“It was a ‘jeans wedding’. The dress-code for the bride and guests was ‘jeans’,” Olena recalls.

“We entered the restaurant on horseback, and relatives and friends were waiting for us, everything was very nice. We looked to the future with optimism,” she added.

Just before the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Serhiy had already been retired for half a year. Since he had experience as a writer, his wife suggested he wrote something for children. He wrote two fairy tales and began to look for publishers. However, they did not succeed. The war destroyed all their plans.

After February 24, 2022, when the Russian invasion began, Olena was so shocked she did not speak for almost three days, only doing household duties. Serhiy, a former soldier, started posting about the events in Nova Kakhovka under occupation on his Facebook page and Telegram channel.

Olena i Sergiy. Photo: Olena Tsyhipa

A few days after the Russian forces had taken over the city, on March 6, 2022, an improvised pro-Ukrainian rally was held in Nova Kakhovka. Serhiy was present, streaming it for his social media. It was then that he first learned the Russians were after him. He was called in for questioning on March 12, 2022, and did not return.

Olena had no information for a long time. She coped with depression and sadness.
After months of uncertainty, she learned that he was supposed to be in the city of Skopin in the Ryazan region. Serhiy contacted her through the official portal for prisoners’ communication with their families. He revealed to her that he had been abused in Crimea.

Serhiy asked his wife to send him some medicine and clothes. And she did that. She says that because of the things she sent, such as food and clothing, Serhiy was sent to an isolation cell in prison for an alleged violation of the regime. After that, Olena says, Serhiy was transferred to a stricter prison where he can no longer receive parcels.

She now receives feedback about her husband through a lawyer with whom Serhiy communicates through a specially equipped communication point. The lawyer is Russian, representing him ex officio, and Olena does not ask many questions because she understands the conditions in the occupied Crimea.

“I paid for correspondence forms, but I do not receive letters from my husband,” Olena says.

“I understand that they are denying him that opportunity because he refuses to work. He told them he was officially retired and that, according to Russia’s laws, he had the right not to work,” she added.

According to her, Serhiy is being forced to take a Russian passport, but he refuses.
Olena does not give up hope that Serhiy will be freed. Together with the NGO Civilians in Captivity, she is fighting to advocate for a solution for captured civilians. In the summer of this year, with family members of other people in Russian captivity, she took part in an advocacy journey through Europe.

She has received a grant for a traveling exhibition called Please, Free the Birds. The exhibition is dedicated to all civilians, and it shows the lives of six people, including Serhiy.

Olena i Sergiy. Photo: Olena Tsyhipa

The International Society for Human Rights in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, is a key partner, which exchanges correspondence with the Russian side in an effort to arrange the release of civilians.

Ten women – wives, mothers, daughters and sisters of captured civilians – embarked on the advocacy journey with Olena. They visited Germany, Strasbourg in France and the seat of the Council of Europe, as well as Geneva and the seat of the United Nations.

An appeal was handed over to the International Red Cross head office in Geneva to provide for visits and correspondence with captured civilians.

“The world must know the truth,” Olena said, adding that too little was said about the number of civilians held in detention by Russian authorities.

According to data available to the Ukrainian Human Rights Ombudsmen, Russian authorities are currently holding over 18,000 civilians in custody or captivity.

Olena could have gone abroad and lived without worries and explosions. But she decided to stay in Ukraine and speak publicly.

“During our last journey, we shook Europe with our stories. And for the first time, we organised everything ourselves within our NGO, and found financial resources. For us, it was both a miracle and a joy that fate sent us people who responded,” she says.

A month after her visit to Strasbourg, on October 2nd this year, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted a Resolution: ‘Missing Persons, Prisoners of War and Civilians in Captivity as a Result of the War of Aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine’. Seventy-four members voted in favour of the document, and none voted against. The document, among other things, highlights numerous violations of the rights of military and civilian prisoners.

Now, walking the streets of Kyiv, in the intervals between alarms, Russian drones and missile strikes, Olena sometimes forgets about the war for a moment. But only for a moment.

“I rejoice when someone has the opportunity to live with their family, to go about their day-to-day routine,” she says.

“But, you know, when I come to the Independence Square and see how many flags they put up in memory of the dead, I feel terrible. It used to be a few thousand, now it is tens of thousands. I have realized that this war has broken many people’s destinies and families. Children have become orphans, women and widows are in depression – it is very hard,” Olena said, adding that she would not give up until she brought Serhiy home.