Institute of Mass Information (IMI)

Many of these detained Ukrainian journalists face dubious terrorism or spying charges; several have been tortured, abused and beaten.

The latest bomb threat received by IMI came with the message: “Today your building will explode, and your loved ones will be picking you up piece by piece”.

Threats were the most common attack on journalists in Ukraine in January, with press outlets continuing to receive anonymous bomb threats via email.

Of the 268 attacks on freedom of expression recorded by IMI, 155 were committed by Russian forces, and included killings, woundings, kidnapping, cyberattacks and threats.

“The Russians had pre-made lists of Ukrainian journalists and purposefully detained and kidnapped them. This was done to prevent the media from reporting on Russia’s crimes to the world” – IMI

The most common reasons for closing down were the Russian occupation of territories, which saw 117 media outlets closed, and financial difficulties caused by the war, which resulted in 96 closures.

In October, several media outlets and journalists received identical emails with bomb threats. Ukrainian police said the threats came from Russian IP addresses.

Russia recently admitted detaining Ukrainian journalist Victoria Roshchyna, who went missing while reporting from Russian-occupied territory in August 2023.