On 30 September 2026, students of the Kyiv National Economic University (KNEU) took part in an event entitled “Justice in Wartime: From Documentation to Accountability”, organised as part of the cooperation between the KNEU Institute of Law and the Foundation Sunflowers . The central part of the event was a screening of the documentary film Justice in Wartime, produced by the EU Pravo-Justice Project.

The event brought together students and academics to explore the challenges of documenting international crimes committed during armed conflict and the pathways from documentation to accountability.

During the event, Dr Ewa Hofmańska, President of the Foundation Sunflowers Executive Board and co-creator of the Project Sunflowers, presented the Project and its experience in supporting the documentation of international crimes and serious violations of international law committed in Ukraine. She spoke about the importance of collecting information in a way that can contribute to future accountability processes and about the role that lawyers and civil society can play in ensuring that evidence and testimonies are preserved and can ultimately support justice.

A special guest of the event was Judge Maryna Bondarenko, who shared her personal professional experience of adjudicating cases during wartime in Ukraine in an interview conducted by Dr Yevheniia Bondarenko, Member of the Executive Board of the Sunflowers Foundation. The conversation offered students a first-hand perspective on the realities and challenges faced by judges working in the Ukrainian justice system while the country remains at war.

The film screening and interview with Judge Bondarenko provided an opportunity to reflect on the relationship between documentation, evidence, judicial proceedings and accountability. For future lawyers, these issues are not only matters of legal doctrine but also questions of professional responsibility and of how the justice system can respond to the consequences of armed conflict.

The event was part of the ongoing cooperation between the KNEU Institute of Law and the Foundation Sunflowers, aimed at providing students with practical knowledge of international criminal law, accountability mechanisms and the legal challenges arising from Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine.

We are grateful to the students and academic community of KNEU for their engagement, to Judge Maryna Bondarenko for sharing her experience and perspective with the next generation of lawyers, and to the EU Pravo-Justice Project for the documentary that provided an important starting point for the event.