Vitalij Pichugov is continuing his studies in biology. He wrote to us: ‘I’ve been living in Kropyvnytskyi for three years now and I really miss my home town of Kramatorsk. And for the third year, I’m successfully studying at a distance. Although studying biology is very difficult, I have learnt to organise my time and my studies.
In our faculty, students often have to do independent research on new subjects. To do this, they have to read scientific articles and prepare seminars.
I attended various courses, such as the one from 26 September 2024 to 28 October 2024 where, in a practical course entitled ‘RNA-seq data analysis: from transcripts to biological interpretations’, I was involved in an online project from the Coursera project network ‘Data Analysis Using Pyspark’.
In addition, as part of the Ukraine Digital programme, offered by the German Academic Exchange Service from 1 January 2024 to 1 September 2024, I took the online course ‘Microscopy and Instrumental Methods in Biology’, aimed at students who want to master modern methods for structuring and studying the interactions of biological molecules and their visualisation. I received certificates for my participation in these events.
I am very grateful to the Ad Pacem team for their financial and moral support! Your help is invaluable. I want to continue my studies to serve environmental protection in the future.’
In July 2024 Sergij M. graduated from Kharkiv University with a bachelor’s degree in computer science. His scholarship for the four years of his studies was entirely funded by the sale of our Ad Pacem 2021 calendar. In his last letter, he thanked our committee and all those who made his studies possible. This scholarship was essential, as without it it would have been impossible for him to leave the occupied territories at that time. He is now continuing his studies, on his own, to obtain a Master’s degree at the same university.
In his letter to us, Sergei describes how he experienced the events of February in the summer of 2022:
On February 24, everything started quickly and unexpectedly. Kharkiv, located only 30 km from the Russian border, was one of the first victims. When the rocket attacks on the city began at 4 a.m., it was very scary, but the scariest thing was the prospect of the Russians occupying Kharkiv. I lived in the occupation from 2014 to 2020. I knew what it was like. It was the scariest thing.
Kharkiv froze: no people on the streets, shops do not work, banks do not work, no communication, no food, no light and water. It lasted like this for a few weeks. Then humanitarian aid began to appear, volunteers began to bring water and food. Although there was a constant danger of shelling, people began to come out of the shelters.
In the spring, I moved to sleep in the corridor, in order to be away from the windows and to comply with the “two walls” rule. Constant sirens, air raids, explosions.
The main fighting near Kharkiv took place from February to May. Then it turned out that the AFU and the defense forces had held their ground. Although after such a massive shelling, some areas look like they could be used as locations for apocalypse films. The historical buildings of the city center were destroyed.
I was lucky that my house survived (although the war and shelling continue to this day). But not everyone was so lucky. People lived in basements, cooking on campfires outside the entrances.
In early May, university studies resumed. They studied remotely. Due to problems with the internet, teachers had removed deadlines. All assignments had to be submitted before the start of the session. The term deadlines were extended and I managed to do all my assignments. I passed my exams successfully. And in September, the third year had already started.
In the summer of 2020, we decided to give another student from the occupied territories of Donbass the opportunity to study in free Ukraine. This is Sergej from Gorlivka.
Since the war broke out, Sergej has continued to attend the local school controlled by the DNR, but at the same time he has been preparing for the Ukrainian school curriculum through distance learning, with the aim of having the opportunity to obtain a Ukrainian high school diploma later. Sergej’s elder sister left Gorlivka in 2015. The rest of the family has remained behind, because the old and sick grandmother can no longer travel and Sergej’s mother cannot leave her alone.
The family’s financial situation is difficult. The father is unemployed, but thanks to odd jobs such as car repairs he manages to feed the family. Only Sergej’s mother works as an accountant, which allows the family to survive just above the subsistence level. Sergej is very motivated to study in Ukraine and got good grades in his baccalaureate exams. This allowed him to enroll in Harkiv University without having to pay additional tuition fees. We decided to support Sergej with €60 per month for his studies.
The sale of the Adpacem 2021 calendar with photos from the peace march allows us to finance Sergej’s studies until he graduates with his bachelor’s degree in 2024.
From Friday 29 November to Sunday 22 December 2024, the association Ad Pacem servandam – Pour la Paix et contre la guerre asbl. was present at the Christmas Market in Differdange, renting a chalet. Visitors could buy a range of decorations for Advent, Christmas and the festive season. The decorations were made by a Ukrainian woman whose family fled Donbass in 2015, following the Russian invasion, to settle in western Ukraine.
Proceeds from the sales will go to help the Refuge for Women and Children in Ivano-Frankivsk, many of whom have fled the war-torn territories..
Sent from Luxembourg on 19 November 2024, our aid (six cardboard boxes) was received by our co-operator on 26 November 2024 at the Kharkiv hospital. The shipment contained bandages of various sizes, several post-operative kits, surgical masks, some orthoses and tubes and catheters for enteral feeding.
On Tuesday 19 November 2024 Claude Pantaleoni, president of the association, received a cheque for €2,000 from the committee of the Syndicat National des Enseignants SNE/CGFP at its headquarters in Luxembourg-Bonnevoie.
The money is earmarked for humanitarian aid projects financed by the association in Ukraine at the ‘Misto Dobra’ (Chernivtsi) and ‘Refuge for mothers and children’ (Ivano-Frankivsk) centres for victims of the war.
In the photo (left to right): Gilles GLESENER (General Secretary), Patrick REMAKEL (Chairman), Claude PANTALEONI, Claude RIES, Vanessa SCHETGEN (1st Vice-Chairman), Christian KOHNEN
The child Lubomir, from a refugee family from the Donbass, had to undergo an urgent operation on these two days in the hospital in Dnipro. He underwent an urgent operation for acute inflammation of the paranasal sinuses. The operation was paid for by Ad Pacem servandam.
Dispatch from Luxembourg and receipt at the Ivano Frankivsk refugee centre of medical equipment (toilet chair,two walkers, several pairs of crutches), and clothing and footwear for the winter.
Our development worker uses the money from the sale of the 2024 calendars to buy and deliver the medicines needed by the psychiatric hospital in Vorzel (Ukraine).
Natalya visits the hospital in Vorzel. On this day, the medicines needed for the therapies and purchased shortly beforehand were handed over. All the medicines purchased were paid for with the proceeds from the sale of the 2024 calendar.
This was followed by a tour of the intensive therapy room, the renovation of which is being financed entirely by Ad Pacem.The work had not yet been completed by mid-July.
Over these two days, our vice-president Natalya has met three former inmates of the ‘Izolyaziya’ concentration camp in Donetzk, Andrij Kochmuradov, Vitalij Sokolov and Valerij Matjuschenko. This camp is run by the Russian occupation forces in the occupied Donbas. Regular torture is commonplace. Valerij Matjushenko was only released at the beginning of July 2024 as part of the prisoner exchange. As a result of the torture, all three, along with Andrij Kochmuradov’s wife Olena Lazareva, suffer from serious health problems including joint, dental, heart and circulatory problems. They receive financial support from Ad Pacem for medical treatment and the purchase of medicines.
Kochmuradov and Sokolov said that having been in prison caused them major problems when looking for work. Employers are discouraged and resent the fact that they were political prisoners, even though they were later found innocent by Ukrainian courts. Sokolov is now working as a guard, while Kochmuradov is still unemployed.
Letter from Valerij Matjuschenko:
On 15 July 2017, Mr Valeriy Mykolayovych Matyushenko was abducted by agents of the ‘Ministry of State Security’ (FSB) of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR). He was sentenced to 10 years in prison and spent 7 years in captivity. He was released in an exchange on 28 June 2024. Here is his story:
‘I, Valeriy Mykolayovych Matyushenko, born in 1965, Ukrainian, resident of Komsomolske, Starobeshevo district, Donetsk region, am married and have one son.
On 15 July 2017, I left my flat to join my wife, who was at the school where our son was enrolled, preparing the class for the next school year.
I opened my car and at that moment I saw a white Volkswagen minibus with a few people inside. As I was about to leave, four men came up to me, handcuffed me and put a plastic bag over my head. They dragged me into the minibus and took me somewhere.
I found myself in a room and was told that I was suspected of spying for Ukraine.
I was in the ‘DPR MGB’ (FSB).
The IZOLYATSIA torture chamber in Donezk. There were many other people in this prison or concentration camp.
I was first thrown into a small room. It had no windows and measured about one metre by two metres. I can’t say how long I was there. There was a light on all the time and there was a surveillance camera. Then I was transferred to the basement. It was cold in the basement. I was given food twice a day, at 7am and 7pm. They gave me boiled cereals without bread.
About three days later, at 2am, I was taken out of the cell and three men started beating me.
I can’t say how long they beat me. Then they dragged me to another basement. There they hooked me up to electric wires and started torturing me with electric shocks. After that, they took me back to the cell. My teeth were knocked out, three ribs were broken and I slept sitting up for over a month.
The beatings continued almost every day. I’ve had an illness since childhood:
I suffer from Tourette’s syndrome, which worsened after the torture. On the nervous side, I developed thyroid problems. Hard work caused an inguinal hernia, which was operated on after my return.
I needed dentures.
After torture and interrogation, I was sentenced by the ‘DPR military court’ to 10 years of strict confinement for spying for Ukraine.
I remained in this ‘isolation’ for ten months. Then I was transferred to the Donetsk pre-trial detention centre. After three weeks in the pre-trial detention centre, I was transferred to high-regime colony no. 32 in Minsk, where I was held until 28 June 2024, when I was released.
On 28 June 2024, I arrived in Kiev by helicopter. I was immediately taken from the airport to the regional hospital, where I stayed for a fortnight. I’ve now been in another hospital for a month to get my disability certificate. I have a lot of problems, including financial problems. I’m asking your association if it’s possible to help me financially to get back into shape and to buy the medicines I need.
Mrs Ponomarenko, head of the psychiatric hospital in Vorzel (Ukraine), receives the medicines purchased thanks to a donation from a Kiwanis club in Luxembourg.
Visit of our Vice President Natalya to ‘Misto dobra’ – City of goodness in Chernivtzi.
The pre-planned meeting with the founder of ‘Misto Dobra’ was unfortunately cancelled. The previous day, the ‘Ochmadit’ children’s hospital in Kyiv was hit by a Russian missile. Two children from the ‘Misto Dobra’ home were in there at the time and were about to undergo an oncological operation. The founder, Mrs Marta Levchenko, therefore had to travel urgently to Kyiv. Natalya was able to visit the entire ‘Misto Dobra’ centre with one of Mrs Levchenko’s employees. Many children from evacuated children’s homes in Odessa and Mykolayiv (southern Ukraine) are housed here. The home has rehabilitation rooms for sick and disabled children and a palliative care unit. With financial help from Ad Pacem, tracheostomy and gastrostomy tubes and catheters were purchased here. A computer and monitor were also purchased to monitor the condition of a seriously ill child during transport to hospital.
Visit by our Vice President Natalya to a shelter for mothers and children in Ivano-Frankivsk (Western Ukraine).
Of the 37 women and children currently living in the shelter, three quarters are internal refugees from eastern and southern Ukraine. Among them are also victims of rape by Russian soldiers.
The home mainly provides a home for women who have small children and are unable to pay rent. The women are given work in a chicken farm and the children can go to school and kindergarten. Smaller children are looked after in the home. As soon as the women are financially better off, they rent a flat on their own.. In cases where women and/or their children have illnesses, disabilities or war trauma, their stay in the home is not limited in time.
Due to the constant Russian missile strikes, the Ukrainian energy grid functions very poorly. Electricity is switched off for many hours a day as planned. The purchase of an electric battery station for this home was therefore of paramount importance. Ad Pacem financed the purchase of such a battery station. This was installed in the home at the end of August 2024.
Shipment from Luxembourg of 2 toilet chairs, 1 wheelchair and several pairs of crutches for the internal refugee centre in Dnipro. The equipment was received on 28 June.
