91 journalists killed: what crimes against the media in Ukraine were committed by Russia
24 October 2024 15:36
In the two years and eight months since the start of the full-scale invasion, Russia has committed 664 crimes against journalists and media in Ukraine. This is reported by "Komersant Ukrainian", citing data from the Institute of Mass Information.
In September-October 2024 alone, the IMI recorded 27 crimes against media and journalists committed by Russia. These include murders, threats, shelling of journalists and media outlets, cyberattacks, and legal pressure.
In September, two media professionals were killed as a result of Russian aggression:
- Stanislav Zhytnytskyi, a military serviceman and line producer at STB and Novyi Kanal.
- Victoria Roshchyna died in Russian custody. Her death was reported on 10 October 2024. According to a letter from the Russian Ministry of Defence received by her family on that day, Victoria died on 19 September. She was on the exchange list. Law enforcement officials classified the criminal proceedings into Roshchina’s disappearance as a war crime combined with premeditated murder.
What crimes against the media has Russia committed in Ukraine
- russia has killed 91 journalists. Of these, 12 were killed while performing an editorial task;
- involved in the disappearance of 14 journalists;
- the Russian military abducted 29 journalists;
- 41 journalists were injured as a result of hostilities on the territory of Ukraine;
- the occupiers made two attempts to kill journalists;
- The Russian Armed Forces shelled TV towers 20 times;
- russian military fired at journalists 44 times;
- the occupiers attacked and seized media outlets 22 times;
- russia is involved in 35 cases of switching off Ukrainian broadcasting and broadcasting Russian propaganda instead;
- the aggressor country is involved in 83 cases of harassment of journalists, intimidation and threats to media professionals;
- in addition, the Russian Federation has committed 92 cybercrimes.
It is worth noting that 235 Ukrainian media outlets were forced to cease operations due to the war with Russia.
Media workers killed by Russia
- 01.03.2022 LIVE TV channel cameraman Yevhen Sakun was killed by Russian shelling of a TV tower in Kyiv;
- 13.03.2022 in Irpin, near Kyiv, Russian occupants shot dead The New York Times correspondent Brent Renaud. Another journalist was wounded;
- 13.03.2022 Photojournalist Maksym Levin, who disappeared while carrying out his journalistic duties in March in the Kyiv region, is found murdered;
- 14.03.2022 Ukrainian journalist Oleksandra Kuvshynova is killed during artillery shelling by Russian troops in the village of Gorenka, Kyiv region;
- Pierre Zakrzewski, a cameraman for Fox News, a citizen of Ireland, was killed along with Kuvshynova;
- the Insider journalist Oksana Baulina died on 23 March under Russian shelling in Kyiv while carrying out an editorial assignment;
- 03.04.2022 in Mariupol, the Russian military killed Lithuanian film director and documentary filmmaker Mantas Kvedaravičius;
- 30.05.2022 in the Luhansk region, on 30 May, a journalist from the French channel BFMTV, Frederic Leclerc-Imhoff, was killed by Russian shelling;
- as a result of a Russian attack in Kherson on 26 April 2023, Ukrainian producer of the Italian newspaper La Repubblica Bohdan Bitik was killed;
- in eastern Ukraine, on 9 May 2023, a video journalist for the French news agency AFP, Armand Soldin, was killed by a rocket attack;
- on 24 August 2024, a Russian attack on the Sapphire Hotel in Kramatorsk killed Ryan Evans, a security adviser to the British news agency Reuters;
- on 10 October 2024, Ukrainian journalist Victoria Roshchyna, who disappeared on 3 August 2023 in the temporarily occupied territory, died in custody in Russia.
The Kursk operation and the media
The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation continued to open criminal cases against journalists who filmed stories in the Suji area, citing illegal border crossing as the reason:
- australian ABC News correspondents Fletcher Young and Catherine Diss;
- a freelancer from Romania, Mircea Barbu, who works with the Romanian edition of HotNews;
- catherine Norris Trent, a journalist from the French TV channel France 24;
- kurt Pelda, a reporter for the Swiss media holding SN Media.
