On March 23, on a freezing morning, members of the Russian forces knocked on the door of Svetlana Zalizetskaya who lives in Melitopol, in the south-east of Ukraine.
Believing to see her inside, they found themselves face to face with her elderly parents.
"I was not at home at the time," she told France 24. The three armed men searched the apartment, turning it "upside down", before taking her father away. 75 years old in an unknown location.
Director of the local newspaper Holovna Gazeta Melitopolya and the RIA-Melitopol news site, Svetlana Zalizetskaya had fled the city a few days earlier.
“I was intimidated by Galina Danilchenko,” she added, referring to the pro-Russian interim mayor who replaced Ivan Fedorov, himself kidnapped on March 11 and then finally released in exchange for nine Russian conscripts. .
"[Galina Danilchenko] asked me to become a propagandist for Russia and start reporting in support of the occupation. She tried to convince me by promising me a great career in Moscow," says Svetlana Zalizetskaya, who refused this offer.
Fearing reprisals, she packed her things to leave town.
A few days later, she received a call telling her that her father had been taken hostage.
"Their request was clear: he would be released if I surrendered," she explains.
Svetlana Zalizetskaya once again refused the Russian proposal.
"So they demanded that I close RIA-Melitopol," she says.
On March 25, two days after her father's abduction, she posted a message on Facebook announcing the transfer of her information site to third parties "in exchange for evacuation" and "in the territory controlled by the Ukraine" which, according to her, "provide objective information".
She still shares RIA-Melitopol articles on her Facebook page, but says she hasn't consented to any further cooperation since her post.
Her father was released later the same day, relatively unharmed but deprived of the medication he needed and deeply shocked by his abduction.
Although Svetlana Zalizetskaya is relieved, the anger she feels is palpable.
"I consider these kinds of actions by the occupation forces to be terrorism," she adds, while saying she is determined to continue her work as a journalist to document the horrors that Ukrainians face in the territories occupied by the Russia.
#Ukraine: The father of RIA-Melitopol editor-in-chief Svitlana Zalizetska was released last night after being taken hostage by the Russian army this week.
She refused to cooperate and transferred control of her news site to third parties https://t.co/JkaTCLJDXN
— RSF (@RSF_inter) March 26, 2022
This is not the first time that a journalist or a relative has been detained by Russian forces in Ukraine.
The United Nations monitoring mission, present on the ground and which lists the kidnappings, has found that 21 journalists and civil society activists have been arrested since the start of the Russian invasion, launched on February 24.
Families are often kept in the dark, with no knowledge of where their loved ones are being held, with no idea what is happening to them.
Of the 21 people abducted, only nine of them "would have been released", according to the UN.
The NGO Reporters Without Borders has published a series of alarming testimonies concerning the detention, torture, intimidation and threats faced by media professionals in Ukraine.
An "increasingly dangerous" terrain for journalists
According to the UN, many kidnappers come from the regions of Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhie, where there are self-proclaimed "Republics" allied with the Russian Federation and pro-Russian armed groups.
Cases have also been reported in parts of Kyiv, Kheron, Donetsk, Sumy and Chernihiv.
"It is more and more dangerous for journalists and editors to stay in the regions occupied by Russia", warns Sergiy Tomilenko, president of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine, interviewed by France 24. "They are isolated in these territories, he underlines. They cannot leave".
Local officials are also the target of detentions.
Suspected kidnappings have also been reported in northern towns, including Nova Kakhovka, where the city council secretary disappeared, and Bucha, where, according to the BBC, six local council members were detained and eventually released.
The UN found that 24 public officials and local authority officials were detained in Russian-controlled areas.
Thirteen of them have reportedly been released, but the whereabouts and fate of the remaining 11 remain unknown.
Political analyst Mattia Nelles, normally based in Kyiv but now residing in Germany, has closely followed reported kidnappings in eastern and southern Ukraine.
According to him, Russian forces will go after "anyone who actively denounces the occupation" and are particularly quick to arrest those who call for demonstrations.
"I even heard of two cases in Kherson where people were randomly stopped at checkpoints after Russian forces searched their phones and found many pro-Ukrainian channels open on their Telegram [app], he says. My friend, who lives there, says he never picks up his phone when he goes out."
"You Could Be Next"
Mattia Nelles, his Ukrainian wife and his in-laws managed to flee the country at an early age, although a large part of their family still lives in Svatove, a town located in the Luhansk region.
On March 26, neighbors informed his uncle that Russian forces had come for him.
"The reason was unclear, but we assumed it was because he is a veteran. He had served as a medic in 2016 and 2018 for the Ukrainian army in Donbass."
While in hiding, his uncle was found by Russian forces who arrested him for questioning.
"It lasted three hours," says Mattia Nelles.
"And it turns out they were looking for his son-in-law, an active soldier registered at my uncle's home. Hence the confusion."
His next of kin was eventually released and, although deeply upset, he was unharmed.
Others, like the Ukrainian fixer of Radio France tortured for nine days, were not so lucky.
“There are different degrees of severity in the way [the Russian occupiers] treat people,” explains the political analyst.
"I imagine it's on a case-by-case basis. It depends on how resistant the person is, whether they're enlisted in the Ukrainian army or what problem they may pose for the occupiers."
It also depends on what the Russian forces want from their detainees.
Referring to the kidnapping of Svetlana Zalizetskaya's father, Sergiy Tomilenko explained that this case was a clear example of Russian attempts to neutralize Ukrainian media using the carrot and stick strategy.
"First they arrest local journalists, try to intimidate them into saying they support the occupation," he said.
If that fails, Russian forces "simply demand that they stop covering the news."
The purpose of these abductions is clear: to instill fear in local populations, which makes it easier for Russian forces to exercise control.
And for some, it seems to work.
Sergiy Tomilenko hears about new kidnappings every day and knows a growing number of fellow journalists who are afraid to leave their homes.
"In Kherson, two colleagues have not been out of their homes for two weeks," he said.
To deal with this situation, human rights NGOs in Ukraine are compiling lists of missing persons and campaigning to shed light on what is happening on the ground.
The National Union of Ukrainian Journalists has also published a series of recommendations for journalists working in the occupied territories, asking them to refrain from posting anything on social networks and from using pseudonyms if they work as local correspondents for international or national media.
But the sense of intimidation engendered by abductions can be felt by even the bravest souls.
"The message sent is the following: 'If you dare to speak, you could be the next', concludes Mattia Nelles. It is terrifying. Especially for those who occupy any official position".
This article is an adaptation of the paper available in the original version here.
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