Nearly two and a half years after the start of the war in Ukraine, in February 2022, there is no sign that the violence will end, and the list of Ukrainian journalists in Russian captivity is growing. Since Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, at least thirty Ukrainian journalists have vanished, their whereabouts remain unknown and their families have received no updates on their welfare or  their  place of detention. In most of the cases, the conditions for the journalists’ detentions are unclear, as well as the prospects for  their liberation. 

To throw light on this matter, the NUJU launched a campaign, fully supported by the IFJ through its project with UNESCO, and the EFJ, to raise awareness of Ukrainian journalists illegally held by Russia and to demand their immediate release.

In May 2024, the Russia Defence Ministry confirmed the detention of Ukrainian investigative journalist Viktoria Roshchyna, who went missing in August 2023. As reported by local media, Roshchyna, who had extensively covered the war for multiple Ukrainian media outlets, left the country for Poland on 27 July 2023 and later planned to travel to eastern Ukraine through Russia before she disappeared on  3 August in Russian-occupied territory. 

In August 2023, RIA Melitopol journalist Anastasia Hlukhovskawas abducted in the Russia-occupied city of Melitopol by the Russia Federal Security Service (FSB). The identity of the journalist was not disclosed until April 2024. Her  location remains unknown. 

In May 2023, the NUJU reported the disappearance of former journalist and NUJU member Iryna Levchenko and her husband in Melitopol, in the occupied part of Zaporizhzhia. According to information provided by the union regional branch, there has been no communication with Levchenko since 6 May. The IFJ and the EFJ urged Russian authorities to immediately release the journalist.

In October 2023, the  Crimean Supreme Court sentenced journalist Serhiy Thyhipa to 13 years in prison on unproved espionage charges. The journalist was abducted and detained in the Crimean city of Simferopol in April 2022, before being transferred to an unknown location in Russia. 

In December 2022, a Crimean court sentenced journalist Iryna Danilovych to 7 years in prison and imposed a fine of 50,000 roubles (500,000€) on unproven charges of illegal possession of explosives. Danilovych, a journalist and human rights defender who worked for different independent media, including “INжир” and Crimean Process, was abducted in April 2022. The journalist’s father reported that despite her deteriorating health, she is being denied medical care, human rights organisation Frontline Defenders reported. 

In March 2022, Ukrainian News Agency (UNIAN) journalist Dmytro Khyliuk and his father were detained near the journalist’s home in Kozarovychi village in the Kyiv region, when Russian military troops occupied the town. While the journalist’s father was soon released, Khyliuk was transferred to the Novozybkov Detention Center in Russia until May 2023, an investigation by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) concluded. Apart from a small note in April 2022, his family has not heard from him.

In March 2021, before Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine, Radio Free Europe/Liberty (RFE/RL) journalist Vladyslav Yesypenko was arrested in Russia’s illegally annexed Crimea and sentenced to six years in prison on unproved charges of espionage, RFE/RL reported. On the third anniversary of his arrest, the NUJU issued a statement demanding Yesypenko’s immediate release, and reported that the journalist had been subjected to torture in an unknown location in Russia.  

These are just seven stories out of the thirty journalists that remain illegally detained in Russian prisons. 

The IFJ and EFJ said: “Russian authorities must immediately release  illegally detainedUkrainian journalists in occupied territories. These illegal imprisonments  are a breach of international instruments that specifically protect journalists in times of war.   The role of journalists in covering conflicts is vital to bear witness to the actions of combatants and the impact they have on civilians."