IMI records 28 freedom of speech violations in Ukraine in August

The Institute of Mass Information experts recorded 28 freedom of speech violations in Ukraine in August, according to the monthly IMI monitoring “Freedom of Speech Barometer”.

Russia's crimes (19 cases) inlcuded murdering, wounding and firing at journalists, legal pressure, cyber attacks and disabling Ukrainian broadcasting.

The deaths of four media workers were reported during the month, one of which died while performing his task: Ryan Evans, a safety advisor with the UK news agency Reuters, who was killed by a Russian missile strike on the Sapphire Hotel in Kramatorsk on August 24.

Freedom of speech violations in Ukraine in August 2024

Three media workers were killed in action:

• Volodymyr Chernyshov – a soldier and former cameraman for the Kropyvnytsky media outlet CBN. As of now, it has been reported that Volodymyr died from a mine injury during a shelling strike on Myrnohrad, Pokrovsk district, Donetsk oblast.
• Oleksiy Sapuha – a soldier and bird photographer from Mykolaiv, killed in action in Donetsk oblast on July 30.
• Bohdan Zatula – a Kharkiv-based Novyny.LIVE correspondent who had been conscripted. Bohdan enlisted in the Ukrainian Armed Forces on July 31, 2024. The journalist was killed in a mass shelling strike in Dnipropetrovsk oblast on August 26.

According to the IMI, as of September 4, 86 media workers have died in Ukraine as a result of Russia's full-scale aggression, with 11 of those dying while reporting.

At least 4 journalists were injured in the Russian missile strike on Sapphire Hotel in Kramatorsk on August 24:

• Ivan Lyubysh-Kirdey – a Ukrainian journalist for Reuters who was hospitalized in a serious condition;
• Daniel Peleshchuk – a Reuters journalist who left the hospital after getting treatment;
• Victor Sayenko – a Reuters journalist who received non-lethal injuries;
• Monika Andruszewska – a Polish journalist with the Rafael Lemkin Center for Documenting Russian Crimes in Ukraine and a volunteer, who had cuts on her arm.
  

Furthermore, in late August the Russian troops targeted the car of the "1+1" filming crew led by the journalist Oleksandr Motorny with a drone. It happened as the team accompanied an evacuation bus near Pokrovsk. The explosion went off in front of the journalists' car. TSN says that the media workers were unharmed.

It was reported in August that Yevheniy Ilchenko, who had been arrested by Russia in Melitopol two years earlier for running a Telegram channel where Ilchenko reported on the Russian occupation of the city, had endured torture and forced labour, including digging trenches for Russian troops. Before the Russian invasion of 2022 Ilchenko was a lawyer in Melitopol. On May 3, 2022, he secretly launched a Telegram channel called @Mitopol. He stated his intentions clearly with the very first message, which announced: "Analysis, events and facts." At a great risk to himself, Ilchenko reported on the day-to-day life in occupied Melitopol.

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) opened cases against 7 journalists, accusing them of illegally crossing Russia's border to report from Sudzha:

• Kordon.Media correspondent Olesya Borovyk (Ukraine);
• hromadske journalist Diana Butsko (Ukraine);
• CNN journalist Nick Paton Walsh (USA);
• RAI journalist Stefania Battistini (Italy);
• RAI cameraman Simone Traini (Italy);
• 1+1 reporter Natalya Nahorna (Ukraine);
• DW correspondent Nick Connolly.

The websites of Ukrinform, Hromadske, Odesa Online, and the YouTube channel "How Not to Turn Braindead" suffered cyber attacks. The teams believe the hacks were connected to their reporting and perpetrated by Russia.

The IMI also recorded 9 freedom of speech violations that were not related to Russia's war on Ukraine. These included cases of violent threats, obstruction, restriction of access to public information, indirect pressure, cyber attacks and lawsuits against media outlets.

Restriction of access to public information was reported by:

• Zakarpattia journalist Olena Mudra, whose query was declined by the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights;
• Poltava journalists, who complained that they were not invited to hear the City Council secretary Kateryna Yamshchykova's report on the year's work;
• the Kropyvnytskyi news portal "Hrechka", which reported biased attitude towards their team on the part of some City Council officials.

Violent threats were reported by the team of "Kremenchutsky Telegraf" (Poltava oblast), who said that the Kremenchuk Mayor Vitaliy Maletsky had insulted their journalists and that they had filed a statement with the police, considering it as threats. The outlet's chief editor Lesya Lazorenko wrote: "At the next session after the article about the generator procurement was posted to the 'Kremenchutsky Telegraf' website, Vitaliy Maletsky once again resorted to discussing, condemning and threatening journalists, saying that 'in the Kryvushi community (where the Mayor lives) such publications can get your fingers beaten with a lead pipe.'"

"StopCor" reported an assault: the head of the State Migration Service in Ivano-Frankivsk oblast, Serhiy Sayiv, struck the camera of the journalists who approached him to get a comment. The State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) has handed a suspicion notice to the official for obstructing the work of journalists.

"Vilne Radio" reported a cyber attack: they received a series of phishing emails signed as the tax service and the Security Service of Ukraine. All of the emails contained attachments that were recommended for download, which is typical of phishing attacks and suspicious.

Two Odesa media outlets, Channel 7 and USI, lost their funding, which resulted in the TV channel temporarily stopped broadcasting. However, the online outlet decided to keep reporting. According to the IMI's sources, these two media outlets are linked to the local businessman Adnan Kivan.

Read the full monitoring here.

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).