The results of a survey from the  National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU), “Frontline Local Media Report”, shed light on the difficulties encountered by print local media outlets in the country since February 2022. The report aims to help media outlets in need to restart their journalistic work for public interest. A total of 30 local newspapers were surveyed about their journalistic work in times of Russian occupation and the restart of newsroom work after the liberation of the occupied territories.  The survey found that the average length of forced stoppage due to the Russian occupation was six months. …

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) together with the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) invite you to the opening of the photo exhibition ‘Ukraine: Journalists in war zones’, which will be held on 17 October at the Ukrainian Civil Society Hub in Brussels.  The exhibition aims to draw the attention of the international community to the work of journalists during the war, their working conditions and the actions of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine in support of the Ukrainian and international media on the front line. The event will also mark the crucial international journalistic solidarity…

From the 16th to the 20th of September 2023, member of the EFJ Steering Committee Anna Del Freo travelled to Ukraine. She accepted the invitation of Sergiy Tomilenko, another member of the EFJ Steering Committee and president of the National Union of Journalist of Ukraine (NUJU). She went to the country, invaded by Russia, together with Anteas Alessandria, an Italian association of volunteers that already promoted several projects to help Ukraine’s population. Thanks to the support of the association, Anna Del Freo was able to visit her colleagues, who live and work in a country at war. She also conveyed…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined the undersigned journalists, press freedom organisations, and unions, in denouncing the war crimes committed by the Russian Federation against journalists in Ukraine and calling for immediate action to hold the perpetrators accountable. Deliberately targeting journalists, shelling their facilities, and engaging in arbitrary detentions and torture clearly violate international humanitarian law and press freedom. We urge authorities to take decisive steps to address these grave violations and provide increased support for front-line reporters.  We are alarmed at the continued targeting of media workers in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The recent missile attack in Pokrovsk is…

On 7 August, Russian missile strikes damaged a hotel, which is popular among journalists covering the war, in the city of Pokrovsk in the eastern Donetsk region, in Ukraine. It is the second time in recent weeks that facilities used by media workers have been hit by Russian fire in Ukrainian cities. The International and European Federations of Journalists (IFJ-EFJ) condemn the attack in the strongest terms and remind the Russian authorities that journalists and media workers operating in areas of armed conflict must be treated and protected as civilians and allowed to perform their work without interference. Russian strikes…

RIA journalist Rostislav Zhuravlev was reportedly killed and three other journalists were injured during a Ukrainian attack in the Zaporizhzhia occupied region of Ukraine on 22 July. The European and International Federations of Journalists (EFJ-IFJ) join their Russian affiliate the Journalists and Media Workers’ Union (JMWU) in calling for a swift investigation into Zhuravlev’s death. Rostislav Zhuravlev, a war correspondent working for the Russian state agency RIA Novosti, was hit in a Ukrainian strike in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, the Russian military announced on 22 July. Rostislav Zhuravlev died from his wounds during his evacuation to medical facilities, the military said. RIA also…

Iryna Levchenko, a former local journalist and member of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) has been illegally arrested in the occupied part of Zaporizhzhia, southeast of the country. The International and European Federations of Journalists (IFJ-EFJ) join their affiliate, the NUJU, in condemning the illegal arrest of Levchenko and urge the authorities of the occupied territories to immediately and unconditionally release her and all other journalists held behind bars. On 31 May, the NUJU reported the disappearance of former Ukrainian journalist and union member, Iryna Levchenko, and her husband, Oleksandr Levchenko, in the southeastern city of Melitopol, in the…

Journalist Arman Soldin was killed on 9 May 2023 in the afternoon in a shelling attack near Chasiv Yar in eastern Ukraine. The 32- year- old was working for the news agency Agence France Presse (AFP). The European and International Federations of Journalists (EFJ-IFJ) join their affiliates in Ukraine and France in expressing their condolences to Soldin’s relatives, colleagues and friends. The attack happened at around 4:30 pm on the outskirts of Chasiv Yar, a town close to Bakhmut, the epicentre of the fighting in eastern Ukraine for several months. Four AFP colleagues and a group of Ukrainian military personnel survived the attack uninjured.…

Two journalists working for the Italian newspaper La Repubblica came under fire on 26 April 2023, while reporting near the Antonivskiy Bridge on the outskirts of Kherson, in southern Ukraine. A Ukrainian journalist working as a fixer, Bohdan Bitik, was shot dead. His Italian colleague, Corrado Zunino, was wounded in the shoulder. Zunino was wearing a bulletproof vest marked “press” but it is unclear whether Bitik wore one as well. The attack was carried out “most likely by Russian snipers”, the newspaper reported. “I’m well, I’ve got a wound in my right shoulder, shaved by the bullet that hit my…