The media-freedom representative for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) says the situation for reporters in Ukraine has reached a dangerous stage.

Dunja Mijatovic spoke to reporters on April 16 after making a three-day trip to Kharkiv, Odesa, and Kyiv, where she spoke with journalists from those regions as well as with reporters from Donetsk, Mykolayiv, and Crimea.

She said journalists in Ukraine's conflict areas are "under attack, both physically and as part of ongoing psychological warfare."

Mijatovic said: "Journalists in conflict areas face violence, seizure, and destruction of equipment, and threats on a daily basis."

She said journalists in Crimea, the Ukrainian territory annexed by Russia in March, must contend with additional problems such as re-registration, possible eviction from the region if they are deemed as disloyal and do not obtain Russian citizenship, threats, and denial of access to public information.

Mijatovic urged journalists in Ukraine to have solidarity, and to "report the truth and to stay safe."