Russian soldiers are coming down on Ukrainian columnists in regions under Moscow’s influence, as indicated by Ukrainian common liberties ombudsman Lyudmyla Denisova.

Russian experts in the Zaporizhzhya Region, in the south-east of Ukraine, were abducting columnists, addressing them, holding onto their hardware and looking through their homes, the UNIAN news organization cited Denisova as saying.

A large group of journalists was kidnapped in the port city of Berdyansk on 8 March and were made to provide the personal details of their colleagues, Denisova says.

In the south-eastern city of Melitopol, Russians searched the house of Ukrainian news website editor, Svitlana Zalizetska, who had fled the city.

Her father was captured and released only after the Russians gained control of the website.

“By unleashing hunts for Ukrainian journalists, the occupiers are trying to intimidate them and force them to spread the Kremlin’s propaganda,” Denisova says, adding that such actions were in breach of international humanitarian law.

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