In particular, a total of 29 killings of journalists, 17 injuries, and 12 cases of deprivation of freedom of journalists in temporarily uncontrolled territory of the state were recorded. Maksym Tsutskiridze, a Deputy Head of the National Police of Ukraine / Head of the Main Investigative Department, said this during a round table initiated by the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU).
He emphasized the importance and relevance of the investigation into offenses against media representatives who, in a difficult time for the country, cover the inhumane behavior of representatives of the occupation authorities of the Russian Federation.
According to the speaker, during Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, National Police investigators initiated 54 criminal proceedings based on the facts of the following crimes committed by the Russian military:
“We have recorded 29 cases of deaths of journalists, 17 injuries, as well as facts of deprivation of their right of movement – 12 journalists are currently staying in the uncontrolled territory. Their fate is partially unknown; some are in captivity. All these facts are being investigated.”
The Deputy Head of the National Police noted that most criminal proceedings involving injured journalists are sent to the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) for investigation. In such cases, the police are ready to contribute to the investigation as much as possible by creating joint investigative and operational teams.
At the same time, the police are currently investigating ten such cases. So, Maksym Tsutskiridze focused on specific cases. In particular, regarding the kidnapping in the Kherson Region and deprivation of liberty of Oleh Baturin, a journalist of the Novyi Den newspaper:
“He has been released and is testifying about the representatives of the occupation authorities of Kherson, who helped the armed forces of the Russian Federation in depriving him of his freedom. Two persons who provided information that he is a journalist contributing to the objective presentation of information about the Russian invasion were in absentia notified of the suspicion.”
According to Maksym Tsutskiridze, the death of six journalists due to a missile attack on a television tower in the city of Kyiv, the death of the head of the press service of the joint assault brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Yurii Leliavskyi, and the shooting by the Russian military of journalist Serhii Pushchenko, who served in the voluntary public formation of the territorial community, are being investigated.
The speaker also informed about the work of investigative units of the National Police in documenting war crimes of the Russian Federation as a whole. During Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, 66,700 criminal proceedings were initiated. In most cases, the legal qualification of these facts violates the laws and customs of war.
The speaker also talked about the work of the police in the de-occupied territories:
“There we discover the greatest horrors. These are both mass burials and places of temporary detention of our citizens, including journalists.”
According to Maksym Tsutskiridze, the largest mass burials were found in Izium in the Kharkiv Region, where 941 people died, and in the Kyiv Region, where the bodies of 1,374 people were found.
In addition, the police recorded 25 torture chambers and places of imprisonment in the Kharkiv Region, 16 in the Kherson Region, three in the Kyiv Region, and six in other occupied territories.
Maksym Tsutskiridze emphasized that the work on documenting Russia’s war crimes continues. The collected evidence will help bring those guilty of their commission to justice in Ukrainian and international courts.
National Police of Ukraine
