The Victor Pinchuk Foundation and PinchukArtCentre, in partnership with the Office of the President of Ukraine opened the Russian War Crimes exhibition during the Human Rights Summit at The Dodd Center for Human Rights at the University of Connecticut (USA). The project shows photos taken from all over Ukraine since the start of Russia’s brutal and unprovoked full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Even so, it only addresses a fraction of the committed crimes. It makes the Western audience witness the stories of torture, executions, and bombardments committed by Russians against Ukraine’s service members and civilians.
Victor Pinchuk, founder of the Victor Pinchuk Foundation and the PinchukArtCentre, addressed the Summit and again emphasised the importance of providing military assistance to Ukraine: “Unfortunately, evil is very productive. At the exhibition here at the University of Connecticut (…) you can see what new crimes happened even this month. (…) This is our responsibility, to show the war crimes that happen. We hope that emotions will help understand: Ukraine needs more weapons, and quicker, now. So that genocide can be stopped now, and not mourned later.
And incredibly important is to close the skies. The war will not end soon. We must survive. We need air defense, F16 fighters and more Patriot systems, so less people die, people can live, and the economy can work. Yes we need commitment for reconstruction after the war ends. But much more urgent is to close the skies now. This can create an economy and country that can live also during war, and work and develop.”
The Human Rights Summit at The Dodd Center for Human Rights will bring together scholars, activists, policymakers, artists, and business leaders from across the world to examine the key human rights challenges of our time and generate new ideas to promote global justice and human dignity.
The Russian War Crimes exhibition was first shown at the former Russia House in Davos during the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting 2022. Later, it was displayed, with great impact, in the Houses of Parliament in London, at NATO Headquarters and the European Parliament in Brussels, as well as in NYC during the UN General Assembly. In January of 2023, the exhibition returned to Davos, where its new version was again demonstrated during the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting. Later, this project was hosted at the Munich Security Conference, and in the summer of 2023, it was exhibited during the NATO Summit in Vilnius, in July 2023, and in August 2023 in Bratislava and later in Berlin.
Special gratitude to the Ukraine 5 AM Coalition and the Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers for providing information on war crimes.
The Russian War Crimes Exhibition took place at The Dodd Center for Human Rights 405 Babbidge Road, U-1205, Storrs, CT 06269 - USA, Room 162, from October 25th to October 27th.
Photos by PinchukArtCentre are available following the link: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/variopgu98wbz99/AACcmOC-YF7Vg196oTk2ZJBra?dl=0