Chernivtsi soldier, journalist Zakhar Podkydyshev goes missing in action
Chernivtsi journalist turned serviceman Zakhar Podkydyshev went missing while performing a combat mission around Kurakhiv, Donetsk oblast.
His brother Yehor Podkydyshev confirmed this to Alyona Chorna, the regional representative of the Institute of Mass Information. He was unable to provide more details.
According to the IMI representative, Zakhar Podkydyshev enlisted in the Ukrainian Armed Forces over two months ago and was performing a combat mission in the Kurakhiv area when contact with him was lost.
Before enlisting, the journalist worked with various national news websites. In particular, he was a UNN editor since May 2023, specializing in domestic politics and economics.
Chernivtsi journalist and editor Serhiy Vorontsov worked with Zakhar Podkydyshev in several media outlets. In a comment to the IMI representative, Vorontsov said that Zakhar had became a professional journalist almost immediately after graduating from school and has been working in the field for 25 years.
“Zakhar worked while studying at a university. His articles quickly gained prominence in the Bukovyna media. He always stood out, both thematically and in that his articles were not just going through the motions, adhering to some boring journalistic alphabet that makes for dull reporting woven into the general buzz of the media background. Even then, he had an unconventional approach to presentation, to the subject matter, and to various possible contacts and applications. He loves essays by the Executed Renaissance generation, which, of course, affects the quality of his texts,” Vorontsov said.
Zakhar Podkydyshev. Photo by Yehor Podkydyshev
He also said that a journalist's real reward is not a letter of thanks from officials but a scandal, and “in this sense, Zakhar has had quite a few such rewards.”
The media worker hopes that Zakhar is fine.
“Of course, these new developments in Zakhar’s fate are difficult to accept, but we hope that there is something hard but not fatal behind this uncertainty and that Zakhar will come back to us and continue his life and career. It is with this thought that I want to refuse using the past tense. After all, times and circumstances change, and I hope we will say hello to him again,” noted Serhiy Vorontsov.
According to UNN, Zakhar Podkydyshev graduated from Chernivtsi National University with a degree in Political Science. He began his career in journalism in 2000 in the local newspaper Chas. He worked in local media outlets such as Svoboda Slova, Chas-2000, Versiyi.
He worked as a correspondent for the Chernivtsi oblast newspaper Express. In 2008 – 2012, he was a senior correspondent at Express. He also worked in the Chernivtsi City Council press service and was an advisor to the city mayor.
In 2014–2019, Podkydyshev worked for the online news outlet The Chernivtsi Times and on the TV channel Chernivtsi Promin.
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