Journalist Haiane Avakian received a repeat Documenting Ukraine grant on behalf of the Sviy Dim media platform. In their projects, the Sviy Dim team documents the destruction of civilian infrastructure in Ukraine caused by the Russian aggression.
The project Neighbors. Our Home Was Destroyed by Russia sheds light on the devastating consequences of Russia’s war on civilians in Ukraine. Created by the Sviy Dim team, this multimedia initiative tells the stories of eight residents of a building in Odesa that was hit by a Russian Shahed drone on the night of 2 March 2024. Through video testimonies and visualizations, the project documents the residents’ experiences, highlighting the human cost of war.
The project’s core is an interactive landing page featuring video interviews with survivors, digital reconstructions of their destroyed apartments, and an infographic illustrating the immediate aftermath of the attack. The building at 134 Dobrovolsky Avenue housed 36 apartments and 93 residents. The stories of the survivors provide personal insights into the destruction, the challenges of rebuilding their lives, and the bureaucratic processes involved in seeking compensation for lost property.
As part of the project, the Sviy Dim team conducted and published seven in-depth video interviews. These testimonies have been adapted for social media, including Facebook posts, Instagram Reels, and short videos on YouTube and TikTok. The project gained significant traction online, reaching nearly half a million people across platforms.
In addition to personal stories, the project also highlights broader issues of accountability. The infographic published on the project’s website provides key statistics on war crimes in the Odesa region, as it includes data from the Tribunal for Putin (T4P) initiative. By combining firsthand testimonies with digital storytelling, the project Neighbors. Our Home Was Destroyed by Russia serves as both a historical record and a call for justice.
In 2025, the Sviy Dim team launched a new phase of their work, focusing on documenting the destruction of housing and civilian infrastructure in frontline villages. The Documenting Ukraine program is proud to continue supporting Haiane Avakian and the Sviy Dim team. Their next effort includes recording testimonies from affected residents and visualizing the scale of the damage. The project is not only about destruction but also about the restoration of infrastructure and housing in wartime conditions while Russia continues its daily attacks on Ukraine with drones and missiles, killing civilians and destroying their homes.
Cover illustration by SviyDim.media: Visualization of the building in Odesa on Dobrovolsky Avenue 134, which was hit by a Russian "Shahed" drone, destroying an entire entrance
The Sviy Dim platform is a media outlet which collects testimonies from people who lost their homes and businesses through Russian attacks. It documents individual stories and creates a database of destroyed and war-torn objects. Thus, it also seeks to draw the attention of the Ukrainian state and of charitable and international organizations to the problem of civilian infrastructure destruction during the war in Ukraine.
