Russia is taking my friends one by one – and now I struggle even to write about them | Oleksandr Mykhed

In Ukraine, the second summer of the invasion has been a season of unbearable goodbyes: to our teachers, our artists and our loved ones

Day 563 of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Ninth year of the war. Kyiv is saying goodbye to Ihor Kozlovsky, philosopher, religious scholar and lecturer. A Teacher. A man whose reputation was crystal clear.

In the winter of 2016, 62-year-old Kozlovsky was seized in his apartment in Donetsk by terrorists of the so-called Donetsk People's Republic. He was accused of being pro-Ukrainian and of having educated many students who took a pro-Ukrainian patriotic stance when Russia began its aggression against Ukraine. Kozlovsky found himself in Russian captivity, which did not comply with any norms of international humanitarian law: humiliation, beatings, limbs broken while handcuffed, electric shocks, strangulation, hangings.