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Danylo Mokryk photo

Danylo Mokryk

War Crimes Investigations Unit Reporter

Danylo Mokryk is a reporter with the War Crimes Investigations Unit of the Kyiv Independent. He has previously worked as an investigative journalist with Bihus.Info. His 2022 investigation into Russian acts of genocide in Ukraine won the “Honor of the Profession” Ukrainian journalism award. The same year, his investigation into deliberate killings of Ukrainian children by Russian soldiers was short-listed for the MezhyhiryaFest Investigative Journalism Award. Before the full-scale Russian invasion, he had won several awards and nominations for his investigations of corruption in Ukraine.

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Articles

Investigations

Investigation: Russians carry out systemic terror in occupied part of Kherson Oblast

by Danylo Mokryk
On the morning of Nov. 20, 2023, Russians came to Raisa Rusnak’s home, looking for her 28-year-old son Ruslan. Four masked men threw him onto the ground and began beating him. "Guys, what have I done to you? What do you want from me?" Ruslan shouted. Those were the final words Raisa heard from her son. She never saw him alive again. Eight days later, she identified his body at the morgue. She was told that he had died of internal bleeding from a stomach ulcer during interrogation by the Russia
Opinion

Opinion: Trading territories means trading people

by Danylo Mokryk
The following opinion piece accompanies the Kyiv Independent's War Crimes Investigations Unit's newly released documentary, "Shadows Across the River." Watch the documentary  by clicking here. “Let Russia retain control over occupied Ukrainian territories to finally freeze this war!” This refrain, repeated in media and political discourse worldwide, has become a popular "peace plan" for Russia’s war against Ukraine. Yet, one crucial question is rarely asked: What would this formula mean for Ukr
Russian war crimes

Destroy, in Whole or in Part | Is Russia committing genocide in Ukraine?

by Danylo Mokryk
Editor's Note: The story is based on the documentary "Destroy, in Whole or in Part," published by the Kyiv Independent's War Crimes Investigations Unit. Since the start of the full-scale invasion, Russia has committed thousands of crimes in Ukraine. Ivan Vyhivskyi, the National Police head, said that Kyiv is investigating over 100,000 war crimes cases committed by Russian troops in Ukraine. Among them are some of the most horrendous crimes – deliberate murder, torture, and rape of civilians, a
Opinion

Danylo Mokryk: Say the word ‘genocide’

by Danylo Mokryk
In the spring of 2022, right after Russia’s atrocities in Bucha were exposed, several Western leaders uttered the term “genocide.” U.S. President Joe Biden, former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, former Colombian President Ivan Duque, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did so in short succession, albeit in their own way. “I called it genocide because it’s become clearer and clearer that (Russian President Vladimir) Putin is just trying to wipe out even the idea of being Ukrainian. Th
Russian war crimes

Deliberate murders of Ukrainian children by Russian soldiers reveal culture of impunity

by Danylo Mokryk
Editor's Note: The story is based on the documentary “Bullet Holes,” published by the Kyiv Independent's War Crimes Investigations Unit. On a cold March morning, the Mahdyk family bundled themselves into their minivan. Their village near Kyiv was occupied, and they couldn’t bear staying there any longer. The family – mother Olha, father Valerii, and their two children, 16-year-old Anna and 12-year-old Vladyslav – decided to try to escape the horrors of Russian occupation and nearby fighting.

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