Illegally detained journalist Iryna Levchenko faces constant transfers for Russian investigations

Russian security forces transfer illegally imprisoned Ukrainian journalist Iryna Levchenko every ten days from a Donetsk Detention Centre to temporarily occupied Melitopol for investigative actions before returning her to Donetsk, the journalist wrote in a letter recently received by her family. Olena Rudenko, Iryna Levchenko’s sister, shared the details with the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU).

Iryna Levchenko. Photo: from the family’s personal archive

According to Rudenko, Levchenko is being held in a Donetsk Detention Centre, where she was transferred in July 2026. At the same time, due to the constant transfers between detention facilities, the funds from her personal account are being spent, and the family lacks money to send letters and parcels.

“Every 10 days, Iryna is taken to Melitopol for investigative actions. She spends ten days in Melitopol, then returns to Donetsk, and ten days later she is taken to Melitopol again,” the journalist’s sister said.

Rudenko noted that her sister’s current conditions of detention are worse than before. According to her, the journalist is held in a cell measuring approximately 3 by 4 metres alongside three other women. The cell has a toilet, but due to power generator failures, there is almost no light in the detention centre.

In her letters, Levchenko reveals almost nothing about herself. According to her sister, in her latest letter she only noted that she was feeling quite well. Some of the letters from the journalist do not reach her family, and some arrive incomplete. Rudenko said that the latest letter was supposed to consist of two pages, but the family received only one. Despite the conditions of detention, Iryna continues to draw. At the same time, Russian prison guards have restricted her ability to use coloured pencils: they left six out of 12 pencils and are threatening to take those away as well.

The family still does not know under which specific article Levchenko is being charged. According to her sister, the Russian side has classified the documents in the case.

Earlier, ZMINA reported that Russian occupying forces had once again transferred illegally imprisoned journalist from Melitopol and NUJU member Iryna Levchenko. This time, she was moved from a Krasnodar pre-trial detention centre to temporarily occupied Donetsk.

Russian security forces abducted Iryna Levchenko along with her husband Oleksandr on 6 May 2023 in occupied Melitopol. Before retiring, the journalist worked for the local newspaper Novyi Den for over 40 years. Her husband was released in August 2024 after 16 months of illegal imprisonment. Since then, Iryna has been repeatedly transferred between pre-trial detention centres: from Melitopol to Donetsk, to Simferopol in late 2025, to Krasnodar in June 2026, and she was returned to Donetsk again in late July.

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