Russia-Ukraine War

(Photo shows Denis Pushilin, leader of the separatists in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, speaking to journalists in Ukraine’s port city of Mariupol on May 18, 2022. Credit: Olga Maltseva/AFP)
A Russian soldier guards an area as international journalists tour a steel plant in Mariupol as part of a trip organized by the Russian Ministry of Defense on May 18, 2022. Credit: AP Photo
Journalists report inside a destroyed warehouse for storing food, after an attack from Russia twelve days ago in Brovary, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine on March 29, 2022. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
Journalists take pictures of a soldier during a press tour near the front line in Brovary, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine on March 28, 2022. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
Journalists work near buildings damaged in a military strike in Kyiv, on March 23, 2022. (Reuters/Serhii Nuzhnenko)

Russia continues to attack cities and towns across Ukraine as the war there stretches into its third month, with the conflict taking an escalating toll. More than 6.5 million people have fled across Ukraine’s borders and more than seven million have been internally displaced since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of the country in early February.

At least seven journalists covering the war in Ukraine have been killed, and CPJ is investigating the deaths of seven other journalists to determine if they were work-related. Scores more have faced shelling, shooting and detention as they work to provide vital information about the invasion. Russian journalists have been detained and threatened during Moscow’s crackdown on independent Russian media, and many have fled the country.

CPJ has called for the protection of Ukrainian journalists, along with the international reporters and media workers who join them in covering the conflict, and asked Ukraine to exempt them from compulsory military service. CPJ is tracking regional press freedom violations below and in its weekly Russia-Ukraine watch.

CPJ safety advice

If you are a journalist covering Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, please consult the following safety advice:

If you are a journalist in need of emergency assistance, please contact [email protected].

May 20, 2022 Ukrainian photojournalist Ihor Hudenko died in February
May 19, 2022 Belarusian journalist detained for 2 months, charged over reporting
May 18, 2022 Proposed Russian legislation threatens to shut down all independent media
May 16, 2022 Journalist Iryna Danilovich charged, detained by Russian authorities in Crimea
May 11, 2022 Journalists detained, homes searched amid Victory Day celebrations in Russia
May 10, 2022 Ukrainian photojournalist Ihor Hudenko missing in Kharkiv since February
May 9, 2022 Belarusian journalist Yury Hantsarevich detained for 10 days, charged with extremism
May 9, 2022 CPJ and Medtrade to distribute CELOX lifesaving medical supplies in Ukraine
May 6, 2022 Russian police investigate journalist Ilya Ber over fact-check on Ukraine deaths
May 6, 2022 Belarusian journalist Denis Staji found severely beaten in Ukraine

Associated Press photographer Evgeniy Maloletka points at the smoke rising after an airstrike in Mariupol, Ukraine on March 9, 2022. (AP Photo/Mstyslav Chernov)

Tweets by CPJ_Eurasia

May 23, 2022 ‘Disastrous for press freedom’: What Russia’s goal of an isolated internet means for journalists
May 18, 2022 As Russia’s war in Ukraine drags on, Ukrainian journalists get help from Polish colleagues
May 16, 2022 Some Ukrainian journalists are leaving the media for the military in the name of patriotism
April 12, 2022 Emily Bell: Tech companies must ‘wake up’ to their role in Ukraine war disinformation
March 25, 2022 ‘We expect anything’: A Russian union leader vows to keep helping journalists facing state repression
March 21, 2022 Opinion: Putin tolerated some critical voices in his 22-year assault on Russian media. His war in Ukraine ends even that.
March 15, 2022 Calling the war ‘war’: Meduza’s Galina Timchenko bucks Russia’s censorship on Ukraine
March 14, 2022 ‘Hard, emotional and painful’: Journalists in Ukraine on covering Russia’s invasion
March 11, 2022 Russia-Ukraine watch
March 11, 2022 Opinion: How the West can help the media victims of Putin’s war

At least seven journalists killed for their work in Ukraine

At least seven journalists have been killed in relation to their work since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. Their friends, families, and colleagues remember them as uncles, cat-lovers, joke-tellers, and so much more.