Missing for weeks
Ukrainian journalist found dead near Kyiv
4/2/2022, 4:49 p.m
A Ukrainian photographer has been missing for weeks and his body has now been discovered north of Kyiv. According to the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office, he was shot dead by Russian soldiers. The 40-year-old is the sixth journalist to be killed in the Ukraine war.
A Ukrainian photojournalist has been found dead in northern Kyiv. Maks Levin had been missing for almost three weeks, and his body was discovered on Friday near the village of Guta Meschygirska, the Presidential Administration of Ukraine said on Telegram. The body was discovered after the Russian troops withdrew from the area several dozen kilometers north of the capital Kyiv.
The Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office said Levin was shot by Russian soldiers according to preliminary findings. The photographer was unarmed and was hit by two bullets from small arms. The authority said it was investigating a suspected war crime and the exact circumstances of Levin’s death.
According to Reporters Without Borders, Levin is the sixth journalist to be killed in Ukraine since the Russian invasion began on February 24. Not only was he unarmed, but he was wearing a jacket that identified him as a member of the press. Shooting journalists is a “war crime,” Reporters Without Borders said on Twitter.
Levin, 40, has worked for Ukrainian and international media. He leaves four children. Levin was considered a very experienced photographer. During fighting between Ukrainian troops and Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine in 2014, he managed to escape from a surrounded town where hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers were killed.