“He cannot write about it directly in his letters, but from the hints he gives us, we understand that he is being subjected to ill-treatment.” Artur is worried. It has been three years since his brother Vladyslav Hershon, an administrator of the local Ukrainian Telegram channel Melitopol Tse Ukraina, which reported on everyday life in the Russian-occupied city of Melitopol, was arrested by the Russian military.

After being detained in Russia’s southwestern Rostov region, where he was “beaten every day”, according to Artur, he was transferred this year to a prison in the city of Vladimir, east of Moscow. The 28-year-old, who was sentenced in 2025 to 15 years in prison for “espionage” and “terrorism” because of his news-related activities, is suffering from itching and a kidney problem, his brother warns.

Vladyslav Hershon is not alone in this situation. Five of the six colleagues arrested along with him on August 20, 2023 in Melitopol, all linked to two local Telegram news channels, Melitopol Tse Ukraina and RIA-Pivden, remain in prison and, for the most part, have received lengthy sentences.

Up to 26 years in prison

Convictions have piled up against the six Melitopol media professionals, with prison sentences ranging between 14 to 26 years. The most recent is that of Oleksandr Malyshev, an administrator of Melitopol Tse Ukraina who, in April, was sentenced to 26 years for a “terrorist attack” and “espionage” — the harshest sentence imposed on a media professional since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. He is being held at Detention Centre No. 3 in Rostov, in Novocherkassk, southwestern Russia.

A few months earlier, in November, his colleague Maksym Rupchov was sentenced to 15 years in prison for “treason” and “participation in a terrorist organisation”. According to information received by RSF, he was transferred nearly 3,000 kilometres from Melitopol to Kharp, in Yamalia, northern Russia.

In October, Yana Suvorova, 21, the youngest member of the group, and an administrator of the same channel, was sentenced to 14 years in prison for “terrorism” and “espionage”. She is being held in Taganrog Prison No. 2, which is notorious for the ill-treatment of Ukrainian detainees, as documented by RSF. It’s also where independent Ukrainian journalist Victoria Roshchyna died while in Russian detention. Suvorova’s partner told RSF that he receives letters from her.

Their fates remain uncertain

Uncertainty remains over the fate of Heorhiy Levchenko, administrator of the Telegram channel of local news outlet RIA-Pivden — formerly RIA-Melitopol — who was sentenced to 16 years in prison in September 2025 for “high treason”.

A few months after his trial, he was sent to Prison No. 2 in Simferopol, occupied Crimea. At the time, he said he intended to appeal in Moscow, according to information received by RSF. The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation upheld his conviction in June 2026. His current place of detention is unknown, confirms Svitlana Zalizetska, director of local media outlet RIA-Pivden. “We are currently checking reports that he may have been transferred to the Altai Republic in Russia to serve his sentence.” However, “the possibilities for obtaining reliable information about his place of detention are very limited,” the Ukrainian journalist stresses.

Finally, Anastasia Hlukhovska, a former journalist with local outlet RIA-Pivden until Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, is the only one who has neither been prosecuted nor convicted since her arrest. Although she has been held incommunicado for three years, her whereabouts have been established: witnesses interviewed by RSF confirmed her presence in Prison No. 3 in Kizel in Russia, more than a thousand miles east of Ukraine.

Hope for a prisoner exchange

The families of the detained Melitopol journalists are pinning their hopes on a prisoner exchange between Ukraine and Russia that would allow their loved ones to return home. There is a precedent that gives them hope: Mark Kaliush, an administrator of Melitopol Tse Ukraina who was also arrested on August 20, 2023, was exchanged on August 24, 2025, along with Ukrainian reporter Dmytro Khyliuk.

Although Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets said at a press conference on August 12 that Ukraine had drawn up “a list of journalists” as part of prisoner-exchange negotiations, Artur, Vladyslav Hershon’s brother, stresses that the main obstacle to his release remains “the neighbouring country” — Russia.

“Three years after their arbitrary arrests, six Ukrainian media professionals from Melitopol remain victims of the Kremlin’s repressive system. Nothing justifies their continued detention in Russian prisons under inhuman and degrading conditions, sometimes without any information about their exact detention place. RSF calls for their immediate and unconditional release, as well as that of all media professionals detained by Russia.

RSF has documented at least 27 Ukrainian media professionals imprisoned by Moscow.

RSF’s requests to the Russian authorities concerning this case have consistently gone unanswered.