Every year on the third Friday of September, the media community honors the memory of all those who gave their lives for the sake of truth and freedom of speech. This year, Ukrainian Journalists’ Remembrance Day falls on September 18.
This important date was established at the initiative of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine to commemorate the tragic death in 2000 of Georgiy Gongadze, founder of the publication “Ukrainska Pravda.”
The war for Ukraine’s independence has turned our country into one of the most dangerous places in the world for media workers, and the Donetsk region has become one of the bloodiest spots on the map of Ukrainian journalism.
However, the region’s tragic losses began long before the Russian invasion—as early as 2001 in Sloviansk, when Igor Aleksandrov, the head of the “TOR” television company, died following a brutal attack provoked by his professional activities.
With the start of a new phase of Russian aggression, some local media workers were killed in their hometowns by relentless enemy shelling, while others died while performing their professional duties directly in the line of fire. The blockade of Mariupol turned into a terrible tragedy. Among the dead were Viktor Dedov, a senior cameraman for the Mariupol-based “Sigma” TV channel, who was killed in his own apartment by a mine blast; journalist and lecturer Lilia Gumanova; and Natalia Kharakoz, a well-known writer and member of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine. Journalist and retired First Captain Yevhen Bal experienced the brutality of the occupiers firsthand; he died after severe torture while in Russian captivity. Many media professionals traded their recorders and cameras for automatic weapons, such as journalist Yaroslav Shapochka, who defended the Bakhmut sector until his last breath.
Alona Gramova (Olena Gubanova), a war correspondent for the Ukrainian international broadcaster FREEDOM, and videographer Yevhen Karmazin, who were killed in Kramatorsk as a result of a targeted Russian strike, have become symbols of courage and professional dedication.
Ukrainian Journalists’ Remembrance Day serves as a reminder to the entire world of the extraordinarily high price of honest news. Today, we honor all media professionals who, despite all challenges and threats, continued to report the truth about events in Ukraine.
Freedom of speech is a value for which Ukrainian journalists are paying the ultimate price.
May the fallen rest in eternal peace!