840 crimes against media and journalists committed by Russia in 3 years, 5 months of full-scale invasion

Illustration by IMI

In the three years and five months since the start of the full-scale invasion, Russia has committed 840 crimes against journalists and the media in Ukraine, as evidenced by the Monitoring Study of Russia's Crimes Against Journalists and the Media, which the Institute of Mass Information has been carrying out since the first day of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

IMI recorded one such case in May–June: a newspaper temporarily going out of print as a result of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

It was reported in July that a Chernihiv journalist turned serviceman who had been considered missing in action for months had died:

• Bohdan Zayats, journalist with the communal TV channel Novyi Chernihiv and UAF serviceman. Died in a Russian shelling strike on Ukrainian army positions in Donetsk oblast on January 30, 2025. The media worker was drafted in September 2023 as deputy head of the TV channel’s news team.

The Chernivtsi oblast print weekly Vyzhnytski Obriyi temporarily went out of print. The newspaper’s director Maryna Kysylytsia says the print issues of the newspaper had to be suspended due to financial difficulties caused by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Russia's crimes against journalists and the media in Ukraine

Read the full monitoring study here.

The Institute of Mass Information (IMI) is a Ukrainian non-governmental media organization that has been operating since 1996. The IMI defends the rights of journalists, analyzes the media field and covers media-related events, fights propaganda and disinformation and has been providing media outlets with safety gear for trips to the combat zone since the start of the Russo–Ukrainian war in 2014.

The IMI carries out Ukraine's only freedom of speech monitoring and keeps a list of high quality and sustainable online media outlets, documents Russia's crimes against the media committed in the course of the war on Ukraine. The IMI has representatives in 20 oblasts of Ukraine and a network of "Mediabaza" hubs to provide journalists with continuous support. The IMI's partners include Reporters Without Borders and Freedom House; the organization is a member of the International Organization for the Protection of Freedom of Expression (IFEX).