‘Activists are disappearing’: The life and death fight for LGBT rights in Ukraine

metro.co.uk:

Ukraine must be liberated from the Kremlin war machine or its LGBTQ+ population will be ‘erased’.That’s the dire message to the West from Lenny Emson, the head of Kyiv Pride, an organisation working to help gay and trans people through the war.Vladimir Putin’s attempt to capture the entirety of the country in one fell swoop may have failed but his efforts in the east and south are ongoing.Inch by inch, Russia’s forces are taking control of Donbas, the eastern region of Ukraine which has been partly held by pro-Moscow militants since 2014, as well as in areas stretching to the Black Sea.Progress has been slow and Moscow has paid a heavy price but around 20% of Ukraine is now under Russia control, compared to 7% when the February 24 invasion began.For LGBTQ+ people on the other side of the illegal border that Putin is trying to score into Ukraine’s soil, the future is uncertain and it is bleak.‘We have volunteers and activists disappearing and we don’t know if they’re okay’, Lenny told Metro. ‘We don’t know whether it’s just a connection issue or if something has happened to them.

The situation is very hard right now.’To celebrate 50 years of Pride, Metro.co.uk has teamed up with Kyiv Pride to raise money for their important work in Ukraine.

Despite war raging around them, Kyiv Pride continue to help LGBTQ+ people, offering those in need shelter, food and psychological support.We will be splitting the cash with a grassroots charity closer to home.

You can donate here Territory captured by Kremlin troops are plunged into an information dead zone and, in the absence of reliable communication and international observers, conditions on the ground are impossible to verify.Many fear a similar fate to suburbs of Kyiv will have.