Working in Ukraine in dangerous conditions, journalists become more careful: annual report on safety of journalists in Ukraine made public in London

In 2023, a record-low number of incidents related to attacks on journalists was recorded in Ukraine, which is associated with the unity of Ukrainian society in the face of the external enemy and with greater caution of media workers who work in dangerous conditions.

This is stated in the annual report Attacks On Media Workers In Ukraine In 2023, which was prepared by experts of the London-based Justice for Journalists Foundation in partnership with the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU). Together with the NUJU, the Foundation collects evidence of attacks on media workers, aiming to assess the risks and create effective recommendations for the safety of journalists.

“In 2023, a record low total number of incidents was recorded for the entire observation period,” the report says. “In 2022, Ukrainian society united against an external enemy, and many internal disagreements were pushed aside, which protected journalists from attacks “from within.“

According to the Foundation’s methodology, 89 attacks on professional and civil media workers were confirmed in Ukraine in 2023. Among them are both the injured media workers themselves and their relatives.

During the full-scale invasion, 47% of the incidents that occurred in Ukrainian-controlled territory were from the russian military. In 2023, three times fewer incidents were recorded than in 2022.

“By 2023, it became well known to all Ukrainian and foreign journalists that Russian troops were not complying with the rules of warfare and that the status of “Press” did not provide for any protection for journalists. This has led to journalists working as carefully as possible in combat zones, avoiding breaking through the front lines to obtain information and sticking to the adopted mass media rules much more strictly than in 2022,” the report says.

This, however, does not mean that crimes against journalists have stopped. As a result of russian aggression in 2022-2023, 16 media workers were killed in the performance of their professional duties in the territory controlled by Ukraine; in particular, four murders were recorded in 2023. Ukrainian videographer Bohdan Bitik, French video journalist Arman Soldin, Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina and freelance photographer Vladimir Mironyuk became victims of the russian military.

Besides, there were at least 25 attempted murder attacks in 2023. Such attacks were often accompanied by non-physical pressure, such as damage to vehicles used by journalists in the war zone.

As in previous years, attacks and threats of a non-physical nature remain the most common methods of pressure on media workers in Ukraine’s unoccupied territory. In 2023, only one attack was recorded in Ukraine in a judicial manner. This case did not concern any representative of the authorities.

It is worth noting that not all information about threats and various types of attacks is made public, primarily due to the fact that a large part of the country’s territory remains under occupation. It is likely that after de-occupation, new information will emerge about the incidents that occurred in 2022-2023.

The full version of the report is available on the Foundation’s website (in English).

Reference information:

The Justice for Journalists Foundation is registered in London. It allocates funds for journalistic investigations of serious crimes against mass media workers and helps journalists and bloggers assess and minimize their professional risks. The Foundation’s mission is to facilitate journalists’ access to existing resources and adapt them to the specifics of a specific region.

Since 2020, the NUJU has been a partner of the Justice for Journalists Foundation in monitoring attacks against media workers in Ukraine called Media Risk Map.

NUJU Information Service