Russia’s systematic persecution of Ukrainian journalists
Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russian military personnel in the occupied territories began to commit acts of violence against Ukrainian journalists who had not managed to leave in time. Independent media workers who truthfully covered events in their cities were killed, abducted, taken prisoner and tortured by the occupiers.
Oleh Baturin, a correspondent for the newspaper ‘Novy Den’ from the Kherson region, spent eight days in Russian captivity. He was tortured and threatened with death if he did not start cooperating with the occupying authorities.
Journalist Svitlana Zalizetska actively attended pro-Ukrainian rallies in the occupied city of Melitopol in the Zaporizhzhia oblast. They also tried to force her to cooperate with the Russian Federation, even going so far as to kidnap her closest person.
The Russians kept Oleksandr Hunko, editor-in-chief of the ‘Nova Kakhovka.City’ website, chained to a radiator and forced him to record a propaganda video in which he allegedly praises Russia.
Not all of the film’s subjects managed to escape from Russian captivity.
The film also features the stories of Kyiv-based journalist Dmytro Khyliuk, who remains in captivity, and photojournalist Max Levin, who was killed by the Russians.
We tell the story of how Russia systematically hunted down Ukrainian media workers in the occupied territories who tried to tell the truth about the war in the documentary film ‘Occupation: The Price of a Word’.
