Sergiy Tomilenko on Journalist Safety, Drones, and Press Freedom in Ukraine

Sergiy Tomilenko has been President of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) since 2017. Under his leadership, NUJU helped build a network of Journalists’ Solidarity Centres, supported by UNESCO and the International and European Federations of Journalists, to provide workspaces, equipment, training, and emergency assistance during Russia’s full-scale invasion. In the interview, Tomilenko argues that drone warfare has expanded the practical danger zone well beyond the immediate line of contact, and he describes parallel crises: journalist detention in occupied territories, targeted strikes on civilian infrastructure used by reporters (including hotels), and the economic collapse of many local outlets. He also notes that different watchdogs track media-worker deaths using different definitions, and he urges sustained international pressure for the release of detained Ukrainian journalists.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen interviews Sergiy Tomilenko, president of NUJU, about wartime journalism in Ukraine. Tomilenko explains how drones push danger 25–30 kilometres from the line of contact, forcing updated safety protocols for foreign and domestic reporters. He details casualty categories, detained journalists such as Iryna Levchenko, limits on civilian exchanges, attacks on hotels and infrastructure, collapsing regional media economics, and Solidarity Centres sustaining reporting, training, equipment, fact-checking, and international pressure for all captive colleagues globally.

Scott Douglas Jacobsen: From the Kyiv Journalist Solidarity Center’s perspective, looking back over 2025, what were the priorities for journalists coming to you domestically, and for foreign journalists as well?

Sergiy Tomilenko: Priorities for foreign journalists.

Jacobsen: Foreign journalists: provision, safety, fact-checking, advising on keeping anonymity, VPNs and so on, and also navigating Ukrainian society if it is their first trip.

Tomilenko: As we see, we appreciate every foreign journalist from foreign media who tries to cover Ukraine. Unfortunately, we observe that Ukraine is no longer the media’s focus, or not as much as before. When we compare it with 2022, after the full-scale invasion began, there were hundreds and hundreds of reporters and representatives from all kinds of media in Ukraine, who prepared deep, exclusive materials. But now we observe a lack of journalists here, a lack of attention.

If foreign journalists are travelling to Ukraine, every journalist should be prepared and trained in safety, response protocols, and emergency procedures. If foreign journalists are travelling to frontline regions, they should understand that safety protocols are now changing. We, the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine, together with our experts and representatives of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, are now updating our protocols. Because the term “frontline” has changed in Ukraine.

In the past, and in safety books from UNESCO and others, “frontline” meant maybe 5 kilometres from the other army, from the Russian army. But at this moment, the frontline can be 25 or 30 kilometres away. Because Russia uses increasingly long-range drones, and Russian drones are now one of the main threats to journalists, the military, and officials. Last year, three journalists—one French photographer and two Ukrainian journalists—were killed by Russian drone strikes, reportedly around 25–30 kilometres from Russian army positions.

So we should change, we should prepare. Last week, I discussed this with press officers from the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and they explained that it may not be as dangerous to be at the actual frontline as it is to reach it. Russian drones can strike journalists, civilians, or officers on the route to the frontline. Many foreign teams and their safety advisers advise against going to the frontline or getting very close to it.

It may be a tactic of Russia: they try to target civilians, they try to target journalists. I think it is part of Russia’s strategy to silence coverage and to stop documenting Russian war crimes. These are systematic steps. For example, in 2024, there was a pattern of attacks on civilian infrastructure used by journalists. Russia attacked hotels in Kramatorsk, Kharkiv, and Zaporizhzhia, very close to the frontline. Many journalists are afraid to travel and to use civilian infrastructure. It is a tactic of Russia.

Jacobsen: Last count of journalists killed in the war that I saw from RSF (via Institute of Mass Information) and CPJwas approximately 116 killed, with 16 while doing editorial assignments. In addition, 14 journalists are missing, 29 were kidnapped, 46 were wounded, 3 were attempted to be assassinated, 46 were shelled, 130 received death threats and intimidations, 110 were victims of cyber crimes, and more. So that would probably be the count up to near the end of 2025. Do we know preliminarily how many have been injured or killed in the first two months of this year?

Tomilenko: We, as the Union of Journalists, are in touch with RSF and CPJ; we are great partners with the Committee to Protect Journalists. Yes, we try to keep this list of killed journalists and media workers.

But there are three groups of killed media workers or journalists. One group is journalists who were killed while performing their professional duties as war reporters or as journalists. The second is civilian victims. For example, Viktor Dedov was a famous TV cameraman in Mariupol, but he was killed in his flat when Russia bombed Mariupol.

The third biggest group of journalists and media workers who were killed at the beginning of the Russian invasion are our colleagues who were mobilized, who were soldiers or officers. We do not encourage journalists who are in the army to use the term “journalists.” No, they are officers; they are our heroes; they try to protect us. But we include them on our list of killed colleagues because Russia killed our colleagues. Because if Russia had not invaded in 2022, most of our colleagues and friends would be alive.

So, we record it. But the other big and sensitive topic, and very important for us, is solidarity with Ukrainian journalists whom Russia detains. At this moment, about 26 journalists are detained. Most of them were arrested or disappeared and are detained in occupied Crimea. Some journalists were arrested or disappeared in newly occupied Zaporizhzhia, Kherson region, and other territories.

We know how dangerous Russian captivity or detention is when we discuss young journalists who were tortured and killed in Russian detention. But for our union, and for me, there is a special, sensitive story: the story of Iryna Levchenko. Iryna Levchenko is a member of my union. She is a well-known journalist from the Zaporizhzhia region, from Melitopol. She disappeared in Melitopol in May 2023. Only in June 2025, after two years, did we receive the first official verification that she is alive—two years without any verification or documents.

Russia tries not to inform families or others that they arrested journalists in the temporarily occupied territory. We tried to receive any news or information about Iryna Levchenko, and we were relieved that last year her sister received information through the official prison system, and Iryna Levchenko wrote a letter to her lawyer in the temporarily occupied territory, a neutral letter in which she asked the lawyer to inform her sister that she is alive. She is in prison in occupied Donetsk. For this moment, we are waiting for a decision of a Russian court against our colleague.

When we are discussing journalists and exchanges, it is a big challenge and problem for us because there are rules of war for official prisoners of war, for soldiers. Ukraine can exchange soldiers, and Russia can exchange Russian soldiers and Ukrainian soldiers, because this is regulated by international law. But there are no rules for exchanging civilians because their detention is a war crime. Russia cannot lawfully arrest civilians or isolate them because it is a crime.

So Russia tries not to exchange civilians because doing so would confirm more war crimes. Last year, we were grateful that President Zelensky’s team, our government, and some international partners, including Americans, put pressure on Putin, leading to the exchange and release of two journalists from our list.

One of them is a Radio Liberty freelancer, Vladyslav Yesypenko. He was arrested before the beginning of the full-scale invasion in occupied Crimea. Another colleague, Dmytro Khilyuk, is a journalist from the national news agency UNIAN in Kyiv. Dmytro Khilyuk was captured and disappeared when Russians tried to occupy Kyiv in 2022. After that operation, the Russians detained hundreds of Ukrainians in the Kyiv region and used them as prisoners. He was held in Russian prisons and was exchanged last year.

We organize various solidarity actions, such as open letters, and we work with colleagues, as you can see at the Congress of the European Federation of Journalists and with union leaders. We appreciate that Canadian journalists support our demand that Russia free every journalist, because journalism is not a crime.

Jacobsen: Thank you very much for the opportunity and your time, Sergiy.

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Scott Douglas Jacobsen is a Writer-Editor for The Good Men Project with more than 1,900 publications on the platform. He is the Founder and Publisher of In-Sight Publishing (ISBN: 978-1-0692343; 978-1-0673505) and Editor-in-Chief of In-Sight: Interviews (ISSN: 2369-6885). He writes for International Policy Digest (ISSN: 2332–9416), The Humanist (Print: ISSN, 0018-7399; Online: ISSN, 2163-3576), Basic Income Earth Network (UK Registered Charity 1177066), Humanist Perspectives (ISSN: 1719-6337), A Further Inquiry (SubStack), Vocal, Medium, The New Enlightenment Project, The Washington Outsider, rabble.ca, and other media. His bibliography index can be found via the Jacobsen Bank at In-Sight Publishing comprised of more than 10,000 articles, interviews, and republications, in more than 200 outlets. He has served in national and international leadership roles within humanist and media organizations, held several academic fellowships, and currently serves on several boards. He is a member in good standing in numerous media organizations, including the Canadian Association of Journalists, PEN Canada (CRA: 88916 2541 RR0001), and Reporters Without Borders (SIREN: 343 684 221/SIRET: 343 684 221 00041/EIN: 20-0708028), and others.