After the so-called “referendums” on the accession of the occupied parts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions to the Russian Federation, Russia began to systematically strengthen its control over those territories. In March 2024, the UN noted that Russia had created an atmosphere of fear in the TOT (temporarily occupied territories), which manifests itself, in particular, in the process of integrating the educational domain into the Russian system.

August 29, 2024, was the fifth anniversary of the IX convocation Verkhovna Rada work. For more than two and a half of those years, it has been functioning in the conditions of the full-scale Russian invasion. This convocation of the parliament has already been working for 1828 days, and due to the martial law, it will definitely become the longest one in Ukrainian history.

This is not the first year the OPORA Civil Network has been advocating changes in political finance, as well as engaging in surveys and awareness raising effort in this domain.

Since 2023, Russia has, as it claims, set a goal to "revive tourism" in the occupied territories of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, and Donetsk regions. Through a network of telegram channels identified by the OPORA Civil Network, as well as other social networks and media, Russian spin doctors are creating the illusion that the occupiers are actively working to restore tourism. We have analyzed 3,010 messages from local pro-Russian telegram channels that mentioned tourism in the temporarily occupied territories (TOT). The study covered the period from May 2023 to May 2024.

Ukraine aims to end the full-scale war primarily through diplomatic settlement, but the only acceptable outcome for the Ukrainian people remains a sustainable and just peace, rooted in respect for international law. This is how Ukraine’s diplomatic platform, the Peace Formula, was born. Its goal is to restore the territorial integrity of Ukraine and achieve overarching global peace.

It is important to demonstrate the representative nature of the public demand to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to review the regulation prohibiting all female local council deputies from traveling abroad. Additionally, joint efforts should be consolidated for advocacy and combating sexism in electoral processes to ensure balanced representation of women and men in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and local councils.

In 2014, russia occupied the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. In 2022, they continued their armed aggression against Ukraine with a full-scale invasion, expanding the occupation and seizing certain territories of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. Illegal referendums and elections are an integral part of the Russian war of occupation. For their organization and conduct, the rf involves their citizens and residents of the temporarily occupied territories (TOTs). 

In this article, Civil Network OPORA analyzed how the position of Ukraine's partners has changed — from unwillingness to provide heavy weapons to the transfer of the first F-16 aircraft to Ukraine at the end of July 2024.