Journalists At War. The Monitoring of Russian Occupiers’ Crimes Against Independent Media in 2026

PEN Ukraine is documenting the losses among the media workers in the Russian war against Ukraine. As of May 4, 2026, 130 Ukrainian and foreign media workers have been killed by Russian occupiers since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. The Institute of Mass Information (IMI) is documenting the losses among the fellow journalists.

April

Military servicewoman and casting director Viktoriia Bobrova was killed in action in the Kharkiv region on April 23, 2026. Viktoriia worked on Ukrainian films and TV series. She was the press officer of the 10^th separate mountain assault brigade.

Ukrainian filmmaker Ihor Malakhov who has been considered missing for almost two years, was recognized as killed in action. In 1997-2000, he had been deputy director of Kyiv Oleksandr Dovzhenko film studio, and he was in charge of the young cinema. He was killed on 29 December 2023, in battle near Avdiivka, close to the village of Stepove in the Donetsk region.

March

Military serviceman and cameraman Yevhenii Solovei was killed at the frontline on 27 March 2026. He joined the team of 1+1 TV Channel in 2011. In 2022, he voluntarily enlisted in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and became a drone pilot.

On 18 March, stand-up comedian and soldier with the 43rd Mechanised Brigade, Artur Petrov, was killed during the evacuation of the wounded from Kupiansk-Vuzlovyi. Before joining the army, he had performed with the Underground Stand-up for over seven years.

Volodymyr Fomichenko-Zakutsky, former marketing director at Zaborona Media, was killed in action. His death was officially reported on 10 March 2026. He was killed on 26 February 2026 in Pokrovsk (Donetsk region) whilst carrying out a combat mission.

February

On 5 February, Serhiy Fisun, a journalist from Kharkiv and an officer in the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ Airborne Assault Troops, was killed on the front line by a strike from an enemy "Lancet" kamikaze drone. He was 47 years old.

January

In Donetsk region, Volodymyr Siniychuk was killed in action on 4 January 2026. He was a serviceman and a photocorrespondent with the local newspaper Ridnyi Kray from Velyka Bahachka village in Poltava region.

Yuriy Mihashko was killed in action in the Sumy direction. He was a production designer at Novyi Kanal and STB. He enlisted in the Defense Forces in March 2022.

Lana Chornohorska, a journalist and a servicewoman of the Ukrainian Volunteer Army, was killed in action. She served as a UAV pilot and navigator. Before joining the military, she worked as a journalist for the Kharkiv-based media outlet Liuk and was also an activist and an artist. She was killed on the southern front on 1 January 2026 as a result of a Russian drone strike.