The journalists who are no longer going to be online

Over the past two years, Russia has been consistently shelling Ukrainian editorial offices, abducting, prosecuting, and killing journalists within Ukraine. The murderous attacks by the neighboring state have resulted in irreparable losses for Ukrainian journalism.

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Russia has taken away the lives of 70 Ukrainian and international journalists, photographers, camerapeople, and TV producers. It has also deprived the world of thousands of stories that are never going to be told and materials that never will be recorded. This is one more of Russia’s ways to blur the truth about the ongoing war.

The REQUIEM outlet gathers the stories and legacies of Ukrainian journalists and media workers who have fallen victim to these attacks.

Russia has demonstrated its ability to divert the international community’s attention from its crimes. Thus, for example, the so-called ‘anti-war protest’, implemented by Marina Ovsyannikova on the air of the Russian Channel 1, took place right after the death of an American documentarian Brent Renaud due to Russian shelling. Ovsyannikova’s ‘outcry’ aroused an instant resonance and lasting discussion in the foreign media.

Our news survey from March 13-22, 2022, has proved that the case of Marina Ovsyannikova was more frequently mentioned than the death of Brent Renaud. Besides, in many headlines, Ovsyannikova was called an "anti-war protester", and her 'bravery' was jus praised without any emphasizing that she was responsible for spreading Russian propaganda. Ovsyannikova had been working for the Russian Channel 1, famous for inciting hatred towards Ukrainians, for more than 20 years.

Moreover, media had never mentioned that Russia was daily endangering media workers’ lives in Ukraine while citing the statistics about the number of journalists forced to leave Russia.

Another example is the media's reaction to the death of Russian propagandist and RIA-Novosti correspondent Rostislav Zhuravlyov on July 23, 2023. Although this case did not receive as much publicity as Ovsyannikova's 'protest', several media outlets reported it and shared Russia's accusations against Ukraine for the use of cluster munitions. The propagandistic background of Rostislav Zhuravlyov was not covered.

A day before Zhuravlyov’s death, Ukrainian journalist and defender Dmytro Rybakov was killed at the frontline, but his murder went unreported by any foreign media.

Ukrainians must actively remind the world about Russian crimes and strive for accurate media coverage. To aid in this effort, we have prepared an infographic detailing the journalists killed by Russia.