Russian authorities have sentenced two Ukrainian media workers seized by Russian forces in occupied Melitopol in August 2023 to long prison terms, according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
RSF says the convictions reflect Russia’s broader campaign to silence independent media in occupied territories, where Ukrainian journalists face harsh detention and unfair trials.
Heorhiy Levchenko, administrator of the Telegram channel Ria-Melitopol, was sentenced on 2 September to 16 years in a high-security penal colony, plus a one-year ban on internet use.
The court accused him of “high treason” and “incitement to extremism.” It claimed the channel was used for “anti-Russian and pro-Ukrainian propaganda” and to pass information to Ukrainian intelligence.
Vladyslav Hershon, an administrator of Melitopol tse Ukraina (“Melitopol is Ukraine”), received a 15-year sentence on 3 September from a military court in Rostov-on-Don, Russia.
He was prosecuted for “terrorism.” In letters to his family, Hershon described his detention as “every morning is hell.”
RSF condemned the sentences as a “travesty of justice” and warned that they signal a chilling precedent for the other journalists still imprisoned in Melitopol.
Only one of the group of seven journalists arrested in August 2023, Mark Kaliush, has been released to date in a prisoner exchange.
The remaining detained journalists face ongoing legal proceedings. Maksym Rupchov’s next hearing is scheduled for 8 October, Oleksandr Malyshev’s for 15 September, and Yana Suvorova’s for 18 September. Anastasia Hlukhovska has been missing since her arrest, with her location undisclosed by Russian authorities.
RSF emphasizes that these prosecutions are part of a broader pattern of repression targeting journalists in occupied Ukrainian territories. Media professionals are treated as spies, face baseless charges, forced confessions, and denial of fair defense.
“These are not trials, but political spectacles,” said Jeanne Cavelier, head of RSF’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia Desk. “Russia is weaponising its justice system to criminalise independent journalism in the occupied territories.”
“We call for the immediate release of Heorhiy Levchenko, Vladyslav Hershon, and all journalists imprisoned for their reporting,” she continued.
Melitopol, in Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhzhia oblast, has been under Russian occupation since February 2022.
At least 26 Ukrainian journalists remain imprisoned by the Kremlin either in occupied territories or inside Russia.
Across occupied regions and within Russia, Ukrainian journalists face severe repression. Their detentions are widely considered violations of international law and could amount to war crimes.
Judges issued arrest warrants for Bashar al-Assad and six officials of his regime in Syria for an attack that killed two journalists, including Marie Colvin.
A damaged plaque with an image of former President Bashar al-Assad of Syria outside an abandoned base in Quneitra Governorate, Syria, in August. Mr. al-Assad and his family fled to Russia last December.
Ukraine secured the release of two journalists in its latest prisoner exchange on 24 August, but 28 more media workers remain in Russian captivity where evidence reveals they face systematic torture and abuse designed to break captives mentally and physically.
Ukraine’s Committee on Freedom of Speech called on the international community to maintain pressure on Russia, stating that “only publicity and persistent struggle bring closer the day when all Ukrainians will return home.”
On Ukraine’s Independence Day, the prisoner exchange occurred with assistance from the United Arab Emirates that released over 100 soldiers and civilians from each side. Among them were Ukrainian journalists Dmytro Khyliuk and Mark Kaliush.
Kaliush was detained in Melitopol on 20 August 2023. Russian authorities accused him of terrorism, espionage, and cooperation with Ukrainian special services. Now he awaits a long journey of receiving medical care and undergoing physical and mental rehabilitation, including reintegration into civilian life.
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Journalist abducted when full-scale invasion just began
Khyliuk’s captivity began in the first days of Russia’s full-scale invasion. The UNIAN news agency reporter was abducted from his family’s garden north of Kyiv in March 2022, less than two weeks after the war began. Russian forces initially held him in occupied Dymer before transferring him to Russia without any legal basis.
Ukrainian journalist Dmytro Khyliuk, wrapped in the national flag, on 24 August 2025, after his release from three years of Russian captivity. The UNIAN reporter, who weighed less than 45 kg upon his return, was among the journalists freed during Ukraine’s Independence Day prisoner exchange.
Reporters Without Borders tracked him through multiple detention facilities, ultimately to a prison in the Vladimir Oblast east of Moscow.
Throughout his captivity, Russian authorities denied holding him despite evidence of his detention. In early June 2023, Khyliuk managed to send a message to his family:
“I am OK. I love you. Tell UNIAN that I am in prison in Russia.”
Sources who met the journalist in prison estimated that at least 300 Ukrainian soldiers and civilians were being held in the same facility, which has capacity for 1,200 detainees.
Khyliuk spent over three years in Russian custody before his release—time during which he committed no crime beyond practicing journalism.
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The toll was severe: he now weighs less than 45 kilograms (99 lbs), his health deteriorated substantially due to heart problems and an abscess, and he faces a long rehabilitation ahead.
In a video recorded on the day of his release, Khyliuk described his final moments in captivity:
“There was a bandage on my face for a day and a half. My hands were wrapped with tape. They [Russians] treated you like cattle.”
But he expressed shock at learning about support back home:
“I didn’t hear, I don’t know anything about Ukraine because I heard nothing during these three years in captivity. I didn’t know that so many people here remembers us and fights for us.”
How Russian detention breaks Ukrainian prisoners
Russian detention centers operate what prosecutors call “a targeted system of repression” against Ukrainian civilians. The abuse follows deliberate policies orchestrated by Russian authorities, with evidence showing high-level security officials instructing prison staff to be cruel without repercussions.
Cells designed for eight people are crammed with around 15 detainees. Ukrainian prisoners have no contact with Russian inmates and are moved between cells every two months to prevent relationships from forming.
Former detainees report regular beatings, electric shocks, including on genitals, mock executions, and threats of sexual violence. Prisoners are subjected to prolonged stress positions, hung by arms or legs, and forced to endure positional torture while blindfolded. Both male and female prisoners face sexual violence and threats.
Ukrainian serviceman returned from Russian captivity with “Glory to Russia” inscription on his body made by a Russian doctor. Source: Clash Report
Daily life is designed for humiliation. Prisoners must stand for prolonged hours under camera surveillance, endure degrading treatment during daily checks including enforced nudity, and survive on inadequate food and medical care.
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Many Ukrainian prisoners are held in complete isolation, cut off from families, legal counsel, or the outside world for extended periods.
Former prisoners also describe the psychological warfare: captives are told they will be exchanged soon, only to have those promises broken repeatedly.
Most Ukrainian civilians are labeled as “witnesses”—meaning they face no official charges and have no access to legal representation. Their activities are limited to reading Russian propaganda books portraying Ukraine as a Nazi-controlled state or singing Russian patriotic songs.
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Price for being journalist in war-torn Ukraine
The broader assault on Ukrainian journalists has been devastating. Since Russia’s invasion began, at least 127 media workers have been killed, according to verified data from the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine and the International Federation of Journalists.
The breakdown reveals the war’s impact across different groups: 18 journalists died while performing professional duties, 10 were civilian casualties, and 99 media representatives who joined Ukraine’s Defense Forces were killed in combat.
The Institute of Mass Information reports Russia has committed 841 crimes against journalists and media in Ukraine over three and a half years of war.
“If Russia had not unleashed this shameful war, all these colleagues could have continued working successfully,” said NSJU Chairman Serhii Tomilenko. “But the aggressor state decided it was better for them to die, to leave families in deep grief, and people uninformed.”
Ukrainian journalist, investigating Russian torture, became its victim
The case of Viktoriia Roshchynaprovides the most disturbing evidence of what happens to journalists in Russian custody.
The 26-year-old’s body was returned to Ukraine in February 2025 among 757 corpses exchanged with Russia, bearing unmistakable signs of torture and missing vital organs.
Forensic investigators found broken ribs, neck injuries, and possible electric shock marks on her feet. Critical organs were missing—parts of her brain, larynx, and eyeballs—which investigators believe represents an attempt to conceal the cause of death.
Ukrainian journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna who died in Russian captivity and her body was returned to Ukraine with signs of torture and missing vital organs. Photo: Hromadske
Roshchyna disappeared in August 2023 while investigating Russia’s detention system in occupied Zaporizhzhia, her home region.
She had been compiling a list of Russian Federal Security Service agents responsible for torturing Ukrainian civilians when she was captured.
Despite being previously detained for a week in March 2022, Roshchyna continued her dangerous work. Between February 2022 and July 2023, she traveled to Russian-held territories at least four times to document conditions there.
Her final reporting trip began in July 2023. She traveled from Kyiv to Poland, then crossed from Latvia into Russia on 26 July, ostensibly heading to Melitopol but first going to Enerhodar to investigate torture centers. Russian security services captured her shortly after.
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Former cellmates described her treatment in the SIZO-2 detention center in Taganrog.
“She was whipped and tortured on an equal basis with everyone else,” said Ukrainian prisoner of war Yevheny Markevich. One cellmate saw knife wounds on her arms and legs—”definitely on her arm and leg. She had a knife wound, a fresh scar between the wrist and elbow.”
The electric torture was repeated multiple times. “She said she was all blue,” a cellmate reported, adding that the electric current may have been connected to Roshchyna’s ears.
By summer 2024, her health had deteriorated dramatically. “She was in such a state that she could not even lift her head off the pillow,” witnesses reported.
Despite her suffering, Roshchyna remained defiant.
“She called them ‘executioners, murderers,'” Markevich recalled. “Personally, I admired it. None of us were like that.”
In late August 2024, her father received a call—her first contact in over a year. Speaking in Russian rather than Ukrainian, suggesting she wasn’t alone, Viktoriia told him she expected to be home in September. Instead, Russian authorities announced her death on 19 September, though witnesses report she was removed from her cell eleven days earlier.
Ukraine has charged in absentia Alexander Shtuda, head of Russia’s Taganrog detention center, with organizing the journalist’s torture. According to Ukrainian investigators, Shtuda deliberately organized the abuse because Roshchyna refused to cooperate with the prison administration.
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Meanwhile, Ukrainian media organizations have called for international investigations into Roshchyna’s death. The OSCE Representative on Freedom of Media said he was “horrified” by the findings, emphasizing that such treatment violates the UN Convention Against Torture and the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Russia continues to hold an estimated 8,000 Ukrainian soldiers in captivity, while nearly 60,000 Ukrainians are considered missing—many likely facing conditions similar to what these journalists endured.
Ukraine conducted another combined prisoner exchange, returning both military personnel and civilians, including two journalists and the former mayor of Kherson.
Among those released are representatives from almost all defense forces, primarily enlisted and non-commissioned ranks, many of whom spent over three years in captivity.
Ukrainian soldiers had defended key areas: Mariupol, Luhansk, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Kyiv, Sumy, and the Chernobyl nuclear plant.
Ukraine brings heroes home
On 24 August 2025, Ukraine, on its Independence Day, completed a combined prisoner exchange, returning both military personnel and civilians. According to Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for Prisoner Affairs, the United Arab Emirates assisted in the release of civilians.
Russia holds an estimated 8,000 Ukrainian soldiers in captivity. Additionally, nearly 60,000 Ukrainians are considered missing, many of whom may also be detained in Russian prisons.
Ukrainian Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said that Ukraine was also involving Qatar and the United Arab Emirates in efforts to accelerate the return of illegally deported Ukrainian children stolen by Russian forces.
“Thank you to the UAE for their help. Thank you to everyone whose work makes it possible for our people to return,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated.
Who has been returned?
As agreed in Istanbul, Ukrainian forces and eight civilians were released, including:
Soldiers from the Air Assault, Air Force, and Navy units
Defenders from the Territorial Defense, the National Guard, and the Border Service
Enlisted and NCO personnel, most of whom spent over three years in captivity
Two journalists: Dmytro Khilyuk and Mark Kaliushk
Medic Serhii Kovaliov of the “Hospitallers” battalion.
He saved the lives of defenders and civilians during the siege of the Azovstal plant in Mariupol, most of whom spent over three years in Russian captivity.
Former Kherson mayor Volodymyr Mykolaienko
“Also returning home is the former mayor of Kherson, Volodymyr Mykolaienko, who refused to collaborate with the occupiers,” the coordination headquarters added.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Ministry of Defense reports that Moscow and Kyiv conducted another prisoner exchange under the 146-for-146 formula.
According to the Russian military, 146 Russian soldiers returned to Russia in exchange for 146 Ukrainian soldiers. In addition, 8 residents of the Kursk Oblast also returned to Russia, the ministry specifies.
Where did they serve?
The returning personnel had defended strategic locations across Mariupol, Luhansk, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Kyiv, Sumy, and the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, with many coming from temporarily occupied territories and Crimea.
Reintegration and support
Released persons will receive medical care, examinations, treatment, state benefits, rehabilitation, and societal reintegration. Special thanks were extended to the UAE for facilitating the release of civilian citizens.
The Coordination Headquarters adds that it will continue working to locate and return every Ukrainian held in Russian captivity.
Earlier, Ukraine brought back home the last defender of Zmiinyi or Zmiinyi (Snake) Island. Vitalii Hyrenko returned home after spending more than three years in Russian captivity.
The defenders of Zmiinyi Island in the Black Sea became known in 2022 for the now-iconic phrase: “Russian warship, go f*ck yourself.” Ukrainian border guards stationed on the island received a demand to surrender from Russian warships.
Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2023 authorized the ordering of at least two attempts to assassinate Ukrainian journalist Dmytro Gordon, Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) head Vasyl Maliuk told media on June 23, RBC-Ukraine reports.
Gordon is a prominent journalist and media personality popular in both Ukraine and other post-Soviet countries, known for his sharp criticism of Russian aggression. His YouTube channel has 4.5 million subscribers.
"Gordon triggers Russians. He has a large audience in Russia and in the (Russian) occupied territories (of Ukraine)," Maliuk said. "There are two networks that worked on Gordon that we can speak (publicly) about."
According to the SBU, the first network was led by a former lawmaker from the now-banned pro-Russian Party of Regions, originally from Poltava Oblast. The agency did not name the lawmaker.
The former MP was allegedly tasked by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) with coordinating surveillance and preparations for a strike that would kill Gordon.
"The plan was to use a homemade explosive device or coordinate a missile or a drone strike — but only if Gordon's presence in the targeted house was confirmed," Maliuk said.
The SBU had already been investigating the ex-lawmaker for involvement in a separate railway bombing case in Poltava Oblast when the assassination plot was uncovered. The group was arrested before executing the plan.
The second assassination team, Maliuk said, was a criminal group from Dagestan working secretly for the FSB under the cover of being fugitives from Russian law enforcement.
"They sent this individual here long before the full-scale war. He carried out FSB tasks all the time — very professionally, very covertly," Maliuk said.
The group monitored Gordon's movements and residence, planning to assassinate him either with a short-barreled weapon if he was alone, or with a rifle and follow-up pistol shot if accompanied by a bodyguard.
The SBU detained the group, and its leader confessed to preparing the hit on Moscow's orders. He said he had been promised $400,000 for the killing.
Gordon, who has become a high-profile figure on Ukraine's information front, regularly uses his platform to expose Russian disinformation and advocate for Ukrainian sovereignty.
Ukrainian journalist Vladyslav Yesypenko was released on June 20 after more than four years of detention in Russian-occupied Crimea, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported.
Yesypenko, a freelance contributor to Crimea.Realities, a regional project of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, reported on various issues in Crimea before being detained by Russia’s FSB in March 2021.
He was accused of espionage and possession of explosives, charges he denied, and later sentenced to five years in prison by a Russian-controlled court.
Yesypenko said he was tortured, including with electric shocks, to force a confession, and was denied access to independent lawyers for nearly a month after his arrest.
RFE/RL welcomed his release, thanking the U.S. and Ukrainian governments for their efforts. Yesypenko has since left Russian-occupied Crimea.
“Vlad was arbitrarily punished for a crime he didn’t commit… he paid too high a price for telling the truth about occupied Crimea,” said RFE/RL President Steven Kapus.
During his imprisonment, Yesypenko became a symbol of press freedom, receiving several prestigious awards, including the Free Media Award and PEN America’s Freedom to Write Award.
His case drew support from human rights groups, the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine, and international advocates for media freedom.
Russia invaded and unlawfully annexed Crimea in 2014, cracking down violently on any opposition to its regime.
Following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Kremlin toughened its grip on dissent, passing laws in March 2022 that prohibit what authorities label as "false" criticism of Russia's war.
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has issued layoff notices to over 600 employees of Voice of America (VOA), dramatically reducing the outlet's staff to fewer than 200, the New York Times (NYT) reported on June 20.
VOA, launched in 1942 to counter wartime propaganda, has long been a central pillar of U.S. public diplomacy, broadcasting in 49 languages to more than 360 million people worldwide.
Trump's crackdown against Voice of America has been celebrated by Russian propagandists, who welcomed the cuts to the network.
The dismissals, described as reductions in force, affect both journalists and support staff, who will remain on paid leave until Sept. 1. The cuts are the biggest rollback of the federally funded broadcaster in decades, reducing its staff to one-seventh of what it was at the start of 2025.
The Trump administration's move follows months of attrition at the agency. In February, the outlet employed approximately 1,300 staff. Since then, programming has been slashed, with broadcasts now limited to just four languages.
The decision to dismantle VOA has met legal challenges.
On April 22, a U.S. federal judge ordered the administration to reinstate all employees and contractors, ruling that the mass dismissal likely violated U.S. law. However, a federal appeals court overturned that order, allowing the layoffs to proceed.
The Trump administration temporarily reinstated several staff members from VOA's Persian-language service amid the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran. But at least two of those individuals also received layoff notices on June 20, according to the NYT.
Trump has repeatedly attacked U.S.-funded media outlets over their coverage, often referring to them as "fake news." His administration has framed the VOA cuts as a cost-saving measure and a response to what it views as politically biased reporting.
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