Journalists Found Dead in Bucha and Yahidne Following Russian Withdrawal

The Ukrainian authorities should thoroughly investigate the deaths of journalists Roman Nezhyborets and Zoreslav Zamoysky, determine if they were targeted for their work, and hold those responsible accountable.

Nezhyborets' body was found recently buried in Yahidne in northern Ukraine, and Zamoysky's was found in Bucha, not far from the Ukrainian capital. Following the withdrawal of Russian forces from the area, their bodies were discovered by local Ukrainians.

According to Tatyana Zdor, director of TV Broadcaster Dytynets in the nearby city of Chernihiv, Russian soldiers occupied Yahidne on March 5. They forced residents into underground shelters and confiscated their cellphones.

Nezhyborets, a video technician at Dytynets who was sheltered with his family in Yahidne, attempted to hide his involvement with Dytynets by using a hidden telephone. He called his mother and requested she notify his friends and colleagues that he should be removed from group chats, including one for Dytynets staff, said Zdor. Russian forces caught Nezhyborets talking on the phone with his mother on March 5 and removed him from his family.

In April, after the Russian army retreated from the city, Ukrainian volunteers found Nezhyborets' body in a grave in Yahidne. He was shot in the knees and his hands were tied, according to Zdor and Dytynets, as well as a Facebook post by Nezhyborets' sister Yulya Tsymbal. Dytynets stated that the journalist was killed by "Russian occupiers."

Zdor told CPJ that Nezhyborets had left Chernihiv for Yahidne with his family on February 24, and that his family believed he was murdered sometime between March 5 and March 9.

According to Zdor, Nezhyborets worked as a video editor for Dytynets before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Dytynets is a privately owned television broadcaster that has covered the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Zamoysky's body was found on a street in Bucha early in April, according to the Ukrainian National Union of Journalists (NUJU) and the Irpin city council. 

As a freelancer for his website and for other local media outlets, Iryna Fedorov, founder of the news website Hromada Priirpinnya, told NUJU that Zamoysky covered the activities of local governments in the area around Bucha and the city of Irpin. NUJU also stated that Zamoysky was an activist, but did not describe the nature of his activism.

Zamoysky regularly covered the war on his personal Facebook page, which had about 1,000 followers. He published his last post on March 4.