New York, October 8, 2024—Ukrainian authorities should swiftly investigate the recent attacks on journalists Yuriy Leskiv, Elmira Shagabuddinova, and Olena Hnitetska, and hold the perpetrators to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday.
“CPJ condemns the intimidation of journalists Yuriy Leskiv, Elmira Shagabuddinova, and Olena Hnitetska, and calls on Ukrainian authorities to ensure timely investigations,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. “Ukrainian authorities must hold the perpetrators to account and ensure that journalists can work safely. No journalist should be subjected to violence for reporting matters of public interest.”
On September 26, in the western city of Sambir, two unidentified men in the street cursed Leskiv, a freelance journalist, attempted to physically attack him, and said that he should stop writing about the activities of the mayor and other local officials, according to a Facebook post by the journalist and a post by the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine, a local advocacy and trade group. The police have identified the two individuals, according to another Facebook post by Leskiv, who regularly reports on alleged corruption and wrongdoings involving local officials.
Separately, on September 29, in the southeast city of Zaporizhzhia, an unspecified number of individuals obstructed Shagabuddinova, a journalist with the local news website 061.ua, while she was reporting on the aftermath of a Russian strike on a residential area, according to the Ukrainian press freedom group Institute of Mass Information (IMI). A woman tried to snatch Shagabuddinova’s phone from her hands and demanded she delete the pictures she had taken. Shagabuddinova filed a complaint with the police.
On September 30, in the southeastern city of Kherson, an unidentified man assaulted Hnitetska, a journalist with the online news outlet MOST, while she was reporting on the construction of underground schools in the city, according to IMI and a Facebook post by the Kherson police, who are investigating the assault. The man prevented Hnitetska from filming the construction site, snatched her phone from her hands, and threw it into a construction pit.
CPJ emailed Ukraine’s national police for comment on the three cases but did not immediately receive a response.