Gone too soon Meduza remembers seven journalists the world lost in 2025

Around the globe, 2025 was a dark year for journalism. For the first time in its history, Reporters Without Borders classified the global state of press freedom as a “difficult situation.” According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 126 journalists and media workers were killed in connection with their work, matching the record set in 2024. Others died from causes unrelated to their journalism, but their deaths still represent irrevocable losses for their colleagues and readers. Meduza remembers seven journalists the world lost in 2025.

Taisia Sheremet

On February 13, Russian journalist Taisia Sheremet died in Spain after a lifelong battle with cystic fibrosis. Born in Sevastopol (her father was a Russian citizen and the family moved to Russia when she was a child), Sheremet first began writing about politics in 2016, when she started an Instagram account. In the years that followed, she used her platform to raise awareness of issues like domestic violence, discrimination against queer and disabled people, and barriers to accessing lifesaving medication that she faced in Russia. Sheremet collaborated with Novaya Gazeta and hosted multiple podcasts, including one about harmful practices such as conversation therapy. She moved to Spain in 2022, after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Tetiana Kulyk

On February 26, Ukrainian journalist Tetiana Kulyk was killed in her home in the Kyiv region by a Russian drone attack. The strike also killed her husband, cancer surgeon Pavlo Ivanchov. Before her death, Kulyk worked as the editor-in-chief of the Ukrainian state news agency Ukrinform’s multimedia department. She also hosted “Nation of the Invincible,” an interview series highlighting the resilience of Ukrainians amid Russia’s full-scale invasion. In a statement on Kulyk’s death, Ukrinform Director General Serhiy Cherevatyi called her a “great journalist” and vowed that the agency would “avenge our colleague with materials that expose the war crimes of the aggressor.”

Irina Pankratova

On May 10, Russian investigative journalist Irina Pankratova passed away after a prolonged illness. She was 39 years old. Pankratova’s investigative journalism career began in St. Petersburg in the mid-2010s. She became known for focusing on topics that “weren’t glamorous but were relevant to ordinary people,” such as public utilities, street vendors, and cigarette smuggling. In 2019, Pankratova started working for the independent news site The Bell. She continued reporting after fleeing Russia following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Pankratova’s colleagues referred to her as The Bell’s “sole and irreplaceable investigative reporter.” 

Derk Sauer

On July 31, Dutch journalist and entrepreneur Derk Sauer died in the Netherlands from injuries sustained in a sailing accident. He was 72. Over the course of his storied career, Sauer left a lasting mark on post-Soviet Russia, building a publishing empire starting in the 1990s that included The Moscow Times and Vedomosti, which became Russia’s premier business daily. After Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Sauer left Russia and returned to the Netherlands. In his final years, he supported exiled Russian and Belarusian journalists and musicians, launching the music label TMT Music and helping establish a Dutch hub for independent Russian media in exile.

Antoni Lallican

On October 3, French photojournalist Antoni Lallican was killed by a Russian drone strike in eastern Ukraine. The attack also severely wounded Ukrainian photojournalist Georgiy Ivanchenko, who had to have his leg amputated. Lallican was 37 years old at the time of his death. According to Reporters Without Borders, Lallican became a photojournalist in his early thirties after a career change. In the years that followed, he documented developments in France as well as in conflict zones such as Nagorno-Karabakh, Haiti, and Ukraine. After the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Lallican made more than 10 reporting trips to eastern Ukraine. He was the fourth French journalist to be killed in Ukraine since February 2022.

Olena Hramova

On October 23, Ukrainian journalist Olena Hramova was killed by a Russian drone attack in the city of Kramatorsk. She was 43 years old. Hramova and her colleagues were reporting on the aftermath of Russia’s deadly drone attack on a gas station the previous day. She had worked as a war correspondent for the outlet Freedom TV since 2021.

Yevhen Karmazin

Yevhen Karmazin, a camera operator for Freedom TV, was killed alongside Olena Hramova while reporting on the aftermath of Russia’s strike on a Kramatorsk gas station. He was 33 years old. A native of Kramatorsk, he had worked for Ukrainian public media since 2022. “These are not accidents or mistakes, but a deliberate Russian strategy to silence all independent voices reporting about Russia’s war crimes in Ukraine,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote of Karmazin’s and Hramova’s deaths.