Four Ukrainian media professionals confirmed dead on the front line

Since the onset of the conflict, Russia has been implicated in 575 violations against journalists and media organizations in Ukraine, according to a report by the Institute of Mass Information (IMI).

During February and March of 2024, IMI documented seven instances of infringements on freedom of speech attributed to Russia. These violations included the targeting of TV towers resulting in the shutdown of Ukrainian broadcasting, the destruction of media offices, and cyberattacks.

As a result of Russian aggression, four media workers were killed. The deaths of some of them became known only in March, as they were initially considered missing:

• Anton Yakovenko, a soldier who previously worked as a video editor for XSPORT channel. His final battle took place in Vuhledar (Donetsk Oblast).
• Volodymyr Petrenko, a soldier and former editor of the Zhytomyr media outlet Polissya.today. He was killed on Feb. 22, 2024, near the village of Synkivka in Kupiansk Raion, Kharkiv Oblast, during a mortal Russian shelling.
• Dmytro Sinchenko, a soldier and journalist for Tyzhden magazine and Radio Liberty. His death was confirmed on March 8, 2024. He had gone missing at the end of August 2023.
• Petro Tsurukin, a soldier, TV presenter, and editor. He was known as the chief editor of the “One for All” project on the STB TV channel and also worked as a TV presenter on the Kyiv Live channel. He was missing for over half a year. His death became known on March 18, 2024.

Russians have once again targeted Ukrainian television and radio infrastructure. In Kharkiv Oblast, drones were employed to attack television infrastructure, while missile and aerial strikes damaged radio engineering facilities in Sumy Oblast.

The editorial office of the Vorskla newspaper was also compromised for the second time in a month, resulting in significant destruction.

Other instances of Russian aggression against Ukrainian media included hacking the scrolling information ticker during a live stream of Priamyi channel on YouTube, which was subsequently used to broadcast Russian propaganda.

Additionally, the website of the digital news aggregator Freedom was overwhelmed with 33 million requests in a brief period, though the site continued to function with minor disruptions.

Finally, the signal of the Public Broadcaster on the Astra satellite was jammed from the “Medvezhi Ozera” space communication center located in the Moscow region, although broadcasting was eventually restored.

As reported earlier, during the one year and ten months since the full-scale invasion commenced, Ukraine’s aggressors have killed 70 journalists. Ten of those lost their lives while carrying out their professional journalistic duties.

Copy editing: Ilona Babkina, Terra Friedman King