Ukrainian journalist Yana Suvorova was abducted in occupied Melitopol when she was just 18 years old.

After a closed, staged trial, she was sentenced to 14 years in prison on charges of terrorism and treason. Her case has been classified. She has disappeared from the prisoner exchange lists.

Yana about her imprisonment: “The cell is cold. Rats are running around. The lights are never turned off.”

Her boyfriend says that after being transferred to Donetsk, Yana’s condition sharply deteriorated — she was held together with girls who had attempted suicide. The psychological pressure was constant.

Russian courts are reclassifying Ukrainian journalists as terrorists in order to prevent them from being included in prisoner exchanges.

Russia is blocking their exchange, hiding them from public view, and sentencing them to decades in prison.

By 2025, russian courts had fabricated terrorism cases against journalists from RIA-Pivden. Sentences range from 14 to 16 years.

One exception — Mark Kalyush — was released and confirmed systematic torture in detention.

Yevhen Ilchenko, a citizen journalist, documented life under occupation.

He was abducted in July 2022, tortured with mock executions, filmed in a staged “confession” of terrorism, and then forced into hard labor — digging trenches near the front line.

Ilchenko’s case is the first in nearly 40 years in which a journalist was abducted, tortured, and subjected to forced labor amounting to slavery.

He is currently being held in the Taganrog pre-trial detention center under constant light and in inhumane conditions.

Vladyslav Hershon — 15 years. Heorhii Levchenko — 16 years. Charges: participation in a terrorist organization. Evidence: activity on Telegram.

Journalist Anastasiia Hlukhivska is being held incommunicado. Russia refuses to confirm her detention.

In the Kizel pre-trial detention center, Ukrainian journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna was tortured to death.

Russia is currently holding 50 journalists in prison — 29 of them Ukrainians.

Russian “anti-terrorism laws” strip civilians of legal protection and block exchanges. Without a mechanism for the return of civilians, these sentences may effectively become life imprisonment.

Source: This text was translated and adapted from Tymofiy Milovanov.