THE NATIONAL UNION OF
JOURNALISTS OF UKRAINE
The third anniversary of the most tragic month in the history of Ukrainian journalism is passing. In March 2022, russian troops not only destroyed cities but also methodically hunted those who recorded these crimes. A record number of media workers were killed then, and their names became symbols of indomitable spirit and professional dedication. The National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) honors the memory of colleagues whose cameras and notebooks recorded the first days of the full-scale war at the cost of their own lives. It continues the fight for international recognition of the targeted destruction of journalists as a war crime by russia.
“Passion and talent were unsurpassed”
Yevhen Sakun, a cameraman for the LIVE TV channel, became one of the first victims among media workers. The young man was killed in a missile strike on the Kyiv TV Tower on March 1, 2022. Irony of fate – the name of the channel means “life,” and the missile took the life of someone who worked to show the truth.
“LIVE – life!!!! What a sad irony of life…,” wrote his colleagues with bitterness.
On March 13, American journalist Brent Renaud was killed near Irpin. An experienced war correspondent, a Peabody Award winner who covered conflicts around the world, came to document the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine. Russian soldiers cold-bloodedly shot the car in which Renaud was traveling. His colleague Juan Arredondo miraculously survived and told the world about this war crime.
“We passed the checkpoint, and they started shooting at us. My friend Brent Renaud was screaming…,” the wounded journalist testified from the hospital. This death became a signal to the international community – russia crossed another red line by killing a representative of a foreign media.
Just a day after Renaud‘s death, on March 14, another tragedy occurred near Kyiv. A Fox News camera crew came under artillery fire in the village of Horenka in the Kyiv Region. Cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski and Ukrainian journalist-consultant Oleksandra Kuvshynova were killed. Correspondent Benjamin Hall was seriously injured.
Oleksandra was only 24 years old. In early March, she managed to tell a friend about her work with Fox News and the danger: “The russians are targeting journalists; we are lucky by a miracle.” As her relatives recall, Oleksandra was bright, talented, and loved music and life.
“Hardworking, cheerful, kind, and courageous. Our team in Ukraine says that Sasha (short for Oleksandra) was fond of music, art, and photography,” wrote Suzanne Scott, the CEO of Fox News Media, about her.
Pierre Zakrzewski was an experienced front-line cameraman who covered almost every international conflict for Fox News, from Iraq to Afghanistan and Syria. He arrived in Ukraine in February 2022. “His passion and talent as a journalist were unmatched,” his colleagues noted.
The day after this tragedy, the President of the NUJU, Sergiy Tomilenko, said: “The russian army is deliberately shooting journalists in this war of aggression in Ukraine!”
“Every death of a journalist in this war is not just a tragedy; it is a blow to the very foundations of democracy and society’s right to know the truth. Media workers are killed because they are fulfilling their mission – recording war crimes and bringing the truth to the world about what is happening in Ukraine. The russian occupiers are purposefully hunting down representatives of the press, and this is yet another proof that the Kremlin is waging war not only against Ukraine but also against the truth itself,” Sergiy Tomilenko emphasized in one of his public speeches.
Tragic statistics confirmed his words. In the first month of the war, six journalists were killed while performing their professional duties. In addition to Yevhen Sakun, Brent Renaud, Pierre Zakrzewski, and Oleksandra Kuvshynova, on March 23, a russian journalist for The Insider magazine, Oksana Baulina, was killed in russian shelling in Kyiv. She was photographing the destruction from the previous shelling of the Podilskyi District of the capital when she came under a new missile strike.
On March 13, photojournalist Maksym Levin disappeared in the Kyiv Region. Max, as his friends called him, had been recording the consequences of the war since 2014. He went to the village of Guta-Mezhyhirska in the Vyshhorod District to document the consequences of russian aggression. His body with bullet wounds was found only on April 1, 2022.
An investigation by Reporters Without Borders established that Levin was tortured and executed by the russian military. He left behind four sons, one of whom was only two years old at the time of his father’s death.
“Now the son has grown up, and he asks when dad will be born… He recognizes his father in a photo, sometimes we talk about him,” Maksym‘s ex-wife Inna Varenytsia said in an interview a year after the tragedy.
Ukrainian journalists, like most Ukrainians, were caught off guard by the full-scale war. As NUJU President Sergiy Tomilenko noted: “Hundreds and thousands of media workers became front-line journalists at one point.”
Ukrainian media workers not only risked their lives under fire, but they also became hostages of the occupation forces. They were detained, tortured, and intimidated. For example, a journalist from Kakhovka, Oleh Baturin, spent eight days in captivity, where he was beaten and subjected to psychological pressure.
The lack of protective equipment also remained a problem. “Journalists are critically short of protective equipment, basic bulletproof vests, and helmets,” Sergiy Tomilenko emphasized at the time. The NUJU actively worked to correct this situation…
Civilian casualties among media workers
The war did not spare those media workers who were not performing editorial tasks but became civilian victims of russian aggression.
On March 6, in Irpin, the occupiers shot and killed the popular Ukrainian actor and TV presenter of the DOM channel, Pavlo Lee. In the first days of the war, Pavlo became a volunteer, helping the elderly, the sick, and large families who remained in the city. “The murder of my son, a civilian, is a war crime for which the murderers must answer!” his mother, Mariya Lee, emphasized in a conversation with the NUJU.
On March 11, Viktor Dedov, an operator of the local TV channel Sigma, was killed in occupied Mariupol in mortar shelling.
On the same day, journalist and blogger Oksana Haidar, known on social networks as Ruda Pani, was also killed. She and her mother came under artillery fire in the village of Shevchenkove, Brovary District, Kyiv Region.
The fate of Mariupol media workers turned out to be terrible. On March 19, Liliya Humianova, a journalism teacher and head of the association of young correspondents, was killed. “She did not abandon people until the last moment. She opened a bomb shelter in the Mariupol House of Creativity,” her students said.
At the end of March, talented journalist and writer Nataliya Kharakoz was killed in besieged Mariupol. The woman’s house burned down and collapsed, and she was forced to hide in the basement. Until the last moment, she believed that she would survive: “We survived that war; we will survive this one too,” the elderly woman said.
We honor the memory of media workers who became soldiers
In addition to civilian journalists and those who were killed performing their professional duties, many Ukrainian media workers were killed defending Ukraine with weapons in their hands.
Serhii Pushchenko, a journalist and cultural scientist, was killed on March 2, 2022, in a battle near Vasylkiv. Viktor Dudar, a military journalist and a soldier of the 80th Airborne Assault Brigade, was killed on March 6 during the defense of Mykolayiv. Oleksandr Lytkin, a journalist for KNK Media, was killed on March 13 near Irpin. Oleh Yakunin, the editor of the Zaporizhzhia website, a serviceman, gave his life on March 18. Oleksandr Kotsukon, a journalist and soldier of the Azov Regiment, was killed on March 22 during the defense of Mariupol.
Their choice to defend their homeland with weapons in their hands deserves special respect and memory. These people did not just talk about the war – they fought it, combining the professional experience of media workers with the courage of soldiers.
Documenters of the truth
Despite all the dangers, Ukrainian and international journalists continued their work, documenting russian war crimes. It was thanks to people like Associated Press correspondents Mstyslav Chernov and Yevhen Maloletka, who survived, that the world saw the scale of the Mariupol tragedy.
From the beginning of the full-scale invasion until the end of 2025, according to the NUJU, at least 113 media workers have been killed in Ukraine. Among them, 18 were performing their professional duties, 10 were civilian casualties, and 85 were mobilized to defend Ukraine in the ranks of the Defense Forces.
Their names will not be forgotten. Our colleagues died so that the world could know the truth.
Journalists matter!
NUJU Information Service
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