Ukraine: Documenting Justice
In this week’s update, read about the Ukrainian journalist reporting on the war crimes prosecutions affecting her own community.
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Ukraine: Documenting Justice
In this week’s update, read about the Ukrainian journalist reporting on the war crimes prosecutions affecting her own community.
Welcome to IWPR’s Frontline Update, your go-to source to hear from journalists and local voices at the front lines of conflict.
THE BIG PICTURE
This week, we highlight the work of Elmira Shagabudtdinova, a Ukrainian journalist covering crucial war crimes justice processes in her southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia.
War has devastated the frontline oblast, with most of its territory under occupation, but local investigators are nonetheless painstakingly documenting and prosecuting multiple abuses by Russian forces.
VOICES FROM THE FRONTLINE
“It is very important to show these stories, to make them visible, not through a dry bureaucratic process, but by showing the human face as much as possible,” explained 32-year-old Elmira.
Within a month of joining IWPR’s Ukraine Justice project and beginning her training in August 2025, she began covering justice processes directly affecting her community. In one case, she tracked the trial and conviction of a former policeman found guilty of illegally detaining and beating fellow Ukrainians.
One victim, a 57-year-old woman, was held in appalling conditions for over eight months, enduring death threats, violence and abuse.
Elmira emphasised that given huge local interest in these unfolding trials, high-quality journalism was needed to explain complex legal procedures and the slow pace of justice.
“I think that thanks to our materials, there is some clarification, and it is very important to show how Ukrainian justice works.”
WHY IT MATTERS
The Zaporizhzhia City website has now launched a special project on court reporting, which Elmira runs and three other journalists contribute to.
Feedback has been strong, with readers actively discussing and commenting on the reports – including one of the survivors of a war crimes case the website covered.
“I think we are now perhaps the only media outlet that reports on court proceedings, and this has been made possible thanks to the support of IWPR,” Elmira concluded.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Last week, the Polish city of Gdansk hosted the 2026 Ukraine Recovery Conference, an annual event seeking to bolster international support for the country’s reconstruction.
Alongside efforts to secure investment in energy, critical infrastructure and logistics, fresh emphasis is being put on media resilience as a factor in long-term recovery.
“We need to support the Ukrainian media for the heroism that they’ve shown and to provide them what they need to recover,” IWPR executive director Anthony Borden told the conference, emphasising the centrality of what he described as “the critical infrastructure of trust”.
Supporting local journalists like Elmira is key to not only ensuring justice for war crimes survivors, but also to Ukraine’s long-term security and healing.
