20 journalists killed in Russia/Ukraine war

As Russia’s bombardment of Ukraine intensifies, more journalists have been killed. So far, a total number of 20 journalists have been lost and 13 injured since the February 24 invasion, according to Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture and Information Policy.

It added, three journalists went missing, and eight journalists, including four women, were kidnapped. Two Fox News reporters were killed in an attack near Kyiv, and another was injured.

At least 10 TV towers were targeted by Russian forces, causing complete or temporary disruption of TV and radio broadcasting in eight regions of Ukraine.

In addition, some 70 regional media outlets were forced to shut down across the country due to war-related threats. Also, Russian troops attacked a team of Sky News reporters in their car. Several team members sustained bullet injuries but survived.

On March 4, Viktor Dudar, a 44-year-old journalist from the Lviv region, was shot dead in Mykolaiv, Ukraine’s southern port city on the Black Sea.

He was a crime correspondent for Express, Ukraine’s weekly newspaper, until he volunteered for the 2014-2015 war in the eastern Donbas region.

After becoming a reservist and returning from the war, the Ukrainian journalist took the paper’s defence correspondent position. Dudar, who in peacetime was a journalist, again joined the army to fight the advancing Russian forces with the start of Moscow’s war.

On April 2, Film director Mantas Kvedaravicius was killed in Mariupol, the subject of his documentary films. He was trying to leave Mariupol when Russian occupiers killed him.

On the same day, the Ukrainian Defence Ministry announced on Twitter that photojournalist and documentary filmmaker, Maksim Levin, was found dead near the capital Kyiv where he was documenting “Russian war crimes.” It said that unarmed Max, according to investigators, was killed by Russian troops with “two shots from firearms.”

UNESCO Director General, Audrey Azoulay, condemned the attack, saying journalists “should never be targeted”.

She noted that journalists play an essential role in the dissemination of information during a conflict and should never be targeted.

According to her, “I condemn the killing of Mantas Kvedaravicius. The filmmaker’s tragic death again draws our attention to the urgent need to protect media workers, especially in conflict situations. The perpetrators of this crime must be identified and brought to trial, in the interest of justice, freedom of expression and artistic freedom.”

The Russian war against Ukraine, which started on February 24, has drawn international outrage, with the EU, US, and Britain, among others, implementing tough financial sanctions on Moscow.

At least 1,417 civilians have been killed in Ukraine and 2,038 injured, according to UN estimates. More than 4.17 million Ukrainians have fled to other countries, with millions more internally displaced, according to the UN refugee agency.