Russia has committed 148 crimes against journalists and the media in Ukraine since the beginning of the large-scale invasion of Ukraine, from 24 February to 24 March 2022.
This was reported by the Institute of Mass Media (IMI).
Monitoring data, in particular, indicate that:
Five journalists were killed while performing their duties, and seven were injured. One journalist went missing.
More than 70 media outlets were forced to shut down due to editorial seizures, threats, and temporary occupation.
Six cases of abduction and torture of journalists were recorded.
"All crimes have been checked and documented. The Hague is waiting," IMI Director Oksana Romanyuk stated on her Facebook page.
According to IMI, five journalists were killed during their professional duties in Kyiv and the suburbs of the capital during the month. In particular, these are:
Yevhen Sakun, the cameraman of LIVE TV channel (died on 1 March during the Russian rocket attack on the TV tower in Kyiv);
Brent Reno, the former correspondent for The New York Times (shot dead by Russians on 13 March n Irpen at a checkpoint);
Pierre Zakrzewski, the cameraman for Fox News, an Irish citizen (died on 14 March during an artillery shelling by Russian troops in the village of Horenka, Kyiv region).
Oleksandra Kuvshinova, the Ukrainian fixer, journalist (died on 14 March together with Pierre Zakrzewski during the artillery shelling by Russian troops in the village of Horenka, Kyiv region);
Oksana Baulina, the journalist for Russia's The Insider, Alexei Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation (she died on 23 March under Russian shelling in Kyiv while performing an editorial assignment).
Three other journalists were killed as combatants or due to Russian shelling when they were not performing their journalistic duties. These are
Dilerbek Shakirov, the citizen journalist of the information weekly "Around You" (he was shot dead on 26 February in the suburbs of Kherson with automatic weapons);
Victor Dudar - the military journalist (was lost on 6 March during the battle with the russian invaders near Mykolayiv);
Victor Dedov, the cameraman of Sigma TV channel (died on 11 March in Mariupol as a result of shelling of the house).
The fate of photojournalist Max Levin, who covered the fighting near Kyiv and disappeared on 13 March, remains unknown.
At least seven journalists in Kyiv, Sumy, and Mykolayiv regions were injured in the shelling of the Russian occupiers.
In addition, IMI recorded six cases of abduction of journalists by the Russian occupiers.
The occupiers fired ten TV towers in eight regions of Ukraine: Melitopol (Zaporizhzhya region), Kyiv and the village of Vynarivka (Kyiv region), Kharkiv (twice hit the TV tower), Rivne, Vinnytsia, Korosten (Zhytomyr region), Lysychansk (Luhansk region), Bilopillya (Sumy region). As a result of Russian airstrikes, Ukrainian broadcasting has entirely or partially disappeared in these regions.
In addition, the occupiers seized Ukrainian media outlets and switched on russian channels. In particular, the russian occupiers forcibly cut off Kherson and Melitopol from Ukrainian broadcasting, and the occupiers mined the building of "Suspilne" in Kherson.
IMI has also recorded numerous DDoS attacks on Ukrainian online media sites and NGOs covering Russia's war against Ukraine. Media sites were hacked, news were changed, russian symbols or calls to surrender were posted.
russian crimes against journalists and media have been recorded in 14 regions of Ukraine.