people's law the united states will continue to use all available tools to prosecute those responsible for actions that undermine the sovereignty, territorial integrity, or political independence of free countries, including those who observe the kremlin's sham elections in the occupied territories of ukraine. voice of america spoke with immigrants from temporarily occupied regions in ukraine, where these illegal elections were held. they told how it really happens. and what they think about it also independent electoral experts? says natalia leonova. in small groups of three people with a glass urn in their hands, they walk around the houses of donetsk and offer to vote in the presidential elections of russia. so-called early voting is taking place in donbas and other ukrainian territories occupied by russia. si with low-mobility citizens, but

i understand that with these mobile groups they are trying to show some kind of turnout, some percentage, because they come to the courtyards of high-rise buildings, including turn on the speaker and tell them that dear residents, no matter what, we came so that you could cast your vote, come out, and some grandmothers come out, vote, thinking that this will count for them somewhere, mykola usychenko, originally from donetsk, native house. had to leave in 2014 due to the war unleashed by russia, then lived in kyiv and mariupol, where he met the full-scale invasion of the russian federation. now, as a blogger and volunteer, i communicate a lot with those who remained in the occupation. i talk to people who live there, even those who support this and that occupation album by sharmanka. it is absolutely the same for them whether there will be an election or not, even these people, they perfectly understand that it is an election.

so that they not only take part in the so-called elections, but also put a tick opposite the name of the desired candidate. people come to your house with ballots and automatic weapons, and when you say that you don't want to vote, these people who... well, you have no choice but to vote. i talked to my friend, she is crying, olya says, i couldn't help but vote. i ticked where they said. when dulo is looking at you with a machine gun, it is very difficult to be principled, because you understand that human life is now under occupation, it is not worth anything. no one will notice.

there is no such vote, says independent electoral expert roman udot. it is not possible to hold elections where hostilities are taking place in accordance with russian and international law. however, the authorities invented an excuse, which the expert cannot call anything other than absurd. i would like to quote the chairman of the election commission halyna katyushenko of the zaporizhzhia region, who stated on january 24 that because of the special operation. you must understand that the hard -to-reach territory is just reindeer pastures, these are some polar stations, these are sailors who went to sea, here they have the whole zaporizhzhia region breaking away from the mainland and going into the sea. in addition, setting up polling stations where shots are fired and bombs fall means endangering people's lives, but the expert says the kremlin is not concerned about this.

putin presents awards to the members, and then putin presents awards to the members of the commission, which, if to believe their legend , ballots were counted under shelling, or there was a queue of voters under shelling, that is, you first put people in a dangerous position, forced them to hold mass actions during a military conflict, this generally threatens with human casualties, you specially made a collection for your picture , gathered them there somewhere, and then the awards are presented... the american institute for the study of war says that the kremlin and the occupation authorities plan to falsify not only the voting results, but also the voter turnout. so, trying to legitimize russia's occupation of ukraine in the eyes of the international public, although they are unlikely to succeed, experts say. early voting ended on march 14, and the elections themselves will be held from march 15 to 17. natalia leonova, kateryna besedina,

voice of america, washington. not only ukraine, but also the usa and latvia are prosecuting russian war criminals, and there will be even more such cases this year. prosecutor general of ukraine andriy kostin told voice of america about this. this year, ukraine also expects that the model of the international tribunal will be formed to bring putin to justice for the crime of aggression. my colleague oksana bodratenko asked kostin about this and other results in the direction of restoring justice during his visit to washington. this is not your first visit to washington. you meet with american legislators, with your partners. to the department of justice of the united states, how is the mood in washington now, what are you hearing from american lawmakers and from the government? in our direction, that is, the direction of restoring justice, we feel absolute support from everyone

absolutely elements of our system, as for specific results, then let's remember, first of all, what is at stake. last year, the ministry of justice of the united states became the first country to announce suspicions and indictment of four potential war criminals for torturing an american citizen who was under temporary occupation in the kherson region since the beginning of the war, so now this is a very important direction, because not only ukraine. prosecutes war criminals not only international criminal court, but also third countries. we are creating a network of countries, more than 20 countries are already investigating war crimes committed by the russians, russia on ukrainian soil, and that there will be

more such suspicions. by the way, last week the general prosecutor's office of lithuania also announced the first suspicion, it happened precisely in kyiv, i mean during the announcement. the continuation of our agreement on the joint investigative team, and the joint investigative team that investigates war crimes, it includes not only ukraine and lithuania, but also poland, latvia, estonia, slovakia and romania, i also want to note that the united states also takes part in the joint work of 16 prosecutors from six countries, who are already preparing material in the hague and eurojust. for the future special tribunal, because the international prosecution center for the crime of aggression is also a joint work of ukrainian prosecutors of six countries, including the united states. which should come first: peace or prosecution? well, as i already mentioned, we

are bringing to justice even now, while the war is going on, and not only our criminal ones proceedings, only 530 suspects and 82 sentences of ukrainian courts. already two , shall we say, batches of arrest warrants by the international criminal court, what our american colleagues and partners from lithuania have done and there will be more, i have, i know for sure that there will be more during the year, so it is very important that we not we were waiting for the end of the war, the end of the war, we were already doing our work now, you mentioned the warrant of the international criminal... court, it was such a powerful lever, at least in the political plane, because it was directed specifically against putin, now issued a new warrant for the arrest of commanders of the russian army for shelling and energy infrastructure in ukraine. how

important is it? the first arrest warrant in march of last year is historic not only because it was issued during of war , which was issued against the president of a country that is a permanent member of the un security council, but it is also unprecedented, because the speed of our work, we literally worked together for five months, provides, we provided evidence , the opportunity to communicate with witnesses, that is, here constantly there was cooperation, and karim khan this is called a partnership. the second arrest warrants are shelling of critical infrastructure, this is the same winter of 22-23 years, that is, autumn, winter and early spring, when russia tried to simply put millions of ukrainian citizens,

civilians, peaceful citizens, well, in inhuman living conditions, and we started dealing with this case almost at the time... when the shelling was still going on, and this is less than a year of work, but this case is much bigger, it is much more voluminous than the previous warrant. for arrest, although the investigation of the case regarding the deportation of ukrainians , it continues, we can talk about the perception of such warrants for arrest and perception, including by representatives of the russian armed forces, that is , they understand that at some stage her justice will get them not only in ukraine, but also internationally levels, maybe some of them dream of going somewhere in 10 years, but already... that's it, they won't be able to do it. 124 countries that have ratified the rome statute

are obliged to arrest and extradite. the us has announced that it has joined the coalition regarding the return of deported ukrainian children, what specific measures are expected in this area? well, it's very important that the united states has joined this initiative, we 've talked about it a lot and we wish that... this coalition had happened sooner, but the main thing is that it happened, and we appreciate every element of help, and we have everything i still hope that we will return all ukrainian children with joint efforts. this is our goal, to bring everyone home. volunteer day is celebrated in ukraine today. we let's tell a story about a 30-year-old american

from california. volganf has been fighting in ukraine since the summer of 2022. he is a former us marine. the military man took part in the liberation of kharkiv region and mykolaiv region in 2022, and is currently fighting in one of the air reconnaissance units in the east of ukraine. there he lost his closest relatives, the american volunteer jericho skye magelon and the british samuel newey. memories of brothers and sisters. he shared his vision of the russian-ukrainian war with annia kosyuchenko and pavlo sukhodolskyi. it righteous cause, that's all. this is how 30-year-old american wolfgang hegarty explains his motivation to fight for ukraine. the californian joined the armed forces of ukraine in the summer of 2022. wolfgang is a third- generation military man. since 2012, he served for 5 years at us infantry and participated in operations in the middle east. i served in the infantry, but

i was engaged in security, so i did not take part in anything dangerous, nothing like ukraine. in the middle east, no one sits for hours under constant artillery fire. in the fall of 2022, wolfgang took part in the liberation of kharkiv region together with the special unit of the main intelligence department, also helped in the liberation. mykolaiv oblast, is currently fighting in one of the air reconnaissance units of the armed forces of ukraine in donbas. i am, as they say, a nerd, everything happened by itself with drones. i fought alongside the kraken special forces, near balaklia, and saw how they worked with them, and i thought to myself, this is the way of the future. one of wolfgang's brothers and close friends, jericho magalon fought in the ranks of the armed forces as an infantryman and operator of a portable anti-aircraft gun. of the stinger complex with from march to december 2022. in march of that

year, he explained his motivation to defend ukraine live on fox news in los angeles. peaceful people die here. i have to be here. in august 23, jericho returned to donbas as a military instructor. and in the first days of september, he died near bakhmut. he went with the boys to help them in their first combat operation and everything went well at first, they took a russian position, but he didn't get out. wolfgang and jericho met at the front and immediately became friends, the man recalls. we accidentally ended up on the same part of the front in the same building. he made friends with everyone. i can't imagine a person who wouldn't like him. he was also extremely attractive. and had such a magnetic personality, always positive, always with a smile, even in

battle he always cared for his fellow men. jericho was 28 years old, he is survived by his wife and two sons, the youngest was born after the death of his father in january of this year. a few days before jericho's death, on august 30 of last year, another close friend of wolfgang died, british volunteer samuel newey. samuel was 22 years old, of them... he made friends quickly and easily, he always had a lot of people who supported him, and through him, our team and various others supported him... i am a christian, but regardless of whether you are religious or not , because of such emotions this war can drag on for a long time, such emotions will lead people to do terrible things to each other. we're all here to do a job, but that doesn't mean we have to get

emotional about it. it is currently known from open sources. about 16 americans and eight british citizens who died in the russian-ukrainian war. anna kostyuchenko, pavel sukhodolskyi for voice of america from kyiv. aza-nizi maza's bomb shelter art workshop for children operates in kharkiv. thirty children of different ages learn to draw in conditions of constant anxiety and shelling. i smoke

a craftsman, he is the only one left from the teaching staff, his philosophy is not to be a classical teacher, but to create an environment of creative freedom, especially in the conditions of war. before full-scale, when we did not experience war, it was a repository from something gray and uninteresting, and now it is still a war shelter, a more symbolic connection has appeared. pink paint on large format paper. while the children are drawing, mykola's phone sounds an air

raid warning several times, the room has the status of a bomb shelter, nika says, this is where she feels safe. immediately, if there is a flight, you immediately hide the bomb , there is direct internet here, you can call my mother to come, nika and her parents returned to kharkiv in 2023 after a year spent as internal idps in kryvyi rih, the girl says that during the shelling of the city , she is distracted by drawing, we have an apartment, a corridor, and in the corridor there is a soft zone and a soft zone. if it was daytime, then we sleep on the soft zone, well , in my soft zone, there are a bunch of markers, paints, pencils, everything you can, a bunch of notebooks, i sit and draw, it can be very, the demography of the studio has changed significantly, says mykola kolomiets, many immigrants from the occupied territories

of ukraine have appeared in the studio, children are also engaged in creativity here with special needs, any. activity, a special planned activity , it is therapeutic, because it gives a purpose, a goal, and if someone still needs your work, you will calm down because you control even a small part of reality, uh, in general, there is such a psychological method to the child... did not fall into an anxious state, it is necessary to make a planned life for her as much as possible , and the studio fulfills such a role of life planning, because we have many children who go straight every day, there for four, for five hours. from the first day of the war,

the basement, where the studio is based, became a bomb shelter for many kharkiv residents at the end of march. in 2022, mykola, together with kharkiv art director oleksiy mykhaylov, decided to hold classes for children who were hiding from shelling in the subway, together they created a giant panel about modern heroes and a series of posters dedicated to the war called "as i see it". so, khrystyna found out about azaniz maza's studio in the subway and decided to attend classes. there was an arrival near the house, and we lived there for 3 months, and during that period we got to know... when even at home, i am a little afraid when there are air alarms, here we even sometimes over-wait when there is an alarm, children often stay even after classes, they say... they like the feeling of freedom and acceptance in the azaniz ointment, and also the openness of their teacher. we can talk to him not like a teacher, but like a friend, he can

advise us and suggest something, he is like a second father, probably for everyone. i am generally reassured by this environment, because i know that i will not be judged in any way, and i can do everything i can, and this is somehow reassuring, learning safe tonve, the studio's only income is the proceeds from the sale of bags with children's drawings on the theme of war, and mykola and his students come here for the love of art and life. from kharkiv, khrystyna shevchenko, bohdan shevchenko, for the voice of america. that's all we'll say goodbye to, also watch our daily briefings at 6 p.m. on youtube and facebook, where you can ask us your questions live. thank you for staying with us, good night and good morning, see you soon!

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broadcast, my name is vasyl zima , and we are starting, two hours of air time, two hours of your time, many important topics we will discuss with you today, two hours to learn about the war, right now and about the war let's talk more, serhiy zgurets is with us, and how the world lives, and now about what happened in the world, we will talk in more detail. news time to talk money for two hours to keep up with wartime economics. oleksandr morchyvka is with us, oleksandr, congratulations, please and sports news. a review of sports events from yevhen postahov. two hours in the company of your favorite presenters. thank you very much, elinia chechenna, for the information about cultural news. presenters who have become like relatives to many. natalka didenko is ready to tell us about the weather on advent day. and also distinguished guests of the studio. andriy parubiy, people's deputy of ukraine, was also chairman. the events of the day in two hours, vasyl zima's big broadcast, a project for smart and caring people, espresso in the evening. the premium

sponsor of the national team represents. united by football, stronger together. every week, the saturday political club helps to understand the processes taking place in ukraine and the world. vitaly portnikov, khrystyna yatskiv and invited experts based on facts give their assessment and forecast of the development of events. if you want to understand how our today will affect our tomorrow, watch the saturday political club. every saturday at espresso. channel espresso and ukrainian pen present the project own names with myroslava barchuk. a series of conversations with ukrainian and western intellectuals who analyze and

comment on the most relevant social debates. what news will be analyzed by the guests of the project this week. and actually, who will be the guest of the studio? we will find out already this sunday. undoubtedly, the topics will be relevant, the guests will be special. proper names with myroslava barchuk. sunday: 17:10 at espresso. premium sponsor of the national team presents: united by football, stronger together! glory to ukraine, this is a program verdict, my name is serhii rudenko, i congratulate everyone and wish everyone good health! we will talk for the next hour. about ukraine, about the world, about the war and about our victory. today in the program. special liberation operation. in the border regions

of russia, the third. fighting continues, how far can the rebels go against the putin regime? putin's pseudo-elections in the occupied territories of ukraine are already being simulated. will this election be the last for the russian dictator? parliamentary crisis. in verkhovna the council of ukraine lacks votes for effective voting. how to restore the legal capacity of the legislative body. about this and other things in the following. hours we talk with our guests, people's deputy of ukraine mykola knyazhytskyi, major of the armed forces of ukraine ihor lapin and political expert maksym rozumny. however, before starting our big conversation, i suggest watching a video of how russian belgorod came under fire. the city and region were attacked three times today. local authorities reported the shooting down of 11 airmen

targets, but there are also hits. let's see, mom, the car just exploded in front of me, and i was fired upon again with hail.

friends, during this broadcast we are conducting a survey, today we are asking you about whether you see signs of a parliamentary crisis in ukraine, yes, no, everything is quite simple on youtube, either yes or no, write your comment under this video. if you watch us on tv, grab your smartphone or phone and vote, if you see signs of a parliamentary crisis, call 0800 211 381, no 0800 211 382, ​​all calls for a price. rooms are free. at the end of the program, we will sum up the results of this vote. therefore, the russian volunteer corps, the legion of freedom and the siberian battalion , in a joint statement today reported that the liberation of russian regions from putin's terrorist regime continues due to putin's troops in the belgorod and kursk regions, which border ukraine , massive strikes are being carried out, they are demanding from

the governors. to carry out the criminal orders of the putin regime and not to interfere evacuation of civilians from the war zone . in the morning, the head of the russian volunteer corps, denys nikitin, called on residents of the belgorod and kursk regions to evacuate immediately. let's hear what he said. the management of these areas ignored our warning. there was no evacuation from these regions. therefore, i appeal directly to the residents: immediately leave kurshchyna, bilhorodshchyna and all large settlements. we will open fire on military targets in this area within an hour and a half of this appeal. major is in touch with us armed forces of ukraine, special officer ihor lapin. mr. major, i congratulate you, thank you for being with us today, and happy volunteer day. thank you, glory to ukraine. and thank

you for volunteering to go to the eastern front in 2014. mr. major, let's start our conversation with the situation that is developing in russia, because the war there is going on for the third day. oil refineries are being attacked by ukrainian drones, and citizens of the russian federation are liberating the land from the rashists and the putin regime. how do you assess the deployment of hostilities in russia and which one result. do they have to give these actions? well, let 's be honest, it means that all the problems that exist on the territory of russia, the more problems there are, the more i welcome them, that's understandable. er, is it good that military facilities are being destroyed there today, of course, good, is it good that we are destroying oil refining targets and so on, of course, because it is from oil and from oil refining that the russians get the most.