We of the Free Press Are in Russia’s Crosshairs
By: Giorgio Provinciali
* The original article: https://medium.com/@giorgioprovinciali/we-of-the-free-press-are-in-russias-crosshairs-5c86facf3729?sk=58467633d24a889aec2ce2cf4e7ca4e2
Live from Ukraine
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Khmelnytskyi — In a Facebook post, the 4th Separate Heavy Brigade announced in the past few hours that, following a targeted Russian attack with an FPV drone, French journalist and photographer Antoni Lallikan was killed last Friday, and his Ukrainian colleague Hryhorij Ivanchenko of “The Kyiv Independent,” who was working with him at the time, was injured. «Both journalists,» the report states, «were wearing personal protective equipment, and their bulletproof vests bore the identifying word ‘PRESS’.» The tragedy occurred near Druzhkivka, a town south of Kramatorsk, from which we have been writing for this newspaper in the last few weeks and more widely throughout the war.
We personally documented Russian crimes and, thanks to our constant presence on the ground, debunked a large amount of fake news spread by the Kremlin and shared in the West by many compliant media. Just before writing this article, we learned that in order to save our colleague Ivanchenko’s life, his leg had to be amputated—there was no other option. We also discovered that the Russian military has upgraded its FPV drones to the point where they can strike even the center of Kramatorsk while connected to a fiber optic cable. This indicates that violations of international law, like the one just described, will become more common, and the attack on that city’s hospital, which happened just yesterday using a UAV, is proof of this.
As we have documented in several recent video reports recorded from there for the YouTube channel and the website of the Italian newspaper “La Ragione,” the Ukrainian Defense Forces have broken through the bulge where several groups of Russian raiders and saboteurs had managed to wedge themselves near Dobropillia, regaining control of another 3 square kilometers of territory less than 24 hours ago.
Despite this, the Russian Federation continues its assaults: 188 breakthrough attempts, including 4,373 bombings on Donetsk yesterday alone, were, according to the Ukrainian General Staff, the Russian response to the so-called Western ‘peace efforts.’ Against that part of Ukrainian Donbas — from which we recorded our latest videos — the Russians launched 5,857 kamikaze drones yesterday alone, destroying a branch of Nova Poshta and leaving Sloviansk, Kramatorsk, Druzhkivka, and Kostiantynivka in the dark. Taking advantage of the worsening weather conditions, they also launched a mechanized assault against the latter city but ended up losing tanks, armored personnel carriers, MT-LBs, and other infantry vehicles to fire from drones belonging to the Ukrainian Phoenix unit.
While we were documenting on the ground the quagmire into which Putin has plunged the Russian army, which is failing to make progress, the Council of Europe (Pace) focused its autumn session on the enormous difficulties faced by reporters, journalists, correspondents, and others like us who have been working in war zones for years, highlighting those among them who have been killed or imprisoned.
As of June 25, 2025, UNESCO reports 22 «deaths in the line of duty,» while the Institute of Mass Information — which also considers media workers who have lost their lives covering the war in Ukraine since 2014 — counts 113, with 106 dying after 2022. Another 26 remain unjustly imprisoned by Russian authorities, who, in most cases, continue to subject them to torture, often fatal.
Those of us doing this work often pay the highest price for fighting on the only front where Russia is advancing: the information front.
Our war is incredibly challenging, and, as Pace observers remind us, the human toll is very high. A pen is our only weapon against an enemy that doesn’t look anyone in the eye and shoots.
For us freelancers, there is no coverage. Our families receive no reimbursement or compensation when they lose loved ones. Often, there is not even recognition. No official funeral ceremony honors those who not only did not flee the war but also fought it unarmed. For years, often voluntarily. Maybe starting from those ‘Beautiful Countries’ where many Ukrainians who avoided their duty with increasingly unclear excuses and extenuating circumstances, fled.
Because of this, we support the initiative by Alberto Barachini, Undersecretary of State to the Presidency of the Italian Council of Ministers with responsibility for the Press, made in collaboration with the Farnesina, which aims to create a system of training, protection, and insurance for freelancers who, like us, risk their lives daily to deliver genuine information to the free world.
自由媒体身处俄罗斯的枪口之下
作者：Giorgio Provinciali
乌克兰现场报道
（图：一轮悲伤的月亮和我们的两辆车正在等待更多的防御系统 – 版权所有，Giorgio Provinciali）
Khmelnytskyi—第四独立重型旅几小时前在Facebook的一个贴文中发布称，上周五法国记者兼摄影师 Antoni Lallikan在俄罗斯FPV无人机进行有针对性的袭击中被杀，而当时与他一起工作的《基辅独立报》的乌克兰同事Hryhorij Ivanchenko 受伤。“两位记者”，报告指出，“都穿着个人防护装备，他们的防弹背心上都印有‘PRESS’字样。”这场悲剧发生在克拉马托尔斯克以南的德卢伊科夫卡小镇附近，在过去的几周里，我们一直在那里为本刊撰写文章，在整个战争期间更都在周边活动。
（图：Antoni Lallikan 的设备 – RBC提供照片）
我们亲自记录了俄罗斯的罪行，并且由于我们经常在现场报道，揭穿了克里姆林宫散布的大量假新闻，以及许多合作媒体在西方传播的假新闻。就在撰写本文之前，我们得知为了挽救我们的同事 Ivanchenko 的生命，他的腿不得不被截肢——别无选择。我们还发现，俄罗斯军方已将其FPV无人机升级到可以通过光纤电缆连接打击克拉马托尔斯克市中心的程度。这表明，像刚才描述的那样，违反国际法的行为将变得更加普遍，而昨天刚发生的使用无人机袭击该市医院的事件就是证明。
（图：Alla 在乌克兰 Velyka Chernetchyna 报导 – 版权所有，Giorgio Provinciali）
（媒体内容：我在乌克兰多布罗皮利亚录制了这段影片—版权所有，Giorgio Provinciali）
（媒体内容：我在乌克兰多布罗皮利亚录制了这段影片—版权所有，Giorgio Provinciali）
（媒体内容：我在乌克兰波克洛夫斯克地区录制了这段影片—版权所有，Giorgio Provinciali）
正如我们最近在那里为意大利报纸 “La Ragione” 的YouTube频道和网站录制的几段影片报道中记录的那样，乌克兰国防军已经突破了几组俄罗斯突袭者和破坏者设法楔入多布罗皮利亚附近扎根的突出处，在不到24小时前重新控制了另外3平方公里的领土。
尽管如此，俄罗斯联邦仍在持续攻击：据乌克兰总参谋部称，仅昨天在顿涅茨克俄军就发动了188次突击尝试，其中包括4,373次轰炸，这是俄罗斯对所谓西方“和平努力”的回应。针对乌克兰顿巴斯地区（我们从那里录制了最新的影片），俄罗?人昨天就发射了5,857架神风特攻队无人机，摧毁了新邮政的一个分支机构，并使斯洛维扬斯克、克拉马托尔斯克、德卢伊科夫卡和科斯季安丁尼夫卡陷入断电。俄军还利用不断恶化的天气条件，对科斯季安丁尼夫卡发动了机械化攻击，但最终因来自乌克兰凤凰部队的无人机的打击而损失了坦克、装甲运兵车、MT-LB 和其他步兵车辆。
（图：Alla 在进入冬天的顿巴斯一所被俄罗斯人摧毁的乌克兰学校里躲避俄军袭击，结束了艰难的一天 – 版权所有，Giorgio Provinciali）
（图：图中Alla 指向赫尔松的 Antonicskyj 大桥。乌克兰最危险的地方之一 – 版权所有，Giorgio Provinciali）
当我们在实地记录普京将俄罗斯军队拖入的泥潭、而俄军未能取得进展时，欧洲委员会（Pace）将其秋季会议的重点放在记者、新闻工作者、通讯员以及像我们这样多年在战区工作的人所面临的巨大困难上，并强调了其中那些被杀害或俘虏的人。
（图：一个漫长而悲伤的纪念碑，献给那些为保卫乌克兰而失去生命的人们，其中有当地719 位英雄的照片。这张照片是在撰写本文时在乌克兰赫梅利尼茨基拍摄的 – 版权所有，Giorgio Provinciali）
截至 2025 年 6 月 25 日，联合国教科文组织报告了22 例“因公殉职”的媒体工作者，而大众资讯研究所（该研究所也考虑到自 2014 年以来在报道乌克兰战争中丧生的媒体工作者）统计了 113 例，其中 106 例在 2022 年之后死亡。另有 26 人仍被俄罗斯当局非法监禁，在大多数情况下，俄罗斯当局对他们持续实施酷刑，而且往往是致命的。
（图：Alla在苏梅一栋倒塌的建筑物后面躲避空袭，当时俄罗斯无人机正在头顶飞行 - 版权所有，Giorgio Provinciali）
我们这些从事这项工作的人，往往为在俄罗斯唯一正在取得进展的战线作战而付出最高的代价：信息战线。
我们的作战极具挑战性，正如 Pace 观察员提醒我们的那样，人员伤亡非常高。笔是我们对抗不用眼睛看到对方就开枪的敌人的唯一武器。
而我们这些自由媒体人，更是没有任何保障。我们的家人在失去亲人时不会收到任何抚恤或补偿。通常，甚至没有任何追记。没有官方的葬礼来纪念那些不仅没有逃离战争，而且还手无寸铁地与之作战的人。多年来，这些人通常是自愿的。也许从那些“美丽的国家”开始，许多逃避职责的乌克兰人以越来越不明确的借口和情有可原的情况逃离了。
（图：我在俄罗斯袭击乌克兰苏梅期间 - 版权所有，Giorgio Provinciali）
正因为如此，我们支持意大利部长理事会主席团副国务秘书 Alberto Barachini 与 Farnesina 合作提出的倡议，该倡议旨在为像我们这样每天冒着生命危险向自由世界提供真实资讯的自由职业者建立一个培训、保护和保险体系，他们每天冒着生命危险向自由世界提供真实的信息。
（图：Alla 在苏梅的比洛皮利亚一家民用基础设施（一家面包工业生产基地）进行报道 – 版权所有，Giorgio Provinciali）
