At least 35 journalists have already suffered at the hands of Russian occupants in Ukraine, and three have been killed. This was reported by the VR Commissioner for Human Rights Lyudmila Denisova in Telegram.
"The rf occupiers are fighting against objective coverage of their war crimes in Ukraine - killing and shelling journalists. At least 35 journalists have already suffered at the hands of Rashist militants. Three have been killed," the ombudsman said.
Journalist Viktor Dudar was killed during the hostilities near Mykolaiv. Live TV cameraman Yevgeniy Sakun was killed during a rocket attack in Kiev. U.S. citizen Brent Reno, a video journalist and documentarian, was killed at a roadblock in Irpin, Kyiv region.
Many journalists were wounded by targeted enemy fire, Denisova noted, indicating the circumstances:
The armored car marked "press" of the Swiss journalist Guillaume Bricke while driving toward Nikolaev was fired upon by the Russian military. The journalist was wounded.
Two journalists of the Czech publication Voxpot, Maida Slamova and Vojtech Bogach, came under fire from Russian troops.
Two Danish correspondents of Ekstra-Bladet - journalist Stefan Weichert and photographer and reporter Emil Filtenborg Mikkelsen were wounded by gunfire.
Russian troops attacked the British television group Sky News - chief correspondent Stuart Ramsey and his four colleagues were returning to Kiev when they were ambushed. Ramsey was shot in the back; cameraman Richie Mockler was saved by a bulletproof vest, which was fired twice.
"Under target fire the objects of the television infrastructure of Ukraine - the enemy tried to destroy the Kiev, Lutsk and Rivne television towers, seized television towers and television studios in the temporarily occupied cities. The occupiers' actions are aimed at imposing Rashist propaganda and ideology and suppressing all other information resources," the Ombudsman stressed.
She stressed that the killing and shelling of journalists is a gross violation of the Hague Convention and Declaration, the Geneva Convention for the Protection of War Victims and its Additional Protocols, and the Convention on the Laws and Customs of War on Land, which establish safety guarantees for journalists.
"I call on international human rights organizations to take all possible measures to increase pressure on the Russian Federation to stop military aggression against Ukraine," the Ombudsman concluded.
On the night of March 15, it became known that journalist Ben Hall, who works for the American television company Fox News, was injured as a result of shelling by the Russian occupiers in the Kiev region. The man was hospitalized and was unconscious in serious condition.
