Luhansk journalists appeal to the world community for help

“The media and journalists who work for the residents of the Luhansk Region are on the verge of disappearing!” say the media workers of the Luhansk Region in their appeal to international organizations, governments, and foundations.

In the appeal, adopted as a result of a recent meeting at the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU), they emphasize that today, despite the almost complete occupation of their native land, the deprivation of newsrooms and housing, they continue to work and prepare materials about the Luhansk Region, in particular, about life under occupation, refugees, destroyed infrastructure and lost property, about the fate of thousands of people.

However, the threat of stopping the work of the Luhansk media is urgent. If this happens, Ukrainians in the occupied territories will be able to receive “information” only from Russian propaganda media.

Therefore, Luhansk media workers are asking for constant financial support, which would enable journalists to rent housing, rent offices, purchase the necessary equipment, and continue their journalistic work.

Luhansk journalists also spoke about the need for financial support during a meeting at the NUJU. According to Dmytro Klimanov, the editor-in-chief of the TELEhazeta publishing house, “Luhansk Region risks being left without any pro-Ukrainian media.”

“Currently, Luhansk journalists make a great contribution to information defense and resistance to the occupiers,” says the President of NUJU, Sergiy Tomilenko. “Today, almost every media faces the problem of survival. At the same time, we feel that international partners were not ready for long-term support, so we are constantly working on their involvement.”

Since the end of 2023, the NUJU has been promoting an important message regarding long-term support for Ukrainian journalists: any program for the recovery of Ukraine and any statements on the recovery of Ukraine must necessarily include clauses on the recovery of the media.

As Lina Kushch, the First Secretary of the NUJU, emphasizes, unfortunately, all the programs for the restoration of Ukraine, which the Ukrainian government proposed at the conferences in Lugano, Switzerland, in London, and now will present in Berlin in June, do not mention of the restoration of the Ukrainian media. Mass media are considered only as a means of spreading information. However, none of the government officials has yet said that along with the reconstruction of the infrastructure and enterprises, educational and medical institutions destroyed by the Russian troops, the Ukrainian media should also be restored in the regions.

“But in order to cover the restoration of Ukraine, it is necessary to restore the media first,” emphasizes Lina Kushch. “And in order to attract the attention of international donors to this issue at the conference in Berlin, the NUJU initiative should be joined by a wide circle of our journalists. This will be long-term support for Ukrainian media.

NUJU Information Service