Vice News Journalist Simon Ostrovsky Freed by Ukraine Separatists

By Paul Berger April 24, 2014

An American-Israeli journalist who was detained in Ukraine has been released, according to VICE News.

Simon Ostrovsky, who has filed a series of often hard-hitting reports on Ukraine for VICE, was seized on Monday along with several other Western journalists.

While those journalists were quickly released, Ostrovsky was detained until Thursday.

Vyacheslav Ponomarev, the self-appointed People’s Mayor of Sloviansk, told ABC News that Ostrovsky was detained because his reporting is “one-sided.”

Ponomarev said that Ostrovsky “has to learn a lesson and he will get it.”

A statement on VICE’s website said that Ostrovsky was in good health.

“Out of respect for Simon and his family’s privacy, we have no further statement at this time,” the news site said.

Paul Berger was a staff writer at the Forward from 2011-2016, covering crime and healthcare issues, such as sex abuse, circumcision, and fraud. He is a fluent Russian speaker and has reported from Russia and Ukraine. He also likes digging into historical mysteries.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO