The Verkhovna Rada’s Temporary Commission (TC) for the investigation of crimes against journalists and other media professionals committed by Russian armed forces has approved the Commission’s composition.

The decision was made at the 15 January meeting, reports the Institute of Mass Information (IMI), whose representatives were present at the event.

The TC expert board will consist of 17 people, including the following IMI representatives:

  • Oksana Romaniuk, IMI director;
  • Kateryna Dyachuk, IMI’s chief press freedom monitor;
  • Volodymyr Zelenchuk, IMI’s media lawyer.

The expert board will also include:

  • Tetyana Katrychenko, head of the NGO Media Initiative for Human Rights;
  • Serhiy Tomilenko, chair of Ukraine’s National Union of Journalists;
  • Oleksandra Horchynska, journalist, media coach at NV, project coordinator at NGO Women in Media;
  • Dmytro Khyliuk, journalist, Russian prison survivor;
  • Hanna Krasnostup, Ukraine coordinator for the CoE campaign Journalists Matter, director of the Strategic Communications and Culture Promotion Department at the Ministry of Culture;
  • Oleksandr Burmahin, media expert, member of the National Council of Television and Radio Broadcasting;
  • Andriy Bystrov, media management expert, academic researcher;
  • Natalia Kryvoruchko, Locator Media journalist;
  • Stas Kozliuk, journalist, Viktoriia Project co-author;
  • Oleh Baturin, journalist with The Reckoning Project: Ukraine Testifies by the Public Interest Journalism Lab;
  • Yulia Khymeryk, journalist, investigates Russia’s war crimes and crimes against the foundations of national security;
  • Hanna Chekhovych, project manager for civil society protection at the ZMINA Centre of Information on Human Rights;
  • Maksym Butkevych, human rights advocate, journalist, former POW, board chair at the charity foundation Hope Principle;
  • Liza Kuzmenko, board chair at the NGO Women in Media.

During her speech at the TC meeting, Kateryna Dyachuk said that Russia’s full-scale war on Ukraine has continued to be the primary challenge for the survival of Ukrainian media and the safety of journalists since 2022.

She added that IMI has recorded 870 crimes against journalists and media in Ukraine committed by Russia since the beginning of the invasion, as per the Monitoring Stufy of Russia’s Crimes against Journalists and Media, which the Institute of Mass Information has carried out since the first day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Institute of Mass Information has identified 14 categories of Russia’s crimes against media and journalists, including physical violence (murder, wounding, armed strikes, persecution, kidnapping, illegal detention of journalists), cyberattacks, death threats, censorship (disabling Ukrainian broadcasting, taking over offices of Ukrainian news outlets, using them to broadcast their own propaganda), shelling strikes at TV towers, judicial pressure, etc.

Moreover, according to IMI, 123 media workers have been killed since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with 15 dying while reporting, 94 killed in action, and 14 civilian casualties.

At least 26 Ukrainian civilians working in the media remain imprisoned by Russia as of 15 January 2026.

The Verkhovna Rada created a temporary commission to investigate crimes against journalists and other employees of media entities committed by Russian armed formations. The decision was adopted on 4 December 2025. Yevhenia Kravchuk (“Servant of the People”) was elected as the commission’s chair and MP Yaroslav Yurchyshyn (“Holos”) was elected as the deputy chair.