Ukrainian photographer missing from Kyiv frontline and feared abducted

Maks Levin went missing on 13 March near Ukraine capital Kyiv

Concerns have emerged over the whereabouts of a Ukrainian photo journalist who has reportedly been missing for more than a week now.

Maks Levin, 41, had gone missing on 13 March while working on the frontline near Ukraine’s capital Kyiv.

Levin had driven to Guta Mezhyhirska village in Vishgorod district, north of Kyiv, to photograph the fighting taking place between Russian and Ukrainian forces and had then left his car and proceeded to go towards the village of Moshchun.

The last message was sent by Levin at 11.23am on 13 March after which his phone went out of service, according to Levin’s colleague and friend Markiian Lyseiko.

His whereabouts have not been known since then.

“For the past many days, we have been trying to find Maks Levin in all the ways available to us... Whoever has any information about Maks after 13 March, please contact me,” Lyseiko wrote on Facebook.

There had been intense fighting in the areas where Mr Levin was covering the war “and it is assumed that he may have been injured or captured by Russian troops,” Lyseiko said in a comment below his Facebook post, quoting a local media story.

“Our good friend, talented war photojournalist Maks Levin, has gone missing. He had yet another field day in a combat zone outside Kyiv on 13 March. Ever since then, no one has had any contact with him. If you follow this war, you have definitely seen a lot of his works,” tweeted Illia Ponomarenko, defence reporter for the Kyiv Independent.

Other Ukrainian journalists have urged for Levin’s safety.

“Far too many journalists have gone missing while covering Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and all parties to the conflict should ensure that the press can work safely and without fear of abduction,” said The Committee to Protect Journalists.

Reporters Without Borders also said it was “concerned” about Levin’s disappearance.

Levin was born in 1981 in Kyiv. His documentary films have been mainly based around the conflict in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, Lyseiko said.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, three journalists – American filmmaker Brent Renaud, Irish cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski and Ukrainian producer Oleksandra Kuvshynova – have been killed.

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