Simon Ostrovsky

Simon Ostrovsky (Russian: Симо́н Остро́вский; born (1981-02-02)February 2, 1981) is a Russian-American documentary filmmaker and journalist. Best-known for his coverage of the Russo-Ukrainian War for VICE News, he reported extensively on events that unfolded in Ukraine in 2014, as the country's rising political tensions with Russia culminated in the Russian annexation of Crimea and the outbreak of the war in Donbas.

In April 2014, Ostrovsky was kidnapped by pro-Russia separatists after they identified him as a person of interest at a checkpoint in the Ukrainian city of Sloviansk; he was held hostage and tortured for three days before being released as separatist forces retreated in the face of a Ukrainian military counteroffensive around the city. Later, in 2015, he filmed Selfie Soldiers, a documentary in which he followed the social media presence of a Russian soldier who had been deployed to Donbas, Ukraine, at a time when Russia denied having any military presence in the country's mainland. Ostrovsky now works as a special correspondent for PBS NewsHour.He won an Emmy Award in 2013 for his work with VICE Media, and his series Russian Roulette was nominated for two Emmys. He also received the Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award.