Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, 21 journalists have been killed, 9 injured and 15 are still missing

The Ukrainian Institute of Mass Communication (IMI) has found that 21 journalists have been killed, nine have been injured and 15 have been missing since the beginning, exactly two months ago, of the Russian invasion of the country, during which time Vladimir Putin's troops committed, according to the organization, 243 attacks on media professionals and facilities in the country.

IMI accuses Russia of bombing at least eleven communication towers, intimidating journalists and blocking access to Ukrainian media in Russia. These actions, he denounces, have forced the closure of 106 regional media outlets due to “the threats of the Russian occupiers or the forcible seizures of newsrooms” that have led to the “impossibility of working under temporary occupation and printing newspapers”.

IMI distinguishes that seven of the 21 journalists who died died directly during the coverage of the Russian invasion, while another 14 died in attacks that occurred when they did not were carrying out their work. The Ukrainian agency has also found “eight cases of abduction of journalists by Russian occupiers” in the regions of Zaporiyia and Kherson.

Most of the missing reporters are in the city of Mariupol, under siege by Russian forces practically since the beginning of the invasion, and have received this status since the organization “cannot verify that they are in contact with their colleagues”. The whereabouts of another reporter captured by Russian forces in the vicinity of Kiev, recently released, are also unknown.

IMI “has also recorded numerous computer attacks against websites of Ukrainian media and NGOs covering the war” and threats sent since the end of March to “email addresses of Ukrainian media and journalists”, according to the balance published on its page.

For its part, the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture denounced that to date 242 episodes of Russian war crimes against Ukrainian cultural heritage have been documented.

“The enemy chooses targets to fulfill its main objective; to destroy the centers of Ukrainian culture,” the ministry wrote in a statement, stating that crimes by Russian troops against Ukrainian cultural heritage have been recorded in eleven regions and the capital, Kiev.

Thus, 84 episodes were documented in the Kharkov region; in Donetsk, 45; in Kiev, 38; in Chernihiv, 24; in Luhansk, 17; in Sumy, 14; in Zaporiyia, Zhytomyr and Kiev, five, respectively; in Dnipropetrovsk and Mykolaiv, one, respectively, and three in that of Kherson.

As a result of the hostilities in Ukraine, 94 cultural heritage sites have been destroyed or damaged, including 16 monuments of national importance, 72 of local importance and 6 identified solely as cultural heritage.

Religious centers have suffered the most from attacks by Russian troops, with 92 buildings destroyed or damaged - including Orthodox churches, Protestant places of worship, mosques and synagogues - 35 of them recorded as historical, architectural and urban monuments.

The ministry specifies that the damaged objects include 29 memorials honoring people and historical events from the 19th to the beginning of the 21st centuries, 19 buildings and complexes of museums and reserves, 33 cultural centers, theaters and libraries, as well as some other valuable historical buildings.

At the same time, it refers to difficulties in obtaining information on the destruction in the temporarily occupied territories and areas under combat.

With information from Europa Press and EFE

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