As of now, 30 media professionals are held captive by Russia. This information was reported on April 24 during a meeting of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine’s Coordinating Committee for the implementation in Ukraine of the Council of Europe’s “Journalists Matter” campaign. They are not only journalists, but also administrators of Telegram channels, camera operators and others. Five female media professionals are among those held in captivity. They are Iryna Danylovych, Iryna Levchenko, Viktoriia Roshchyna, Anastasiia Hlukhovska, and Yana Suvorova. We have gathered their stories and the latest information regarding efforts to secure their release from captivity.
Iryna Danylovych
Iryna Danylovych, aged 44, is a human rights activist, journalist, and the author of the project “Crimean Medicine Without a Cover”. She collaborated with independent mass media, notably the media project “Inzhyr” and the “Crimean Process” initiative, where she spoke out about fabricated cases against political prisoners. Iryna is currently unlawfully imprisoned for up to 7 years after being kidnapped by occupation forces in April 2022.
The Center for Civil Liberties reports that Iryna Danylovych was kidnapped on the evening of April 29, 2022, in Koktebel, as she was returning home from work. On the same day, law enforcement officers searched her house, seizing equipment and books, and informed her relatives about an administrative arrest decision regarding Iryna, without disclosing her whereabouts. Later, it was discovered that Iryna was held in the FSB basement for a week without any legal status or access to legal assistance.
Iryna’s father told us that the family searched for their daughter for 12 days until they received information that she was in a pre-trial detention center:
“The court ordered a 2-month arrest. At that time, we didn’t know the reasons or how it happened. If we hadn’t started searching, there probably wouldn’t have been anyone left to look for by now. We’ve heard of such cases.”
On May 7, 2022, the journalist was arrested for one month and 29 days on suspicion of violating Article 222.1, Part 1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which pertains to the “illegal acquisition, transfer, sale, storage, transportation, or carrying of explosive substances or explosive devices.”
At the end of July 2022, from prison, Iryna managed to convey information about inhumane treatment and threats she faced from FSB officers.
Due to Danylovych’s persistent complaints against the pre-trial detention center administration, she was transferred to a cell without heating, which led to her falling ill with otitis and eventually resulted in the complete loss of hearing in her left ear due to the lack of medical assistance. A day before the verdict was announced, human rights defenders called an ambulance, but the doctors who arrived refused to admit her to the hospital.
On December 28, 2022, the Feodosia City Court of Crimea sentenced Iryna Ivanova to 7 years in a general regime prison and imposed a fine of 50,000 rubles for her involvement in a financial fraud scheme. The part regarding the acquisition and storage of explosives was excluded from the charge, but the accusation of carrying weapons remained.
On June 29, the occupant’s Supreme Court of Crimea modified the sentence of Iryna Danylovych, shortening the term of punishment by one month.
In November of last year, it was reported that Danylovych was being held in unsanitary conditions and was not receiving proper treatment.
Iryna Levchenko
Iryna Levchenko is a retired journalist from occupied Melitopol. Iryna Danylovych, along with her husband Oleksandr, was kidnapped in early May 2023. At present, it is unknown what they are accused of and where they are being held.
According to Iryna’s sister, Olena Rudenko, in an interview with Hromadske Radio, contact with the couple was lost on May 6. After some time, it became known that they were detained, sleeping on cement, and receiving inedible food. At the time of her detention, Iryna Levchenko had not been engaged in journalism for 2 years, as she was retired. Here is what Olena Rudenko says about the moment of detention:
“We have the testimony of one person who was nearby during the detention. She saw that Iryna was talking to the Russian military in the city, and Iryna gestured to this person with her eyes to pass by, not to stop, and not to get involved. We believe that this was the moment of their detention – May 6 at 10 a.m. That’s all we know.”
Olena Rudenko also notes that Oleksandr Levchenko managed to hand over a note in which he said that he was accused of terrorism and was going to be tried, but he only talked about himself; there was no contact with Iryna. Iryna Levchenko’s sister applied to Ukrainian law enforcement agencies.
Victoriia Roshchyna
The 26-year-old freelance journalist, born in Zaporizhzhia, who won the “Courage in Journalism” award from the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) in 2022, disappeared in the temporarily occupied territories in August 2023. Previously, the woman worked with several leading publications in Ukraine, including Radio Liberty, Hromadske, and Ukrainska Pravda, specializing in topics related to crime and court proceedings. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, she has been reporting from the occupied territories.
Victoriia’s father, Volodymyr, told the Daily Beast that on July 27, his daughter left Ukraine for Poland, intending to reach the occupied territories in eastern Ukraine through Russia within three days. When her relatives spoke with her on August 3, the journalist said that she had passed the border checks a few days earlier but did not disclose her exact location. The application for disappearance was submitted to Ukrainian law enforcement officers on August 12. According to the father, the SSU confirmed that Victoriia is being held captive by the Russians.
Previously, Viktoriia Roshchyna was detained twice, but she managed to escape captivity both times and resumed her professional activities. This is how the journalist explained her refusal to give up when she received the Courage in Journalism award: “I was never afraid to tell the truth. People must know the truth, and the guilty must answer. I don’t consider it courage, but rather a professional duty.”
Anastasiia Hlukhovska
Before the full-scale invasion, Anastasiia Hlukhovska worked as a journalist for RIA-Melitopol. She was kidnapped from her own apartment on the morning of August 20, 2023, and the journalist’s whereabouts are still unknown. All attempts by relatives to find Anastasiia were unsuccessful, as the Russians do not provide any information about her.
According to Svitlana Zaziletska, a journalist of RIA-Melitopol, one month after Anastasiia’s abduction, Russian television aired a video showing armed men entering her apartment to search for her. They then handcuffed her, took her out, placed her in a car, and drove her in an unknown direction.
Yana Suvorova
19-year-old Yana Suvorova worked as an administrator of Melitopol Telegram channels. She was kidnapped along with other media professionals on August 20, 2023. All of them are accused of terrorism. Yana Suvorova was also captured on video during her detention, which was shown by Russian mass media. In the video, she confesses that under pressure, she provided information about the movement of equipment.
“Today, an entire blockbuster was dedicated to the captives, reminiscent of propaganda: FSB officers in balaclavas, armed with assault rifles, leaping over fences, breaking down doors, seizing people, and leading them out of houses in handcuffs. Further, propaganda films remorse and confessions, which are obtained in a well-known manner. Among the prisoners, there is even a 19-year-old girl and a boy suffering from schizophrenia. The purpose of these TV stories is to intimidate the civilian population. Such propaganda tricks are typically pulled out of the storeroom by Russian invaders when there is no success at the front. Then the main tactic unfolds – terrorizing the local population,” reads the message from the Telegram channel RIA-Melitopol.
The issue of return from captivity is open
At the meeting of the coordinating committee for the implementation of the Council of Europe campaign Journalists Matter, Hanna Krasnostup, Director of the Department of Information Policy and Information Security of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, reported that the names of the captured media persons are being recorded. She stated, “Many of our partner organizations, such as IMI, the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine, along with some of our colleagues and public organizations, maintain a list of journalists who, unfortunately, are currently in captivity in the Russian Federation. In my opinion, it is our personal responsibility, and specifically my responsibility as the coordinator of the Council of Europe campaign in Ukraine, Journalists Matter, to ensure the return of each and every one to Ukraine, to their Motherland.”
Serhii Tomilenko, the Chairman of the NUJU, noted that the NUJU is collaborating with its partner, the European Federation of Journalists, to ensure that all known cases of civilian journalists are included in the single database of the Council of Europe. He stated, “We advocate for unconditional release, and to keep the issue of solidarity with captives in constant view, we also urge for solidarity with captive journalists to be one of the leading topics in Ukraine.”
Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Freedom of Speech, posted on Facebook that the Parliament has endorsed a resolution aimed at facilitating the release of journalists held hostage by the Putin regime.
“The names of Vladyslav Yesypenko, Dmytro Khyliuk, Viktoriia Roshchyna, and Iryna Danylovych should resonate around the world, as they are unlawfully detained in Russian prisons. Only international publicity and pressure from the world’s most authoritative organizations can influence Russia.”
We would like to remind you that in October 2023, the Women in Media NGO published the study titled “Underestimated Threat: Gendered Disinformation about Ukrainian Women Journalists.” This study provides evidence of how Russia employs a strategy of gender disinformation in Ukraine to silence female journalists and foster a negative perception of gender equality and the role of women in democratic societies.
This material was made possible by the New Democracy Fund (NDF) and International Media Support (IMS) as part of the project “Breaking Down Barriers: Bringing together public organizations, media, and state bodies to achieve gender equality in the media space of Ukraine,” implemented by the NGO “Women in Media.” Any views expressed here belong to the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of NDF or IMS.