At least 100 journalists have been attacked by Russian soldiers in Ukraine since the invasion of that country began two years later on the 24th, a conflict that has already cost the lives of 11 information professionals.
The information was provided this Monday by the non-governmental organization (NGO) Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
The NGO condemned that “journalists and media outlets are under attack by the Russian military” and hailed the “courage” of “thousands” who continue to report on the conflict “despite a security situation that is only getting worse.”
RSF has documented more than 50 attacks on more than 100 journalists, resulting in death, injury, kidnapping, torture or injury from bombings.
Moreover, in the occupied territories “local independent voices were reduced to nothing.”
The head of RSF in Europe, Jeanne Cavelier, noted that “the media are direct victims of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Unfortunately, in 2023, as in 2022, journalists working on the ground paid for their work with their lives.”
Last year, two journalists died in Ukraine: the Bosnian-born Frenchman Armand Soldin of AFP, who fell victim to a mortar rain on May 9 while covering the conflict near Bakhmut, and the Ukrainian Bogdan Bitik, who collaborated with a correspondent from the Italian newspaper La Republica near Kherson, where he was shot dead by a Russian sniper
Earlier, in the first year of the war, nine journalists were killed and another 35 were injured.
RSF reported that shots were fired at television towers, newsrooms and places usually frequented by journalists.
He also explained that at least 12 journalists were detained in the occupied regions, as well as the disappearance of Ukrayinska Pravda correspondent Victoria Roshchina, whose whereabouts have been unknown since August 4, and an employee of the Unian online news agency Dmitry Khilyuk, who is a suspect in custody in Russian Federation.
According to NGOs, Russian occupation, the near-extinction of the advertising market, worker shortages and destruction of materials are some of the reasons cited for the closure of 233 Ukrainian media outlets since the Russian invasion began.
RSF has already filed eight war crimes complaints with the International Criminal Court and Ukrainian courts, and two more with French courts.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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