GENEVA, September 15. /TASS/. Journalists in Ukraine are intimidated and harassed, according to a report by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on the human rights situation in that country released in Geneva on Thursday.

Journalists covering the armed conflict in the Donbass region, in particular, from the areas not controlled by Kiev, "have found themselves as targets of online attacks carried out with the tacit consent - and at times declared support - of high-ranking government officials," the report says. The Office noted that freedom of expression has become a political issue "after the recent resignation of the Deputy Information Policy Minister over the unwillingness of the government to investigate abuses against journalists."

The report also states that "journalists been particular targeted, with reports of harassment and intimidation leading to self-censorship."

The report, which covers the period from mid-May to mid-August, highlights the deterioration of the human rights situation in eastern Ukraine compared to the previous three months. UN human rights monitors have found out that about 70% of the alleged human rights abuses and violations they documented between mid-May and mid-August "involved allegations of torture, ill-treatment and incommunicado detention."