Ruslan Smieshchuk (right) poses with Ukrainian military press officer Iryna Rybakova while on assignment in June 2022 outside the Russian-occupied city Izyum in eastern Ukraine. (Photo: Ruslan Smieshchuk)
“War is a lot of pain and grief,” says Ruslan Smieshchuk, a reporter for privately owned Ukrainian TV channel Inter. In interviews with CPJ, Smieshchuk recounted a single day of his reporting on the Russian invasion of Ukraine: filming the rubble of a bombed school, navigating multiple military checkpoints, and riding to the frontline amid artillery fire.
At least 12 journalists have been killed while covering the conflict, now in its fifth month, and CPJ is investigating whether three others died because of their work.
CPJ urges Brazilian authorities to conduct a comprehensive and transparent investigation into the June murders of journalist Dom Phillips and Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira
Russia-Ukraine war
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A Ukrainian flag waves over a house destroyed by shelling in the village of Moshchun, in the Kyiv region, on June 2, 2022. (AFP/Sergei Chuzavkov)
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People face off with Kentucky State Troopers during a protest against the deaths of Breonna Taylor by Louisville police and George Floyd by Minneapolis police, in Louisville, Kentucky, U.S. May 29, 2020. REUTERS/Bryan Woolston – RC2PYG9106R3
People face off with Kentucky State Troopers during a protest against the deaths of Breonna Taylor by Louisville police and George Floyd by Minneapolis police, in Louisville, Kentucky, U.S. May 29, 2020. REUTERS/Bryan Woolston – RC2PYG9106R3
A woman takes part in a protest outside the CNB Radio headquarters in Caracas August 1, 2009. The first of 34 radio stations ordered shut by the Venezuelan government went off the air on Saturday, part of President Hugo Chavez’s drive to extend his socialist revolution to the media. The banner reads, “Where is your freedom of information?” REUTERS/Jorge Silva (VENEZUELA POLITICS CONFLICT MEDIA) – GM1E582029G01
British freelance journalist Dom Phillips went missing on June 5, 2022, during a reporting trip in the Brazilian Amazon, and his remains were found with gunshot wounds on June 15. Reports later found that Phillips and Indigenous issues expert Bruno Pereira, who was traveling with him, were shot and killed the morning they went missing.
CPJ has called on Brazilian authorities to conduct a comprehensive and transparent investigation into the murders and to hold those responsible to account.