“Ukraine improves free speech indicators even despite the war,” Yaroslav Yurchyshyn

The head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Freedom of Speech, Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, said that the war has significantly affected freedom of speech. At the same time, Ukraine has improved its indicators and maintains high standards.

Yaroslav Yurchyshyn said this in a comment to journalists, writes Novyny.LIVE.

Yurchyshyn noted that since the beginning of the full-scale russian invasion, more than 800 crimes have been committed against journalists, and since 2014 – more than a thousand. More than a hundred journalists have died. This is not only about those who took up arms, but also civilians. In particular, journalist Victoria Roshchina died in russian captivity.

Yurchyshyn says that the war has also led to the emergence of ‘information vacuums’ in front-line and occupied regions, where access to the press is limited. People are forced to rely on information on social networks.

At the same time, Ukraine is doing everything to preserve and improve freedom of speech.

“That is why in the Reporters Without Borders Freedom of Speech rating, Ukraine shows good indicators, even improves them during the war, which is truly unique,” ​​says Yurchyshyn.

The head of the Rada committee recalled that Ukraine had previously adopted a law on media as part of European integration.

“Our law is now even being set as an example for many European countries, and our findings are actually being tried to be adapted by a number of other European countries and candidate countries to the European Union,” he says.

In addition, the rules for journalists’ work in a war zone are being developed in cooperation with the media, which is atypical for warring countries.