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Journalists have become a priority target for Russian occupiers. This conclusion was reached by representatives of the Temporary Investigative Commission of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, which for five months has been documenting all facts of crimes against media workers during the war of Russia against Ukraine. Their scale are striking. While performing their duties, 15 representatives of the press were killed. 26 people were taken into Russian captivity. The commission held another field meeting in Dnipro. It is this city that recently has become a kind of hub for many editorial offices. Details — in the report of FREEДОМ correspondent Nataliia Husak.
The tragic events of October 23, 2025 in Kramatorsk, even after half a year, special correspondent of the FREEДОМ TV channel Oleksandr Kolychev remembers down to the smallest details. The film crew was at a gas station, where they arrived to record the consequences of a recent shelling by the army of the Russian Federation. At that moment, their vehicle was attacked by a Russian “Lancet” drone. Correspondent Olena Hramova and cameraman Yevhen Karmazyn died on the spot. Oleksandr Kolychev received severe injuries.
“We with Olena stood next to the car, and Zhenya moved a little away to shoot footage… A difficult moment was when about a week later they told me that my friends had died. Although it seemed to me that they were located farther from the place of the strike,” — recalls Oleksandr Kolychev.
About what happened in October of last year, Oleksandr and the father of the deceased Yevhen Karmazyn told at the meeting of the Temporary Investigative Commission of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, which investigates crimes of the Russian army against Ukrainian journalists.
Oleksandr Karmazyn says his son from the beginning of the full-scale war with his colleagues showed the world the consequences of Russian aggression in Ukraine. For this he paid with his life.
“I warned Zhenya, lately I warned him: Zhenya, be careful. Please watch the sky. Even though they had all these detectors, but, as it showed, it did not help…,” — noted the father of the deceased cameraman.
According to the Temporary Investigative Commission, during the period of the war of Russia against Ukraine 15 media workers were killed while performing professional duties. 26 — are now in Russian captivity. Ukrainian editorial offices have also become a target for the army of the Russian Federation.
The editor-in-chief of the publication “Mezhevskyi Meridian” says that the settlement where they lived and worked is already in the “red zone.”
Mezheva, which is located on the border of Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk regions, is literally being destroyed by Russian troops. On March 29 an aerial bomb was dropped directly on the building where for many decades the editorial office was located.
“The editorial office simply does not exist. There were several attacks, the last one — it was a KAB or FAB. They say, possibly, the first thousand-kilogram or one-and-a-half-thousand-kilogram used on Mezheva, I do not really understand. But there the crater is like a two-story house. The first attack happened back in September. A ‘Molniya’ drone hit directly into the editor’s office. Near the editorial office there was a printing house, a KAB hit there, the roof of the editorial office was destroyed, the windows were blown out,” — said editor-in-chief of the newspaper “Mezhevskyi Meridian” Yevhen Khrypun.
In November 2025, the Russian army attacked a television center in Dnipro, where the editorial office of “Suspilne.Dnipro” was located. During the attack there were no people in the building. But the studios, equipment and apparatus were completely destroyed. Only in Dnipropetrovsk region, about 10 editorial offices of various media became targets for Russian troops.
“The editorial office of Radio FM Nikopolska in 2023 was attacked. And the broadcast was stopped. It was the only FM radio station that broadcast to the occupied territory, to Enerhodar. We consider this as targeted attacks so that we cannot work normally and inform people about what is happening,” — noted Oleksii Kovalchuk, head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional organization of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine.
To record all facts of war crimes of Russia against journalists, in Ukraine in December 2025 a Temporary Investigative Commission was created. It deals with collecting and documenting cases of systematic crimes against journalists and media workers, and also generalizes the evidence base. Since journalists are a priority target for Russian occupiers.
“Why do Russians fear journalists? Because journalists record war crimes. And materials that media workers record can later be attached to criminal cases. At the same time these are attempts to intimidate by any means. Physical destruction, we now see cyberattacks specifically against journalists. The conclusion of this meeting — journalists are a priority target for Russian occupiers. We see crimes against journalists who moved from temporarily occupied territories,” — said Deputy Chair of the parliamentary committee on humanitarian and information policy Yevheniia Kravchuk.
According to her, during the full-scale war at least 937 crimes of Russians against journalists have been recorded, in particular 72 attacks by FPV drones.
“But one thing is to read reports with statistics, and quite another — to hear real stories of people. […] And both Oleksandr Kolychev and the father of the deceased journalist Oleksandr Karmazyn are sure: this was not an accident, but a targeted attack on journalists. This case eloquently testifies to the opposite: journalists are a target for Russian troops, for the defeat of which they spare no means and efforts,” — emphasized Kravchuk.
All collected facts the Temporary Investigative Commission will present at the annual Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE. It will take place at the beginning of July this year in The Hague.
Let us remind, military correspondent of the FREEДОМ TV channel Olena Hubanova (Olena Hramova), cameraman Yevhen Karmazyn and special correspondent Oleksandr Kolychev have been awarded Orders “For Merit” of the III degree. Oleksandr is currently undergoing treatment and rehabilitation, he will receive financial assistance from the state. The payment is provided within the framework of state support for media workers affected as a result of Russian aggression.
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