For their love for Ukraine, Tigran and Mykyta paid the highest price, their lives. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed a decree awarding the Order of Freedom to 16-year-olds Tigran Ohannisian and Mykyta Khanganov, Ukrainian teenagers killed by Russian soldiers in occupied Berdiansk.

After the full-scale invasion and occupation of the city, the boys stayed home. They were friends, and both openly supported the Ukrainian cause.

Ohannisian was repeatedly persecuted by the occupying authorities: he was abducted from his home, tortured, abused, subjected to electric shocks, and mock executions. He was arrested, beaten, and forced into silence.

Khanganov was targeted for arrest as early as October 2022. The occupiers interrogated him and his father, fabricated a case accusing him of “railway sabotage,” and searched their home. He was charged with a crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison in Russia.

In 2023, both boys were accused of “preparing sabotage.” Tigran was interrogated and tortured for five days as the occupiers tried to force a confession.

The European Parliament passed a resolution demanding the release of Tigran and Mykyta, but the occupiers ignored the calls of the international community. On 24 June 2023, Russian forces executed the boys.

Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets reported that Russia still refuses to return their bodies to the parents or to Ukraine. Available information suggests the occupiers buried the teenagers in secret, without notifying the families.

A Danish company’s Russian subsidiary is facilitating grain exports through the occupied Berdiansk port, helping ship at least 172,000 tons of grain between March 2024 and May 2025, according to an investigation by Slidstvo.Info and KibOrg.

The investigation reveals that “Baltic Control Novorossiysk,” registered in Russia, provides cargo hold inspection and draft survey services at Berdiansk port, which Russia has controlled since March 2022. The company’s parent organization, Baltic Control, operates from Denmark and positions itself as a leading global inspection and certification firm established in 1980 with over 50 offices worldwide.

IT specialists from KibOrg obtained documentation related to the occupied Berdiansk port’s operations. Analysis by Slidstvo.Info journalists found Baltic Control mentioned dozens of times in correspondence between Russian companies regarding grain shipment preparations.

After Russia’s full-scale invasion began, information about Baltic Control’s Russian operations disappeared from the Danish company’s website. However, when journalists contacted the central office in Denmark seeking contact details for the Russian branch, they received the phone number of “Baltic Control Novorossiysk” director Alexander Shalimov.

Speaking to a journalist who presented herself as a manager from a Polish company, Shalimov confirmed his firm’s inspection services in Berdiansk port.

“I’ll tell you this – we are the only ones located in Berdiansk. All the rest are visitors. This is a very significant nuance. So you will see quality throughout the entire loading process, operatively,” Shalimov said during the call.

When a Slidstvo.Info journalist called Shalimov and identified himself as Ukrainian media, Shalimov denied working in Berdiansk and refused to answer follow-up questions.

Neither the Danish Baltic Control nor the Russian “Baltic Control Novorossiysk” responded to written inquiries from journalists.

International law attorney Kateryna Rashevska told Slidstvo.Info that the Danish Baltic Control’s involvement in grain exports from occupied Zaporizhzhia region territories could be considered complicity in Russian crimes.

The investigation documents Russian companies’ systematic use of the occupied port for grain shipments, with Baltic Control’s subsidiary providing crucial inspection services that enable these operations to proceed.

Russian authorities are planning to begin gas extraction from the Sea of Azov, citing Soviet-era geological data and identifying 22 potential offshore fields, including several located near the occupied Ukrainian city of Berdiansk, Ukrainian officials told Suspilne on July 1.

According to the Berdiansk Municipal Military Administration, Russia's Federal Subsoil Resources Agency (Rosnedra) has announced plans to explore and possibly develop gas fields such as the Morske, Pivnichno-Kazantypske, and Skhidno-Kazantypske deposits.

"(Russia) has declared commercial reserves of gas in the Sea of Azov, referring to Soviet archives listing 22 oil and gas structures," Ksenia Kleshchenko, acting head of communications for the Berdiansk administration, told Suspilne.

"These include the Morske field, discovered in 1977 (and still under conservation). It is necessary to conduct further exploration and pilot operation."

Kleshchenko noted that the Pivnichno-Kazantypske and Skhidno-Kazantypske fields were discovered in the late 1990s and early 2000s during Ukraine's independence, but have not been developed. Ukrainian company Chornomornaftogaz had conducted surveys at the Pivnichno-Kazantypske and Strilkove sites before Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 and seized Ukrainian offshore assets.

Ukrainian authorities say the Kremlin's interest in mineral resources may have partially motivated the occupation of southern Zaporizhzhia Oblast, including Berdiansk.

"All of the (Russia's) 'plans' are focused on enriching themselves and the Russian Federation, but not on the welfare of the citizens of the occupied territories," the Berdiansk administration said in a statement. "While residents of Berdiansk face constant water and electricity outages, (Russian authorities) are laying grand schemes to exploit the region’s resources."

The administration also warned of potential environmental consequences. Due to the shallow average depth of the Sea of Azov, around 14 meters (about 46 feet), any extraction could cause serious ecological damage. The exploratory work is reportedly planned for 2026–2030.

Russia's interest in resource-rich territories extends beyond the Sea of Azov. In June, Russian forces took control of a major lithium deposit near the village of Shevchenko in Donetsk Oblast, one of Ukraine's most valuable sites for the mineral used in electric vehicle batteries.

Ukraine has now lost two of its four known lithium deposits to Russian occupation, including the Kruta Balka deposit in Zaporizhzhia. According to the Kyiv School of Economics, Ukraine holds about one-third of the European Union's lithium reserves.

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The Kyiv IndependentDominic Culverwell

During a targeted operation, Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) killed Mykhailo Hrytsai, a senior collaborator with Russian occupation authorities in Berdiansk, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, a HUR source told the Kyiv Independent on June 18.

According to the source, Hrytsai was directly involved in organizing repressions against the local Ukrainian population and establishing torture chambers for prisoners of war.

The collaborator was shot dead in the city using a silenced PM pistol, the source said.

Hrytsai served as the Russian-installed deputy mayor responsible for infrastructure, housing, utilities, and the energy sector. The source also said he facilitated the illegal seizure of municipal and state property in Berdiansk.

"There are still plenty of such targets — collaborators, accomplices of the enemy — in the occupied territories of Ukraine," the source said.

"We will definitely get to each and every one of them and put an end to their criminal activities by any means necessary: with or without a silencer, quietly or loudly, but always effectively."

A native of Poltava Oblast, Hrytsai had previously participated in Ukrainian political life. He was an assistant to a member of parliament and headed the Berdiansk branch of the Socialist Ukraine party before siding with Russian occupation forces.

Berdiansk, a port city on the Azov Sea, has been under Russian control since the early days of the full-scale invasion in 2022. It remains a critical logistics hub for Russian forces, facilitating the transport of looted Ukrainian grain and other resources.

On Feb. 20, another targeted strike in Berdiansk killed Yevgeny Bogdanov, the deputy head of the Russian-installed administration, according to Ukrainian military intelligence.

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After more than three years of Russia’s full-scale invasion, each new revelation of cruel treatment of Ukrainians in Russian captivity hardly surprises anyone. But when a photo recently emerged online, showing a “Glory to Russia” scar on the body of a Ukrainian prisoner of war (POW), it sent shockwaves

The Kyiv IndependentDaria Shulzhenko