Ukrainian photographer missing from Kyiv frontline and feared abducted

Maks Levin has not been heard from since 13 March, when he was reporting in the Vishgorod district, north of Kyiv, where he had been capturing both the fighting and fleeing civilians, according to fellow Ukrainian photographer Markiian Lyseiko.

Press freedom groups say that Levin is not the first Ukrainian journalist to have disappeared.

The Committee to Protect Journalists said two other journalists, Oleh Baturyn and Viktoria Roshchina, had previously gone missing but have since been released by their abductors, who are presumed to belong to the Russian armed forces.

In a Facebook message posted by his sister, which did not identify his captor, Baturyn said he was deprived of water, soap and clean clothes for days.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said that targeting journalists was a war crime, and said that three other journalists had been abducted since the invasion.

One journalist, who had been helping foreign media, was beaten, electrocuted and subjected to a mock execution while in detention for nine days.

RSF said it would be referring the case of Nikita, whose name was changed for his security, to the international criminal court investigation into war crimes.

Three reporters have been killed during the conflict: Brent Renaud, an American film-maker, Irish cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski and Ukrainian producer Oleksandra Kuvshynova. Television news crews have described being shot at even when they have identified themselves as journalists, prompting speculation that they were targeted on purpose.

On Monday, Mstyslav Chernov, a Ukrainian Associated Press videographer, published a chilling account of his experience as one of the last international journalists in the besieged city of Mariupol, where he said Russian troops had attempted to locate him.