Post by Scott Jacobsen

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 on press freedom, martial-law limits, and Ukraine’s regional media crisis. Tomilenko says wartime restrictions around weapons, frontline data, and accreditation are legitimate security measures, not open censorship, while democratic pressure keeps officials accountable. He identifies Russia as the chief threat, alongside collapsing advertising, dangerous newspaper delivery, propaganda radio near occupied areas, low-trust Telegram dependence, shuttered regional outlets, and urgent need for support to independent frontline journalism across Ukraine today. https://lnkd.in/eav76Txr