During the war, Russia committed more than 900 crimes against Ukrainian media; safety standards for journalists need to be updated.
This was stated by Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Freedom of Speech, during the International Conference on Media Literacy, according to a Ukrinform correspondent.
“Preventing cognitive attacks and shaping strategic narratives is impossible without a strong media. The second factor for media stability is journalists’ working conditions. Here, we face a tremendous challenge from Russian aggressors. More than 900 crimes have been committed against Ukrainian media, and 139 media workers have been killed—though this figure could actually be revised every week. Some of them were non-combatants—people who never took up arms—and were killed while performing their professional duties. Twenty-six journalists are being held captive. Viktoria Roshchina was killed while in captivity. All of this shows just how dangerous it is to work in the media in Ukraine,” said the MP.
Yurchyshyn emphasized the need to update standards for the protection of journalists.
“Drone detectors are already permitted and are being procured by many international partners. The next step is to convince people that anti-drone guns are not about guns, but about protecting people from drones. Accordingly, they cannot in any way be considered offensive or defensive weapons; they are mechanisms that enable people to defend themselves. Therefore, it is essential that we have the ability to procure them using both our own and international resources,” he said.
The lawmaker also emphasized the need to support local media. According to Yurchyshyn, the financial stability of media outlets is a key condition for their independence.
As reported by Ukrinform, according to data from the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NSJU), at least 152 members of the Ukrainian media community have been killed since the start of the full-scale invasion resulting from Russian aggression.