaration, in separate writings of our Founding Forefathers that purposefully put in there a dedication, an honor, an including of the God factor in the history of our country," Kunneman replied.

There is, of course, nothing in the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution that in any way dedicates this country to God; nor would any private writings of the Founding Fathers, should they even exist, override the Constitution regarding this issue.

"Look at what they did when Jesus' body was in the tomb," Kunneman continued. 

Continue @ RWW.

Hank Kunneman Says 'The Devil And His Demons' Do Not Want You To Know America Is Christian Nation

Lynx By Ten To The Power Of One Thousand Nine Hundred And Ninety Five

 

Pastords @ 47

 

A Morning Thought @ 3169

Christy Walsh ✍ Four legacy mechanisms:

  • Closed Material Procedures (CMPs),
  • the ‘secret Legacy Act working group’
  • the Victims’ Payments Board
  • the ‘absurd lawful force’ exemption
These are framed in neutral legal language. However, the mask slips when you look at who is harmed, who is targeted and who is protected.

All four operate in areas where nationalist victims and Families are overwhelmingly represented.

All four restrict accountability for State conduct.

All four protect and reduce accountability of the security forces.

All four systematically block nationalist victims from truth, remedy, or justice.

The question is not whether this is the intention. The question is how long will it be allowed to continue?

CMPs in Collusion Cases

In civil proceedings where security forces are alleged to have colluded with loyalist murder gangs, CMPs are used to hide evidence of collusion. Only a judge and lawyers appointed by the State can see the secret evidence. One of the government appointed lawyers, called ‘special advocates’ will liaise with victims’ Families and their legal representatives - as a substitute for being excluded from access to the evidence and the courtroom.

On 25 November 2024, CMPs were used in a secret trial in the cases of Brian Frizzell, Katrina Rennie, Eileen Duffy, and Alan Lundy. On arrival, the Families and their lawyers were instructed to leave the secret hearing. The Families are seeking damages for alleged security force collusion in the murders of their relatives. The excluded lawyers representing the victims’ Families predict the outcome will affect “scores, if not hundreds”[1] of legacy cases involving collusion. Over 18 months later, judgment is still pending.

Section 6 of the Justice and Security Act 2013 is being used unlawfully against the Families. Unlawfully is not rhetorical but statutory interpretation. Section 6(11) “relevant civil proceedings means any proceedings (other than proceedings in a criminal cause or matter).” No Government Department; i.e. Department of Justice (DoJ) or Ministry of Defence; or State agencies - Prosecution or Police Services, could apply for CMPs in the mid-Ulster series of murder cases because they all involve ‘criminal cause’ allegations of collusion in murder. The judge improperly issued the CMPs on his own motion revealed at para.3 of his judgment.[2]

CMPs are not lawfully available in civil cases because they concern alleged collusion in murder, they have criminal-law issues at their core. A two part test establishes if a civil case involves criminal cause:

1) could the underlying civil proceedings afterwards place any person in jeopardy of criminal proceedings or accountability?

2) is an investigation and potential prosecution a possible and foreseeable outcome?

Even a civil finding of collusion could:

  • trigger disciplinary proceedings against security force members,
  • support a referral to the United Nations or European Court of Human Rights, or
  • inform a future application to quash the Legacy Act as incompatible with Article 2 ECHR (right to life).

Note: The Legacy Act’s prohibition on prosecutions is under challenge as a violation of Article 2 ECHR (the State’s duty to investigate suspicious deaths). So CMPs can still not be lawfully issued based on a statute that may be struck down.

Before the Frizzell and Lundy trials took place on 25 November 2024, the judge ruled out any possibility of any respondent being held criminally liable for collusion in the murders - declared a mistrial: the outcome was effectively decided before the trial. The 18-month pending judgment is predicted to affect “scores, if not hundreds of cases” - that means evidence of collusion could be kept hidden from scores or hundreds of other murder cases.

The Secret Legacy Act Working Group: The Culprits Write the Law

In 2020, a secret Northern Ireland Office working group[3] met to shape the legacy framework. Documents were marked “Official Secret” and “not for circulation to membership.”

Who was in the room

  • George Hamilton: former Detective Chief Inspector and Detective Superintendent of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC).
  • Madeleine Alessandri: UK Deputy National Security Advisor.
  • Chloe Squire: Home Office Director of National Security.
  • And other national security officials drawn from institutions alleged to have colluded with loyalist murder gangs.

Victims’ Families and NGOs were excluded. The media was excluded. The public was excluded.

What they produced

Their recommendations shaped the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023. The Act closed over 1,100 cases brought by bereaved Families. Minutes show a plan to close cases where “securing a criminal justice outcome isn’t possible” and move Families to “information recovery”. not investigation, not accountability.

The law was written by the very people who may have helped with or participated in alleged collusion. At minimum, security forces protected security forces. Nationalist Families seeking truth about collusion were offered a process designed to divert them and shut down access to accountability.

The Victims’ Payments Board: Structurally a Front for the State

The Victims’ Payments Board (VPB) is presented as an independent body. That is a lie masquerading as an impartial body.


  • The DoJ controls applications, staffing, investigations, and all administration and infrastructure of the VPB.
  • Lawyers on VPB investigative panels deciding cases of security force abuse are government lawyers and/or prosecutors and are not impartial decision-makers.
  • The State has positioned its own lawyers to sit as adjudicators deciding whether nationalist victims of conflict-related injuries caused by the security forces qualify for payments.
  • The VPB (part-time) lawyers are quasi-anonymous: identified only by a first initial and surname, with no Mr/Ms titles and no indication of their true status as (full-time) Crown prosecutors or government lawyers in the Departmental Solicitors Office. This deprives applicants of the ability to raise conflict-of-interest challenges.
  • The VPB is a DoJ tribunal

The VPB is not independent. It is a rigged adjudicative arm of the DoJ.

State Violence Is Exempt From the Victims’ Pension Scheme

On 19 May 2026, the Court ruled anyone accidentally injured by the security forces was not injured in “a “Troubles-related incident” for the purposes of the scheme”.

Victims of security force violence are only victims if they can prove the security forces were acting unlawfully.

The Court laid it out in paragraph 36 of its judgment:

“A contrary interpretation would lead to the absurd consequence that any person injured as a result of the use of lawful force or even the accidental use of force during the period of the Troubles could potentially be eligible for a victims’ payment.” [4]

What is absurd

  • A civilian accidentally shot by a soldier during crossfire → not a “Troubles-related incident”.
  • A bystander struck by a plastic bullet during a lawful public order operation → not a “Troubles-related incident”.
  • Psychological disablement caused by the security forces → not a “Troubles-related incident”.

Security forces have broad legal powers. Most of their actions can be called ‘lawful’. The ‘unlawful force’ rule is an almost complete exemption for State violence. Nationalist victims have been disproportionately subjected to security force operations and systematically excluded

The Pattern Is Not A Coincidence; It Is Anti-Nationalist

Four mechanisms. Different institutions. Different decision-makers. Different legal texts.

Yet the same outcomes:

Nationalist Families seeking truth about security force involvement in alleged collusion in murder of their loved ones face the unlawful use of CMPs.
Bereaved Families seeking investigation face the security forces writing their own immunity.
Nationalist victims of injuries caused by the security forces are dismissed as “absurd” because security force accidents causing serious injuries are not “Troubles-related” incidents.
The Court’s “absurd” rule, anyone injured by lawful security force operations do not count as a “Troubles-related incident”.

The four mechanisms are tightly linked: CMPs hide evidence of collusion; the secret Legacy Act working group wrote immunity into law; the DoJ controls the VPB; the VPB embeds State lawyers as gatekeepers to protect against accountability; and the pension scheme ‘absurd’ exemption completes the circle by denying State violence causes Troubles‑related injuries. Each reinforces the others, and the common personnel (security veterans, prosecutors, government lawyers) suggests networked impunity rather than four isolated defects.

Nationalists are kept out of justice. This is not coincidence. It is not institutional culture. It is not groupthink. The Courts are instrumentally at the heart of it.

It is anti-nationalist justice, a system designed not to discover truth or provide remedy, but to protect the security forces and State institutions from accountability.

What You Can Do



1. Share this article.

2. Ask elected officials why CMPs are being unlawfully used in civil cases that may involve members of the security forces colluding in murder?

3. Demand the full publication of the secret Legacy Act working group minutes.

4. Demand the VPB be made independent from the DoJ.

5. Call for the courts to reverse its ‘absurd unlawful force’ requirement for Nationalist victims of injuries caused by the security forces in ‘Troubles-related incidents’.

References

[1] KRW Press Release.

[2] Judgement On Frizzell Intervention.

[3] The secret group linked to security services that helped shape the Legacy Act.

⏩ Christy Walsh was stitched up by the British Ministry of Defence in a no jury trial and spent many years in prison as a result.

Anti-Nationalist Justice 🪶 Nationalist Victims Are Targeted in a Rigged Legacy System

Geordie Morrow ðŸ–Œ with a painting from his collection of art work. 


⏩Geordie Morrow is a Belfast artist.

The Blackbird

Anthony McIntyre ⚽ After a period spent on a life support machine, Anfield life for the club's boss, Arne Slot, was pronounced extinct a week ago today.

My son phoned me with the news as I left the Gaza vigil in Drogheda town centre. Relief was the dominant emotion. Anfield had become a funeral home where a corpse was managing a team of zombies. The unprecedented boos that echoed around the stadium after yet another poor performance had themselves become a repeat performance. There was a serious problem. But a greater problem was that the coach knew it but showed not a modicum of the ability needed to fix it. Tactics and strategy wise, Arne Slot seemed brain dead with zero chance of recovery. For coach, players and supporters alike, as an act of mercy, the off switch had to be reached for at some point.

Fans of the club entered this season full of expectation. Liverpool with their expensive acquisitions were beaming a mission statement that a feast was being laid out in the Anfield banquet hall, the tables brimming with food for the faithful. When the unforeseen famine arrived the wails of hunger grew louder in the stands. As the fans grew leaner they became meaner. Something had to give.

I had given up hope. When Xabi Alonso went to Chelsea the boat looked as if it had been missed. There seemed no way he would have opted for the bright blue lights of London had there been a vacancy under the red night sky of Liverpool. Anfield appeared destined to be stuck with Slot for a further year, with the likelihood that the rot would eat even further into the cadaver. Perhaps Liverpool did not intend letting Slot go and their minds were changed by the dismal end of season run-in where they won three out of ten games and took only two points from their last four matches. Finishing considerably worse than they started was never going to lead to a surge in demand for season tickets.

It was a dignified parting of the ways. The club waited until the end of the season before issuing Slot with his one way ticket to the Netherlands. Gracious in its statement to the public, this was not the work of some hired silver tongued wordsmith to whom bamboozling was part of the job description. It warmly thanked Slot for securing the English Premier League title, but indicated that for the club to once again reach that level of success a new approach was needed.

Slot deserves lavish praise for his achievements in his first term in charge. It is hinted at, sometimes stated boldly, that he won the title with Klopp's team, that when he assembled his own it proved lacklustre and underwhelming. More descriptive than substantive the point is missed. Slot won the title with a team that it looked increasingly unlikely Klopp could win it with. In the German's final season with the club Liverpool ran out of puff at the end and squandered silverware that seemed destined for the Reds' trophy room. A year older, and slower, by the time Slot completed his one successful season in charge, it is testimony to his ability that he manged to squeeze major success out of it.

It was clear by the start of the season just finished that it was a herculean effort the Dutch coach was unlikely ever to repeat. From the get go the signs were there. The edifice was trembling and tottering, ultimately destined to topple. Like Humpty Dumpty all the Kings horses and all the King's men were not for putting it together again. Besides, Kings don't seem universally popular on Merseyside. When the much vaunted and costly German prince arrived from Bayer Leverkusen he didn't shine anywhere near as brightly as the neon lights heralding his intro. The even more pricey Swedish price was considerably less impressive although he did pick up a nasty injury along the way. A year of expensive talent wasted. While the French prince delivered in style, his contribution was devalued by the failure of those around him to do likewise, none more so than the Egyptian pharaoh. Salah can complain all he wants about the playing style of Slot not being suited to his prowess. But with Klopp gone Salah stepped into the boots of the recently departed Darwin Nunez to demonstrate that he could miss golden opportunities on a par with the Uruguayan. Salah was not the steeplechaser of old. Slot's blunder was not to have played him wrongly but to have played him at all.

Slot's low intensity, low energy style of play resulted in low morale and a lower than expected position in the league table. Time will tell if the high energy high intensity style about to descend on Anfield will lead to Andoni Iraola becoming the coach who somewhere deep within his kitbag possesses the antidote for Liverpool lethargy. That he opted for a two contract suggests he has seen a glimpse of the possible future and is not prepared to take a hit for if after two years it all goes South. He then too might go South but, like Xabi Alonso, to manage one of the big London sides in pursuit of a success judged unattainable on Merseyside.

⏩Follow on Bluesky.

Slot Rot

Kate Rice ✍ with a poem.

Hunger

Bodies stacked with grass stained mouths
buried shallow beneath the glen
you looked away, and then for Sands
you looked away again
♞♜♝
It’s long been known, the surest road
to reach a proud man’s heart
is through a stomach filled by hand
the working person’s art
♞♜♝
It is easy to shrug off hunger pains
when it is not your gut that aches
it’s easy to feel no need to give
when you’re fed by what it takes
 ♞♜♝
But hunger is an angry thing
you’ve used it here before
you carved it here in ‘famine’ years
they wielded it in war
♞♜♝
They refused your empty plate
the scraps of hoarded greed
and sat with a hunger, raw and ripe
that justice alone could feed
♞♜♝
Lust for freedom is without age
their hunger marked as crime
hope will outlive an Empire’s rule
and time is time is time

⏩Kate Rice is a peace baby.

Hunger

Lynx By Ten To The Power Of One Thousand Nine Hundred And Ninety Four

A Morning Thought @ 3168

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