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November 19, 2024 – Russia/Ukraine –
After 1,000 days since Russia’s full-scale invasion began on 24 February 2022, Ukrainian journalists are pressing on despite escalating threats, according to IPI, ECPMF, and IMI data.
IPI’s assessment underscores the intense risks: at least 13 media workers killed in combat reporting, countless journalist injuries, and well over 1,000 documented media-freedom violations, including cyberattacks, censorship, and surveillance. The death toll includes frontline reporters like Arman Soldin and Oksana Baulina, many victims of indiscriminate shelling or suspected extrajudicial executions.
ECPMF and Media Freedom Rapid Response partner statements mark 19 November 2024 as the 1,000‑day milestone, honoring the fallen while saluting Ukrainian journalists who “risk their lives to bring us critical news”. These organizations highlight sustained physical and digital dangers—including hacking, denial‑of‑service attacks, and the proliferation of spoof sites and propaganda aimed at undermining independent reporting.
IMI’s data offers a stark view of media resilience amid crisis: over 329 outlets closed, mainly from frontline oblasts like Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk, with just 16% restarting operations. Causes include occupation, financial collapse, and direct hostilities.
Despite challenges from both Russian aggression and Ukrainian state pressures—such as surveillance and wartime censorship—independent journalism persists. The MFRR has noted Ukrainian authorities surveilling outlets like Bihus.Info and interrogating reporters, while announcing common news broadcast formats seen by many journalists as state-aligned.
In summary, the 1,000-day milestone is both a memorial and a testament: Ukrainian journalists continue to report under fire. With dozens killed, many more wounded, hundreds detained, and media silenced, they persist under physical and digital assault as well as institutional friction. IPI, ECPMF, and IMI call for sustained international support, legal protections, digital security measures, and funding to ensure Ukraine’s independent press survives—and thrives—through war and beyond.
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