Some 548 crimes committed by Russia against media professionals in Ukraine since war started

Russia has committed 548 crimes against journalists and the mass media in Ukraine since the war started.

The relevant statement was made by the Institute of Mass Information (IMI), referring to the monitoring data, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

In November-December 2023, the IMI recorded five freedom of speech violations, which had been committed by Russia, namely death threats, wounding journalists, cyberattacks and Ukrainian broadcasting being disabled as a result of Russian shelling.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion started, the occupiers have killed 70 journalists, and 10 of them died when performing their duties.

According to the infographics provided by the IMI, 14 journalists went missing, 24 were kidnapped and 25 wounded.

Russian invaders shelled 16 TV towers and were involved in 42 accidents with shooting into journalists. Thirteen editorial offices were seized or destroyed by the occupiers.

Additionally, there were 27 incidents with switching off the Ukrainian broadcasting and replacing it with Russian propaganda, 58 death threats to journalists, and 62 cybercrimes against the mass media.

Twenty-three media outlets closed down due to the Russian invasion. There were nine cases of media outlets being digitally blocked and five cases of them facing legal pressure.

A reminder that Vlada Liberova, a famous Ukrainian documentary photographer and presenter of Ukrinform’s Kramatorsk Station project, has recently been injured on the front.