State TV and Radio Broadcasting Committee awards financial assistance to the FreeDom’s injured correspondent Oleksandr Kolychev

The Chairman of the State Committee on Television and Radio Broadcasting of Ukraine Oleh Nalyvaiko signed an order on the awarding and payment of a one-time financial assistance to the correspondent of the State Enterprise Multimedia Platform of Foreign Broadcasting of Ukraine, Oleksandr Kolychev, who was seriously injured while performing his professional duties.

Oleksandr Kolychev is the only member of the FreeDom TV channel film crew who survived after the enemy UAV Lancet hit a gas station in Kramatorsk on October 23, 2025. As a result of the attack, journalist Olena Hubanova (Alyona Hramova) and cameraman Yevhen Karmazin were killed. The special correspondent suffered serious injuries, was taken to intensive care and is currently continuing treatment and rehabilitation in Dnipro. The prosecutor’s office is investigating the murder and wounding of media workers by russians as a war crime.

The decision to pay the benefit was made at its meeting on March 31, 2026, by the Interagency Commission on the Payment of One-Time Cash Benefits in the Event of Death or Injury (Concussion, Trauma or Disfigurement) of a Journalist While Performing His Professional Duties. The amount of the payment is 50 subsistence minimums established by law for able-bodied persons at the time of payment.

Assistance is provided in accordance with Article 18 of the Law of Ukraine On State Support for the Media, Guarantees of Professional Activity and Social Protection of Journalists and the Payment Procedure approved by the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine 776 dated November 2, 2016.

The Interdepartmental Commission includes representatives of the State Committee for Television and Radio Broadcasting, the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, the Ministry of Social Policy, Family and Unity of Ukraine, the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine, the National Assembly of People with Disabilities of Ukraine, the Trade Union of Cultural Workers of Ukraine and the All-Ukrainian Trade Union “Independent Media Trade Union of Ukraine”.