THE SUN’s Defence Editor, Jerome Starkey, was slapped with a Russian arrest warrant over his fearless coverage of the country’s brutal invasion of Ukraine.
A court in Russia’s Kursk region issued award-winning journalist Jerome, 43, with the warrant and also placed him on an international wanted list.
The sham ruling was immediately blasted as “desperate” by Downing Street, while Jerome vowed to continue reporting on the bloody conflict.
It comes after American Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, 33, was arrested in Russia and held for 16 month on trumped-up espionage charges – before being freed last August.
Russia‘s Federal Security Service (FSB) had petitioned the court – saying a British citizen had entered Russia from Ukraine to film a report in August last year.
Defence Secretary John Healy said: “This move is another example of Putin’s weakness and a credit to Jerome Starkey’s fearless reporting – and The Sun’s strong stance against Russian aggression.”
Dad of two Jerome said: “It’s nice to feel wanted – but Russia’s courts do have form for jailing people on trumped-up charges, as happened to my colleague Evan Gershkovich.
“This is clearly an attempt to shut down anyone who criticises the Russian invasion of Ukraine – and one that will not work.
“They are trying to intimidate me and other journalists covering this brutal war
“But it is vital that journalists shine a light on Vladmir Putin’s horrific invasion of Ukraine.
“Myself and The Sun will continue to do so.
“Our work to report on the crimes of Putin’s illegal work and the suffering it has heaped on the people of Ukraine will carry on.
[bc_video account_id=”5067014667001″ application_id=”” aspect_ratio=”16:9″ autoplay=”” caption=”Inside prisoner of war camp holding Russian soldiers captured by Ukraine in Kursk offensive” embed=”in-page” experience_id=”” height=”100%” language_detection=”” max_height=”360px” max_width=”640px” min_width=”0px” mute=”” padding_top=”56%” picture_in_picture=”” player_id=”default” playlist_id=”” playsinline=”” sizing=”responsive” video_id=”6361322987112″ video_ids=”” width=”640px”]“And I would suggest that Vladimir Putin and his regime have bigger things to worry about than the work of British journalists telling the truth about this war.”
Courageous Jerome – accompanied each time by a photographer – has made a dozen trips to Ukraine since Russian troops launched their bloody invasion in 2022.
The highly-respected reporter has spent more than six months on the frontline, filing fearless dispatches from blitzed Ukrainian cities including Kharkiv, Kherson and Bakhmut.
But the court ruling was sparked by his reporting from inside Russia, in August 2024, when Jerome and a Sun photographer travelled to Kursk with Ukranian forces.
That report – the first by a British journalist in Russia during a conflict since William Howard Russel covered the Crimean War in 1856 – detailed a stunning Ukranian incursion into Russia which captured 1,300 sq kilometres of its territory.
Sun Editor in Chief Victoria Newton said: “The Sun stands in unwavering support of our Defence Editor, Jerome Starkey, following an arrest warrant by the Russian state.
“Jerome is an award-winning journalist, whose courageous frontline reporting from Ukraine has consistently exposed Russian war crimes.
“This action by a sham Russian court is a blatant attempt to silence him and suppress The Sun and the free press from reporting on the horrific realities of the war.
“Jerome’s commitment to journalistic integrity is unparalleled.
“He has embedded himself with the Ukrainian military, providing readers with searing eyewitness accounts and powerful, fact-based reports that convey the true horror of the conflict.
“This arrest warrant comes after Jerome became the first UK journalist to report from occupied Russia since William Howard Russel covered the Crimean War in 1856.
“It underscores the vital importance of a free press in holding authoritarian and criminal regimes accountable.”
As well as filing print and online stories Jerome has also delivered video packages seen by millions on The Sun’s YouTube channel and other platforms.
Those dispatches have vividly brought to life the brutal realities of the conflict, with Jerome – in flak jacket and helmet – often seen surveying the aftermath of a battle or Russian blitz on Ukraine.
Jerome’s The Frontline series on YouTube has seen him explaining the war to hundreds of thousands of viewers, while also answering the audience’s questions.
[boxout headline=”Jerome’s Frontline YouTube channel” featured-image=”33104694″]JEROME has courageously made a dozen trips to Ukraine since Russian troops launched their bloody invasion in 2022 – and explains the ever-changing situation of the war in his hit YouTube series The Frontline.
Head to The Sun’s YouTube channel to watch the Defence Editor give the latest updates on Ukraine, featuring on-the-ground footage and images.
In one incredible explainer that has accumulated over 1.5 million views, Jerome reports on Ukrainian paratroopers destroying ’33 tanks and avs’.
Here, he describes how Ukraine claimed it destroyed some twenty Russian tanks repelling an armoured assault – but Russian forces advanced on three fronts and appeared to use a North Korean Rocket launcher for the first time in the war.
In another video, with over 1.5 million hits too, Jerome reports the unbelievable moment Ukrainian tanks were rolled into Russia – forcing Putin’s troops to surrender as UD F-16s finally arrived.
Footage showed the Ukrainian advance into Kursk, including tanks, armoured personnel carriers and a UR-77 mine-clearing vehicle.
And in one explainer that has so far accumulated 1.4 million views and over 22,000 likes, Jerome explains the moment Ukraine were given the ‘green light’ to blitz targets in Russia with long-range, British weapons.
Jerome also travelled to Kyiv for a world-exclusive interview with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in November 2023 – in which the hero Ukranian leader revealed Putin hitmen had tried to kill him five times.
He won the London Press Club’s Multimedia journalist of the year award in 2022 – and the next year scooped Reporter of the year at the Press Awards.
News of the Russian court sanction – which could see Jerome arrested if he sets foot in the country – was yesterday strongly condemned by Number 10.
PM Sir Keir Starmer’s official spokesman said: “It’s just another example of desperate rhetoric from Putin’s government. Of course, we condemn it.
“Across the world, British journalists are trying to lighten some of the darkest corners of the world and covering atrocities.
“Jerome Starkey’s award-winning reporting from inside Ukraine, exposing the details of Russia‘s illegal war for millions of readers, is no different.
“And if the Kremlin cannot withstand the British newspaper highlighting Ukraine‘s brave defence of its freedom, then frankly, Putin should roll back his tanks, withdraw his forces, and end the suffering of Ukrainian and Russian people.
“We will always stand with Ukraine, we will always stand by our free and fearless press.”
Tory former Foreign Office Minister Tobias Ellwood: “This is a brazen yet futile attempt to both legitimise Russian sovereignty in Ukraine and coerce Western media. The Sun should hang tough and not be intimidated!”
Shadow Defence Secretary James Cartlidge said: “Jerome Starkey is an excellent Defence correspondent, doing his job – as he is entitled.
“The challenge to our way of life from countries like Russia is one of democracy and free speech vs dictatorship and repression, and nothing characterises more what we are up against than Putin placing a bounty on a journalist’s head.”
Former Labour Defence Minister Lord Spellar said: “This is, unfortunately, common bully boy tactics from the Kremlin.
“It shows once again why the free world must stand together against the outrageous behaviour and maintain and increase support for Ukraine.”
And Colonel Richard Kemp – former Commander of British forces in Afghanistan – said: “Being issued with and International Arrest Warrant is a badge of honour for Jerome.
“It is absolutely right that Jerome went into Russia and has been able to report to the world what has been happening in Ukraine from an independent journalist’s point of view.
“This just shows how eager the Kremlin is to shut down and reporting of its illegal war.
“Russia already has control over its own media, but it cannot control others, and Jerome has been doing an amazing job – all credit to him.”
News Media Association chief executive Owen Meredith said: “We condemn in the strongest possible terms this attempt to criminalise and censor legitimate journalism.
“Journalism is not a crime and British journalists shine a light into some of the darkest corners of the world so the public can see what is going on.
“As an industry, we stand united in support of The Sun’s Defence Editor Jerome Starkey and in the principles of press freedom which underpin our fundamental democratic rights.”
Jo Allan, CEO, Newsworks, said: “This arrest warrant for The Sun’s defence editor Jerome Starkey is an attack on Britain’s free press and seeks to criminalise journalism.
“It highlights the important role that journalists play in holding power to account, sometimes at great personal cost.”
Jerome joined The Sun as a trainee in 2003, before moving to Kabul, Afghanistan to write for NATO’s International Security Assistance Force’s newspaper in 2006.
He resigned, before working in Kabul as a freelance and for The Times.
Jerome’s work there forced NATO to admit its own role in killing civilian casualties.
During a glittering career, he has reported from warzones including Somalia and The Democratic Republic of Congo – and he was in Afghanistan to cover the fall of Kabul to the Taliban in 2021.
Jerome returned to The Sun as our Defence Editor in 2020.
Unlock even more award-winning articles as The Sun launches brand new membership programme – Sun Club.
[boxout headline=”‘His bully-boy threats from a sham court'”]REPORTING from war zones is the best and worst job in the world.
I see horrific things and sometimes get scared witless.
But I get to tell amazing stories about ordinary people caught up in a conflict.
I won’t be stopped by the bully-boy threats from a sham Russian court in Kursk.
I have reported in these pages about innocent people maimed by cluster bombs.
We have given a voice to pensioners living in a Kharkiv bathroom because it is the only room without windows or outside walls that could be blown to bits by missiles.
We have told stories of babies born in bunkers.
Stories of parents who rescued stolen children from thousands of miles behind the front line.
Stories of civilians forced to wear uniforms to defend loved ones.
Stories of soldiers slain in blood-soaked trenches.
And I have interviewed captured Russian troops — some of them convicts press-ganged into Storm Z battalions
In August I had the extraordinary chance to visit Kursk, captured in Ukraine’s surprise attack.
It was Russia’s worst loss on home soil since WW2.
Russia claims my trip was a crime. It’s absurd. The Leninsky District Court said I crossed the border illegally.
What did they expect? For me to stop at the border, as drones swarmed overhead, and get my passport stamped?
What Russia really wants is to bury proper journalism, to stop reporters shedding light on Putin’s war crimes. It won’t work. We did our jobs. We did journalism. And journalism is not a crime.
