Russia’s crimes against Ukrainian journalists are systemic, committed en masse— parliamentary commission chair

Russia’s crimes against journalists in Ukraine have been systemic, deliberate, and committed en masse, as was concluded by the Verkhovna Rada’s Temporary Investigative Commission (TIC) after a six month probe into crimes against journalists and media workers committed by Russian armed groups.

The TIC chair, MP Yevhenia Kravchuk reproted this in an exclusive comment to the Institute of Mass Information.

Kravchuk stated that Russia’s crimes are part of an overarching policy of suppressing freedom of speech and concealing the truth about the war, in particular in the temporarily occupied territories (TOT).

“The key conclusion, which was confirmed not only by the TIC members but also by Ukrainian law enforcement bodies, is that the Russian Federation’s crimes against journalists are systemic and committed en masse. These are not one-off cases. They fit into the general paradigm of combating freedom of speech, the truth about the war in the TOT, and they see journalists, or those who report the truth about their crimes, as a threat to their regime in the TOT,” Kravchuk said.

Six months’ findings

The TIC chair said that the Commission had held 10 meetings in six months, which allowed them to systematise the crimes against journalists committed by Russia and categorise them into various types.

These included not just physical threats to journalists’ life and health, but other forms of pressure as well, such as:

• cyber attacks;
• death threats to journalists and their families (especially in the TOT);
• unlawful detention or imprisonment;
• the war’s economic pressure on the media, especially the regional news outlets and those based close to the front line.

According to Kravchuk, the Commission’s findings point to a need for new approaches to the physical safety of journalists working near the front line.

“For the Russians, a journalist is a target. So the issue of safety calls for updated standards and international advocacy,” she emphasised.

The needed measures include supplying journalists working in regions near the front line with drone detectors. According to Kravchuk, this is no longer an extra option, but a basic necessity to work safely.

New vectors of work

Yevhenia Kravchuk said that the Commission planned to expand the meetings’s agendas and focus on the work of Russian propaganda over the next six months.

“These are various deepfakes that they have already started creating, and the actions of their propagandists are also part of war crimes in general, since they are calling for genocide against Ukrainians, and not just the Russian state-controlled media, either, but their bloggers as well. These issues can also be considered in the context of war crimes,” she said.

The international presentation of the report

The report has already been presented at the PACE Committee on Culture, Science and Media meeting in Istanbul in early June.

Moreover, a draft resolution of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly based on the report has been prepared and registered.

“We very much hope that the Assembly will support during its meeting in The Hague it in July. There will also be a side event there dedicated to Russia’s crimes against journalists, which we are organising in partnership with the French delegation. The families of French journalists killed by Russia in Ukraine, as well as Ukrainian representatives, have been invited to participate. This will be an important platform for the presentation,” Kravchuk said.

Previously

On 3 June, the Verkhovna Rada registered the draft resolution No. 15292 on the semi-annual report of the Temporary Investigative Commission (TIC), which investigates crimes against journalists and media workers committed by Russian troops. The report draws on data by the Institute of Mass Information, which show that Russia has committed at least 937 crimes against journalists and media workers in Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. At least 131 media workers have died in the course of Russia’s aggression, and no fewer than 26 Ukrainian journalists are unlawfully imprisoned by Russia today.

On 4 December 2025, the Verkhovna Rada created a temporary commission to investigate crimes against journalists and other employees of media entities committed by Russian armed formations. The composition of the Commission’s expert board was approved on 15 January 2026 and included IMI representatives.