575 crimes against the media and journalists in Ukraine committed by Russia in the two years and a month of the full-scale war
Russia committed 575 crimes against journalists and the media in Ukraine in the two years and a month since the start of the full-scale invasion.
This is evidenced by the monthly monitoring "Freedom of Speech Barometer" by the Institute of Mass Information.
In the February – March of 2024 the IMI recorded seven freedom of speech violations committed by Russia: strikes on TV towers that caused Ukrainian broadcasting to disappear, destroying media offices, cyber attacks.
The Russian aggression resulted in the deaths of four media workers who were defending Ukraine from occupation. The death of two was only reported in March, as they had been considered missing:
- Anton Yakovenko – a soldier who worked as a video editor for the TV channel XSPORT before the start of Russia's full-scale invasion. Anton Yakovenko had been fighting in the ranks of the SMB "Black Zaporozhians" No. 72 since the start of the full-scale invasion. His last battle happened in Vuhledar (Donetsk oblast).
- Volodymyr Petrenko – soldier and former "Polissya.today" editor (Zhytomyr oblast). He was killed by Russian mortar fire on February 22, 2024, near Synkivka (Kupyansk district, Kharkiv oblast).
- Dmytro Sinchenko – soldier and journalist who wrote for "Tyzhden" and Radio Liberty. His death was only reported on March 8, 2024. He had been missing since late August 2023.
- Petro Tsurukin – had been considered missing for over half a year. His death was reported on March 18, 2024. He was a soldier, TV host, and editor who worked for STB TV as the chief editor of the "One for All" project and was a host at the channel Kyiv Live.
Russia's crimes against journalists and the media in Ukraine in the two years and a month of the full scale invasion
Russia has resumed the shelling of Ukraine’s TV and radio infrastructure; previously, the IMI recorded such incidents back at the beginning of the full-scale invasion in 2022.
On the night of March 14, the Russian troops deliberately struck TV infrastructure in Kharkiv oblast with drones. They also carried out missile and air strikes on the radio facilities in the Sumy oblast, leaving some municipalities without TV or radio signal.
Later, Suspilne reported that due to the strikes their T2 TV channels and radio channels were temporarily unavailable in both oblasts.
In the two years of the full-scale invasion, the IMI recorded 16 cases of the Russians shelling TV towers, which are civilian objects. This caused television and radio broadcasting in nine oblasts in Ukraine to disappear completely or temporarily.
In Sumy oblast, the office of the newspaper "Vorskla" was once again damaged by a Russian shelling strike on Velyka Pysarivka. On March 14, around 1:00 p.m., the Russian troops dropped a guided aerial bomb (UAB) on the Ukrposhta office in the very center of the village. The office suffered significant damage and is no longer fit for work.
Russia also targeted the Ukrainian media. For instance, Priamyi TV’s YouTube livestream news ticker was hacked to display Russian propaganda instead of news. The website of the digital news aggregator FREEDOM was attacked as well. The website received 33 million requests in a short time, but continued to work with minor complications. "The attack, which was apparently Russian hackers' doing, happened in several waves in the evening and at night. DDoS requests were coming from the US, Colombia, Brazil, India, Argentina, and the Netherlands," the press office notes.
Furthermore, Suspilne Ukraine recorded an attempt to jam their Astra satellite signal from Russia. The signal was being jammed from the space communications center "Medvezh'i Ozera", located in the Moscow suburbs. The attack lasted for an hour and resulted in the television and radio channels being unavailable on the satellite. The broadcasting has since been restored.
Read more in the "Freedom of Speech Barometer" on the IMI website.
The Institute of Mass Information (IMI) is a Ukrainian public media organization that has been operating since 1996. The IMI defends the rights of journalists, analyzes the media field and covers media-related events, fights propaganda and disinformation and has been providing media outlets with safety gear for trips to the combat zone since the start of the Russo–Ukrainian war in 2014.
The IMI carries out Ukraine's only freedom of speech monitoring and keeps a list of high quality and sustainable online media outlets, documents Russia's crimes against the media committed in the course of the war on Ukraine. The IMI has representatives in 20 oblasts of Ukraine and a network of "Mediabaza" hubs to provide journalists with continuous support. The IMI's partners include Reporters Without Borders and Freedom House; the organization is a member of the International Organization for the Protection of Freedom of Expression (IFEX).
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