The book “When They Don’t Knock on the Door: 25 Stories About the Russian Occupation”, written by eyewitnesses, was launched at Ukrinform press centre in Kyiv on 27 January. It was presented by the authors together with the initiators of the project, human rights activists from the Eastern Ukrainian Center for Civic Initiatives.

The book contains 25 personal stories of Ukrainians who have survived Russian occupation and share their experience. The publication brings together the memories of residents of Zaporizhzhia, Kyiv, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Kherson and Chernihiv Oblasts, covering the period from 2014 to 2022. Eyewitnesses wrote their stories themselves, capturing their experiences of living under occupation, under shelling, losing relatives, friends or their homes. They describe evacuation, the suffering of animals, captivity, and more. The dramatic stories of Ukrainian civilians of different ages and professions make it clear why life under Russian rule is unacceptable to them. The stories are also available on a multimedia platform on EUCCI’s website .

Volodymyr Shcherbachenko, Head of the Eastern Ukrainian Center for Civic Initiatives, said that the idea for the project began when they realized that it was necessary to help people outside Ukraine understand why the vast majority of Ukrainian civilians reject the idea of living under Russian rule. This was especially important given the widespread misconception abroad that Russian occupation should pose no problems for the civilian population of the occupied territories, since the Russian army is theoretically supposed to fight only against Ukrainian military forces. Eventually, the decision was made to publish the book in Ukrainian as well.

“When we had already translated the book into English for foreign audience, the question arose: should this book be published in Ukrainian as well? The authors were unanimous: ‘Yes, it should!’. I agree that this publication is timely right now. Ultimately, this book is about the importance of every contribution, both civilian and military, to the struggle. Standing aside is not an option. Tomorrow may be too late.”

The initiators of the book explained that they deliberately included stories about the occupation since 2014 to emphasise that the war has been going on for 11 years.  One of such stories was written by journalist and editor of Farvater.Skhid, Oleksandr Bilokobylskyi. He noted that his text is about the words and ideas we use to describe the realities of war.

“At the beginning of the war, in 2014, we were completely unprepared; we had no words to talk about it. The Russians had a ready-made vocabulary — ‘militia’, ‘ukrop’, ‘Nazis’ — which divided people into ‘ours’ and ‘not ours.’ As a society, we struggled for a long time to find the right words. Words matter. That’s why I urge my colleagues to write carefully. Not ‘occupied territories’, but ‘temporarily occupied territories’. Not ‘separatists’, but ‘collaborators’. Since every time we use the right or wrong term, it leaves a mark on our subconscious,” he said, reflecting on his text and one of the reasons for the different perceptions of the war in society.

Another author, Tamara Komlyk, Head of the Department of Education, Culture, Youth and Sports of the Vasylivka City Council in the Zaporizhzhia Oblast, talked about her story dedicated to the occupation of her hometown, Vasylivka, and the “road of life”, the evacuation route through the city used by Ukrainians fleeing southern Ukraine. She noted that her story is about how occupation is, first and foremost, the humiliation of those who live on their land and speak their language.

Another author of the book, current Ukrainian Armed Forces serviceman Volodymyr Shaloimenko, emphasised that in order to prevent the occupation from spreading, it is necessary to support the army and donate, and such assistance must be systematic, not just in response to requests.

Writer and speech coach Slava Svitova, who helped the authors with the literary design of the texts, shared her thoughts on the importance of creating the book.

“Every person has experience and every person has a voice, but it is very difficult to verbalise these experiences. You can’t just sit down and write a book like this, because it is a traumatic experience. Giving space to voices is not just a job, it is a kind of mission. A poem won’t stop a bullet, and a novel won’t defuse a bomb. But writers, people who have a voice, can do one thing: they can speak the truth and point out where the lies are. So the task of these stories is to tell the truth and reveal the lies. Unfortunately, the minds of many of our fellow citizens are occupied. That is why this book is for such people in particular.”

The book and the project’s multimedia platform are currently available to Ukrainian-speaking readers, with English-language versions to be presented soon.

The authors are planning to present the book in Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, Kherson, Chernihiv and other cities in Ukraine in the near future.

This book was prepared as part of the project “Empowering civil society for a transformation of commemorative culture - non-violent contributions to deal with Russia's war against Ukraine” by the Eastern Ukrainian Center for Civic Initiatives with the support of Kurve Wustrow – Centre for Training and Networking in Non-Violent Action as part of the Civil Peace Service (CPS) project.