Journalist from Melitopol Anastasiia Hlukhovska declared hunger strike in Russian detention center

Melitopol journalist Anastasiia Hlukhovska, who was abducted by Russian security forces in the occupied territories in August 2023, remains held in a pre-trial detention centre in Kizel, in Russia’s Perm region. After she was transferred from Taganrog, her captors shaved her bald, and the journalist went on a hunger strike, according to RIA-Pivden news outlet, citing the journalist’s sister, Daryna Fomenko.

Anastasiia Hlukhovska/ Photo: Open sources

Hlukhovska’s conditions of detention worsened significantly after she was moved to Kizel, according to Fomenko.

“This prison has very strict rules. Prisoners are not allowed to sit or lie down in their cells during the day. As a result, severe leg swelling has compounded Nastia’s chronic condition, endometriosis,” Fomenko said. “A recently exchanged prisoner saw her while she was cleaning the prison grounds. She is alive, and that is the most important thing.”

According to former prisoners, Hlukhovska works in the detention centre’s sewing workshop. It also emerged that the journalist had previously gone on a hunger strike, although the reasons for the protest remain unknown.

Journalists from Slidstvo.Info spoke with two Ukrainian servicemen who had been held in the Kizel pre-trial detention centre and recently returned to Ukraine in a prisoner swap. They said that Russian personnel threatened female detainees with rape and added that only two women are being held at the facility.

“I heard about her – that she is a young journalist, a civilian, and that she has problems with her legs. My cellmate heard that her legs were swelling,” Stanislav, a serviceman released from Russian captivity, was quoted as saying.

Anastasiia Hlukhovska has been held in Russian captivity for almost three years in an incommunicado status. Since her abduction in August 2023, Russia has effectively held her without contact with the outside world and without officially confirming her place of detention.

ZMINA previously reported in detail on the story of journalist Anastasiia Hlukhovska.

To provide background, at least 34 female journalists worldwide are imprisoned because of their work in 2026, including in Russia, Azerbaijan, Belarus and Georgia. Among the Ukrainian women held by Russia are Iryna Danylovych, Yana Suvorova, Iryna Levchenko, Anastasiia Hlukhovska and Zhanna Kyselova, who were detained by Russian forces in temporarily occupied Crimea and the Zaporizhzhia region.

Join us on  X, BlueSky, and LinkedIn for daily human-rights updates – and help shape ZMINA’s English coverage by sharing your thoughts here.