Throughout 2025, numerous attacks by the Russian military on media representatives covering the events of the full-scale war have been recorded in Ukraine. According to the report by the International Press Institute on press freedom in Europe, three journalists were killed due to Russian drone strikes, 12 others were injured, and at least 18 journalists came under fire but remained unharmed.
This is reported by Kyiv24
PRESS Marking Becomes a Target for Attacks
The report notes that recent developments in FPV drone technology have significantly simplified the Russian army’s ability to strike journalists working in combat zones. There is particular concern regarding the trend where PRESS marking on vehicles and equipment, instead of providing protection, identifies journalists as targets for attacks.
“Recent technological advancements in FPV drones are helping the Russian army more easily attack journalists. The deaths of Anton Lalikyan, Alona Kramova, and Yevhen Karmazin have shown that PRESS marking, instead of protecting journalists in combat zones, is increasingly being used by Russians as a means of identification and targeting of journalists reporting on the full-scale invasion of Ukraine,” the report states in the section dedicated to the situation in Ukraine.
Casualties and Violations of Freedom of Speech
Since 2022, 16 journalists have been killed in Ukraine while performing their professional duties, of which fifteen were directly on the territory of the country, and one — Victoria Roschina — died in Russian captivity. On October 3, 2025, French photojournalist Anton Lalikyan was killed in the village of Komyshuvakha following a Russian drone attack. Twenty days later, Ukrainian journalists Alona Hramova and Yevhen Karmazin, who worked for the FREEDOM channel, were killed during a similar attack in Kramatorsk.
In 2025, three Ukrainian journalists — Vladyslav Yesypenko, Dmytro Khilyuk, and Mark Kaliush — were released from Russian prisons. According to the Institute of Mass Information, as of June 2025, since the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war in 2014, 113 media representatives have been killed in Ukraine, with 106 of them since the start of Russia’s large-scale invasion in 2022.
The monitoring study by IMI recorded 130 cases of violations of freedom of speech in Ukraine in 2025, of which 67 were committed by Russia as a result of its aggression.