DII-Ukraine has completed the project “Strengthening the DII-Ukraine Cluster of Relocated Newsrooms: Content Production and Commercial Sustainability,” implemented as part of the FAIR Media Ukraine program, Supporting Frontline Media and Investigative Journalism. The program is implemented by Internews International in partnership with the Media Development Foundation, with financial support from the European Union.
The project served as an experiment in building a sustainable model of cooperation among relocated media outlets covering issues related to Ukraine’s temporarily occupied territories. It brought together ten independent newsrooms from the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions. Throughout the project, the participating media outlets jointly produced content, shared stories and expertise, and cross-published one another’s reporting.
“Projects are usually submitted to donors only after an organization has built substantial experience implementing similar activities. In this case, we were starting almost from scratch—we didn’t know whether the newsrooms would work well together, whether real synergy would emerge, or whether the stories would resonate with audiences on both sides of the frontline. We are grateful that our donors believed in this idea and supported it. And our readers cast their vote through millions of views,” said Liubov Rakovytsia, Chair of DII-Ukraine.
The participating media outlets included:
– Novyny Donbasu
– 0629.com.ua
– Prymorka.City
– 0642.ua
– 62.ua
– RIA Pivden
– Kavun.City
– Nyzhni Sirohozy.City
– Realna Hazeta
– Volnovakha.City
During the project:
– the participating newsrooms produced 55 journalistic stories;
– these stories generated more than 270 reposts and republications;
– content was distributed through websites, YouTube, Facebook, Telegram, Instagram, and TikTok;
– the combined audience reached 3,128,235 views.
The stories covered a wide range of issues, including life under occupation, the deportation and militarization of children, social benefits, housing, human rights, business, the occupation authorities’ cultural policies, and the activities of collaborators.
According to Anna Murlykina, Coordinator of the Relocated Media Cluster support project, one of the project’s most significant achievements was the creation of strong horizontal connections among participating newsrooms.
“For us, participation in the project meant reaching new audiences through collaboration with media outlets from other regions. There are cross-cutting issues—above all, the war and the realities of the occupied territories—that matter to people regardless of where they currently live. Sharing information helps us better understand the processes unfolding in the temporarily occupied territories. That is incredibly valuable because it enables us to build a more complete picture of what is happening.”
For some newsrooms, the partnership also became a vital mechanism of mutual support during times of crisis.
“For Novyny Donbasu, part of the project coincided with a large-scale cyberattack on our website. The support of our colleagues—both moral and practical—was invaluable. The fact that our stories continued to be published by partner media outlets, rather than remaining only on our social media channels, allowed us to maintain contact with our audience,” recalled Yuliia Didenko, Editor-in-Chief of Novyny Donbasu.
The editorial team of RIA Pivden noted that the cooperation helped make the realities of occupation more visible to a broader audience.
“Participating in the DII-Ukraine project gave us valuable experience working with other relocated regional media outlets, expanded our content opportunities, allowed us to exchange professional practices, and helped us reach new audiences,” said Svitlana Zalizetska, the outlet’s editor.
Roman Lazorenko, Editor of 62.ua, shared a similar assessment.
“When the project began, I wasn’t convinced that joining forces with other relocated media outlets would produce tangible results. I was wrong. Working with like-minded journalists from different regions turned out to be both interesting and highly productive. We face many of the same challenges, and solutions often emerge from one another’s experience. Republishing our colleagues’ stories also produced strong results according to Google Analytics.”
The project also demonstrated journalism’s direct impact on people’s lives.
After RIA Pivden published a story about the occupation authorities’ campaign to send children from Melitopol to Karelia, relatives of families living in the occupied territories began contacting the newsroom seeking safe evacuation options for children. Journalists referred them to the humanitarian organization Save Ukraine.
Another article—covering the risk that residents of occupied territories could lose access to their Ukrainian pensions—became one of the project’s most influential publications. The story was developed based on readers’ questions submitted through the newsroom’s chatbot and social media channels. It received nearly 30,000 views, and following widespread public attention, the Ukrainian government extended the deadline for pension re-registration until April 1, 2026.
Another notable outcome was that stories produced by participating newsrooms began to be used by popular AI assistants as reliable sources of information about life in the temporarily occupied territories. In addition, several practical guides prepared by the newsrooms have been shared by Administrative Service Centers (CNAPs) and military administrations.
Today, the Relocated Media Cluster has grown to include 15 newsrooms, while DII-Ukraine and its partners continue working on a long-term model of cooperation aimed at strengthening the voices of media outlets that remain among the primary sources of trusted information for people living under occupation.
