Russia is holding at least 25 Ukrainian journalists prisoner, Ukrinform reported on Nov. 9, citing Serhii Tomilenko, the president of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU).
"At least 25 journalists remain in (Russian) captivity. We are also referring to the confinement of Crimean Tatar citizen journalists in detention facilities as captivity," Tomilenko said during a press conference hosted by Ukrinform.
As examples of illegally detained media workers, Tomilenko named "Vladyslav Yesypenko and Iryna Danylovych, who had been unlawfully detained by Russian occupation authorities in Crimea and are now held in prison."
He also mentioned the captivity of Iryna Levchenko, who was abducted in May in occupied Melitopol, and Dmytro Khyliuk, a journalist from the UNIAN news agency, who had been taken prisoner by Russian forces during the Kyiv offensive.
The head of the NUJU also reminded the case of Viktoriia Roshchyna, who disappeared on Aug. 3 in Russian-occupied territories.
The Prosecutor General's Office said that by June, 63 journalists from 14 countries, including Ukraine, had been killed since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Stanislav Aseyev
