Ukraine has gone up 7 places in the World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and now ranks 55th out of 180 countries (as opposed to 62nd in 2025), RSF reports.
RSF remarked that Ukraine stood out as a relative exception among other countries, with a slight improvement in its overall score despite Russia’s war of aggression.
The organisation pointed out that the progress was notably due to the country’s dynamic media sector and the investigative work carried out by Ukrainian outlets to strengthen transparency in the country’s political life.
“Indeed, the Institute of Mass Information recorded fewer crimes against journalists and the media specifically by Ukrainian nationals in 2025 compared to previous years. Meanwhile, 2025 saw more crimes against the media and journalists by Russia. This year’s Press Freedom Index shows that even in wartime Ukraine can maintain a lively, critical, and professional media sector. This is one of our biggest strategic advantages over Russia, which has destroyed freedom of speech domestically and is trying to destroy it wherever it can reach,” said IMI director Oksana Romaniuk.
RSF’s regional manager Pauline Maufrais said in a comment to IMI that despite the overall decline in press freedom worldwide and despite Russia’s war Ukraine has shown progress.
“Over the past 25 years, press freedom has never been so low worldwide. The 2026 World Press Freedom Index by RSF shows that more than half of all countries are now classified as having a ‘difficult’ or ‘very serious’ situation.
“In this context — and despite the full-scale war launched by Russia in 2022 — Ukraine has shown progress. The country has risen seven places in just one year, being, in 2026, 55th out of 180 countries and territories, driven largely by political and socio-cultural improvements,” she said.
Pauline Maufrais added that a strong civil society and a dynamic media landscape continued to hold Ukrainian authorities accountable, while investigative reporting and the reopening of parliamentary committees to journalists had contributed to greater transparency.
However, she noted, Ukraine remained in a “problematic” category regarding press freedom and had “room for improvement.”
“Investigations into threats against journalists, particularly investigative reporters, often fail to deliver results, showing the need to identify and prosecute those responsible,” she said.
Maufrais added that Russia’s full-scale war remained the primary threat to journalists in Ukraine. The security situation is dangerous, with daily Russian attacks making the country a high-risk environment for media workers. She stressed that in 2025, three reporters had been killed by Russian FPV drone strikes.
“RSF, with the Kherson-based foundation Union, has published a safety guide to help media professionals to protect themselves. Tackling impunity at the Kremlin level is essential, and RSF has already filed 11 complaints against the Kremlin with the International Criminal Court (ICC) and with the Ukrainian prosecutor office, the most recent of which concerns crimes against humanity, notably persecution, against journalists in Ukraine targeted due to their work,” she concluded.
At the very bottom of RSF’s ranking, Belarus (165th), Azerbaijan (171st), Russia (172nd) and Turkmenistan (173rd) had some of the lowest legal scores in the world, ranging between 22 and 32 points out of 100.
In Belarus and Russia — which is the world’s second-largest prison for journalists and the largest for Ukrainian reporters — anti-terrorism and anti-extremism laws were regularly used to criminalise reporters’ work, RSF remarked.
Moldova (31st) was the only country in Eastern Europe that fell into the “satisfactory” category for press freedom. The average of each indicator in Eastern Europe and Central Asia has declined.
Ukraine dropped from 61st to 62nd place in the Press Freedom Index by RSF in 2025.
In 2024, Ukraine had climbed 18 places, ranking 61st.
Earlier, Ukraine had ranked 79th in 2023, and 106 in 2022.
In 2021, Ukraine had ranked 97th, while in 2020 the country had gone up six places and ranked 96th.
