“Journalists are becoming a target for the russian aggressor state,” Lina Kushch presents Executed Free Speech project in Odesa

Russian missiles, the unstable situation on the border with Transnistria, the loss of sources of income, and psychological burnout are the main threats to journalists in the Odesa Region. The negative impact of the russian invasion on the work of journalists and the media was discussed in Odesa during a meeting organized by the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU).

The First Secretary of the NUJU, Lina Kushch, spoke about the project titled Executed Free Speech. The project team recorded the testimonies of over 100 affected journalists and investigated the main threats to media workers in conditions of the ongoing large-scale war.

“Journalists become a target for the russian aggressor, who ignores all conventions and norms of international law. In the first weeks of the invasion, well-known war correspondents representing the world’s leading media came to work in Ukraine. These journalists had considerable experience working in many “hot spots,” but they encountered such danger for the first time. The russians are intentionally firing at journalists so that the world does not learn the truth and reduce support for Ukraine,” said Lina Kushch.

The participants in the meeting were human rights activist/citizen journalist and former political prisoner, Liudmyla Huseinova, the editor-in-chief of Novynar publication, Viktoriya Mainych, the editor of the Chornomorski Novyny newspaper, Ivan Melnyk, a member of the NUJU/displaced Kherson resident, Myron Buba, and the head of the Odesa regional organization of the NUJU, Yurii Rabotin and others.

The meeting took place within the framework of the project titled Drawing Attention Of The Ukrainian And International Audience To Serious Violations Of Human Rights And Crimes Against Journalists And Mass Media Committed By The Russian Federation, implemented by the NUJU with the financial support of the Swedish non-profit organization Civil Rights Defenders.

NUJU Information Service