Kyiv bureau among those axed by Jeff Bezos' Washington Post, hundreds of journalists laid off

The Washington Post, which has been owned by American oligarch Jeff Bezos since 2013, has shuttered its Kyiv bureau amid the harshest winter since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, multiple staffers reported Feb. 4.

The local staff are expected to continue "in some capacity," according to a person familiar with the matter.

A number of other international desks were also axed in what one bureau chief called a move with "hard-to-understand logic."

"I was just laid off by The Washington Post in the middle of a warzone. I have no words. I'm devastated," Ukraine correspondent Lizzie Johnson wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Ukraine bureau chief Siobhán O’Grady called the job "the honor of my life" as she mourned the decision.

The layoffs hit more than 300 journalists. Executive editor Matt Murray told staff that The Washington Post would narrow its focus to national politics, business, and health, according to the New York Times.

This is not the first time the editorial direction of The Washington Post has faced scrutiny since Bezos took ownership of the publication.

The Amazon founder announced in late February 2025 that the opinion section of the newspaper would be "writing every day in support and defense of two pillars: personal liberties and free markets."

The Kyiv bureau of The Washington Post has done impressive and wide-ranging coverage since the start of Russia's full-scale war, including an investigation published on Feb. 2 about how how Russia has tricked hundreds of Kenyan men into joining its army under the guise of civilian work, only to send them into front-line combat roles.