Today at 01:04
The Board of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) awarded the Igor Lubchenko National Prize for defending freedom of speech for 2025 to journalists of the Ukrainian foreign broadcasting channel FREEДОМ — Alyona Gramova (Olena Hubanova) and Yevhen Karmazin, who died on October 23, 2025, in Kramatorsk while performing their professional duties.
The decision to award the prize was made by the NUJU board at the proposal of Crimean journalist and NUJU secretary Mykola Semena, according to a news report on the NSJU website.
“They died from a Russian drone, but they have not disappeared from our memory. Alyona and Yevhen were brave journalists who chose truth even under mortal threat. We will always remember them,” said NSJU Chairman Serhiy Tomilenko.
A Russian strike drone hit the film crew while they were working at the site of the shelling.
Alyona Gramova constantly worked in the hottest spots of Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions, telling the world the truth about how Russian forces destroy her native Donetsk region. Alyona was born in Yenakiieve, educated as a financier, but when Russian aggression began, she realized her calling was journalism. Since 2021, she worked as a war correspondent for Ukrainian state foreign broadcasting channels. In June 2023, she was awarded the Order of Princess Olga, III class. In November 2025, she was posthumously awarded the Order “For Merit” III class.
Yevhen Karmazin was born in Kramatorsk, Donetsk region. Since 2021, he worked as a camera operator for Ukrainian state foreign broadcasting channels. In November 2025, he was posthumously awarded the Order “For Merit” III class.
The Igor Lubchenko National Prize for defending freedom of speech was established by NUJU in 2012 in honor of Igor Fedorovych Lubchenko, who headed the Union from 1997 to 2012 and made the defense of freedom of speech one of the key principles of the profession. The prize is awarded annually to journalists, human rights defenders, and organizations that remain faithful to professional ethics and civic duty under pressure, war, or repression.
In previous years, laureates of the prize included Serhiy Tsyhipa, Civil Rights Defenders, Vladyslav Yesypenko, Belarusian Association of Journalists, Stanislav Aseyev, Crimean Tatar civil journalists, Roman Sushchenko, Valeriy Makeiev, Mykola Semena, Agnieszka Romaszewska-Guzy, Oleksandr Bryzh, Nataliya Ligachova-Chernolutska, Volodymyr Mostovyi.
As previously reported, Ukrainian foreign broadcasting journalists Alyona Gramova and Yevhen Karmazin died from a Russian drone strike on October 23 in Kramatorsk. Alyona Gramova was 43 years old. Yevhen Karmazin was 33. Yevhen is survived by a son, wife, and parents. Special correspondent Oleksandr Kolychev was hospitalized in serious condition and is currently undergoing treatment.
