Empty Chairs in Rynok Square: Lviv to Honor Captive and Missing Journalists and Artists

On Sunday, November 15, the annual human rights action "Empty Chairs" will take place in Lviv. It will honor Ukrainian journalists, writers, cultural figures and human rights defenders who have gone missing, been unlawfully imprisoned, or are held in Russian captivity. This was reported by the press service of the Lviv City Council

The action will begin at 12:00 in Rynok Square. This year it will be held simultaneously in Lviv and Kyiv.

During the action, symbolic installations made of empty chairs will be set up. On each one, the name of a person will be placed who, because of Russian aggression, cannot be with their relatives and colleagues. Each chair will symbolize a separate story and serve as a reminder of those who remain in captivity or are considered missing.

Joining the Lviv action will be:

• Maryna Aleksandrovych — translator, editor, and wife of Mykola Leonovych, a missing serviceman, poet, and illustrator;
• Oleksandr Yakovlev — mayor of Skadovsk in Kherson Oblast, whom Russian occupiers abducted in March 2022;
• Oleg Baturin — investigative journalist from Kherson Oblast, former civilian prisoner, who documents Russia's war crimes.

The action is intended to draw the attention of Ukrainian society and the international community to the fate of unlawfully imprisoned civilians and prisoners of war, and to remind people of those who still cannot return home.

Also joining the event will be people released from captivity, journalists, human rights defenders, representatives of the cultural community, and other participants. They will speak about their experience of Russian imprisonment, the situation of people who remain in captivity, and efforts to secure their release.

According to the Institute of Mass Information, as of November 2, 2026, Russia holds at least 27 Ukrainian civilian media workers and one journalist-serviceman. Among them are journalists from all-Ukrainian and local media, freelancers, and Crimean civic journalists.

How to Join

The organizers invite everyone who wishes to attend the action to express solidarity with Ukrainians and their families and to support the demand to free journalists, writers, and human rights defenders from Russian captivity.

As a reminder, November 15 marks the International Day of the Imprisoned Writer, established by International PEN. It is also called Empty Chair Day. The empty chair has become a symbol of people who cannot be present due to imprisonment, persecution, disappearance, or death.