Insurance for Journalists and Media Working in Ukraine

Layer one: entry and city cover

Like every foreign national, a journalist is expected to hold medical insurance for the whole stay, and border officers may ask to see it. That is what this policy is.

It covers emergency medical care across Ukraine — including injuries caused by military action, such as missiles, drones and debris, as a named insured risk. For most reporters that is where the working weeks are actually spent: Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa, Dnipro, between assignments.

Take the Extended plan. Its sum insured of 1,575,000 UAH (about €30,000) is the working standard for surgery and medical evacuation; 100,000 UAH does not go far once those are involved.

Get entry and city cover →

Layer two: front-line assignments need a different policy

Ukrainian law places a separate obligation on media employers. Under Article 15 of the Law on State Support of Media, Guarantees of Professional Activity and Social Protection of Journalists, outlets must insure staff they send to areas of hostilities and/or temporarily occupied territories — life, health and capacity to work, under insurance class 1 (accident). The procedure is set by Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications Order No. 810-2025.

This policy does not satisfy that obligation, and we will not pretend otherwise:

• it is a travel medical policy (class 18), not accident insurance (class 1);
• it excludes areas of active hostilities, occupied territories, a 50 km band around them and special access regime territories — exactly where the media law applies.

If you are going to the front, your outlet arranges class 1 cover — or, if you freelance, you do. The full legal picture is in our guide: insurance for journalists — what the law actually requires.

Press accreditation

AFU accreditation is needed only for work in combat areas and with military units. It is issued through the Ministry of Defence as an electronic press card, on the basis of your passport, media credential, a request from your outlet and a photo. The accreditation rules state that the defence forces are not responsible for the safety or the insurance of media representatives. Step by step: accreditation and insurance guide.

Fixers and local producers

Certificates are individual. Fixers, drivers and producers on your team each need their own policy — up to ten people can be placed on one purchase, priced per person.