TOKYO – Sergiy Tomilenko, head of the largest journalists’ organization in Ukraine, has said newspapers his organization supports have become a “source of hope” for local residents living on the war’s frontline, providing trusted information amid Russian disinformation.

“It’s very important for them because they are receiving their native media — media with trust, media with histories,” Tomilenko, president of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine, said in a recent interview with Kyodo News in Tokyo, adding that it gives them hope.

He said the union has supported some 30 newspapers in frontline regions since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, with help from UNESCO, even as printers and other publishing infrastructure have been destroyed and internet access cut off.

In the fierce battlegrounds of Kherson and Donetsk, the union set up its own delivery system, with staff distributing newspapers to residents by hand as postal services could not be relied on.

Journalists are constantly in danger while in Ukraine, with over 25 Ukrainian reporters still detained by Russia, Tomilenko said.

“Russia ignores any international convention” and detains civilians, he said, adding that when Ukrainian journalists are captured by Russia in occupied territories, they can no longer be contacted, even by lawyers.

Tomilenko also stressed the importance of democracy, pointing to a law revision in July that weakened the authority of key anti-corruption agencies and triggered widespread public protests. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy later reversed course and restored the agencies’ independence.

“We want to be part of the democratic world,” Tomilenko said.