607 crimes against the media and journalists in Ukraine committed by Russia in the two years and five months of the full-scale war

In the two years and five months since the start of the full-scale invasion Russia committed 607 crimes against journalists and the media in Ukraine.

This is evidenced by the monthly monitoring "Freedom of Speech Barometer" by the Institute of Mass Information.

In June – July of 2024 IMI recorded 5 crimes against the media and journalists committed by Russia: kidnapping and wounding journalists, broadcasting Russian propaganda in Ukraine's occupied territories, and legal pressure.

Russia's crimes against the media and journalists in Ukraine

According to IMI, as of July 24, 82 media workers were killed in Ukraine, 10 of whom died while reporting.

The Russian troops kidnapped local journalist Zhanna Kyselyova for the second time in the temporarily occupied Kakhovka (Kherson oblast). The journalist was kidnapped from her own apartment on June 27, her whereabouts are currently unknown. The Russian troops have already kidnapped Zhanna Kyselyova in September 2022 and kept her in a torture cellar for almost a month. After being released, she stayed in the occupied city.

Two photographers from Kharkiv were injured by Russian artillery fire in the Toretsk district of Donetsk oblast on July 19. Olha Kovalyova received shrapnel wounds in the axillary, supraclavicular, suprathoracic areas and the arm, and a ribcage fracture. Vladyslav Krasnoshchok received a concussion. The photographers were working with with UAF artillerymen.

A court in Russia sentenced Dmytro Gordon, the owner of the media outlet "Gordon", to 14 years in prison in absentia. The Western District Military Court No. 2 in Moscow convicted Gordon of: calls for a war of aggression; inciting hatred with violent threats; public appeals to justify terrorism; spreading "fakes" about the Russian army, motivated by political hatred.

The case against Gordon was opened in response to his video address, published in March 2022, "Down with Putin and Lukashenka – Ukraine has already won!" In his address, he addressed the Russians and Belarusians, speaking about the "large-scale war" on Ukraine triggered by the Russian Federation, the shelling strikes on Ukrainian cities. He said that Ukraine has won, the whole world united to help Ukraine and introduced sanctions that "cut the Russians off from the entire civilized world." He called on Russians to take to the streets of their cities and say "No to war" and "no to Putin!" According to the indictment, Gordon also "called on the United States to start an aggressive war on Russia with the use of nuclear weapons."

The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) launched the propagandistic "Orthodox radio" Vera ("Faith") in the occupied Melitopol (Zaporizhzhia oblast). Russian propagandists claim that the radio station is "intended to unite believers, helping them find the most important things in life – faith, hope, and love."

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The Institute of Mass Information (IMI) is a Ukrainian non-governmental 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).