Early years in Ukraine (2010–2013) Phillips first visited Ukraine in 2009 when he travelled to
Dnipropetrovsk for an
England football match. He then moved to Ukraine in 2010, looking for the chance to 'reboot' his life. In 2012, Phillips started work in Kyiv as a journalist for the English-language ''
What's On magazine, his work there included interviews with Chris Rea and Sergei Baltacha. After leaving What's On
, Phillips worked as a freelance journalist from Ukraine, publishing several articles, including two for the New Statesman, three for the Kyiv Post and three for Pravda'', among others. In November 2012, Phillips' article for
Pravda.ru opined about the gloomy atmosphere in Ukraine after the highs of
Euro 2012, and worries for the future. Phillips's work as a freelance journalist in Ukraine often focused on crime; he covered the
murder of Oksana Makar, a Ukrainian woman raped and burned alive, and Barry Pring, a British man killed outside Kyiv. In early 2013, Phillips self-published a book,
Ukraine – Men, Women, Sex, Murder, which culminated with his investigation into the death of Barry Pring. The book was removed from sale after legal action by Anna Ziuzina, the woman he accused of Pring's murder. For his blog in 2012 and 2013, Phillips wrote a series of articles highly critical of Ukrainian nationalist politician
Stepan Bandera and the Ukrainian nationalist party
Svoboda, referring to Bandera as a "Nazi", and Svoboda as "neo-Nazis". Journalist
Paul Kenyon wrote of Phillips: "During the
Maidan Revolution in February 2014, Phillips was reporting from a rally of the notoriously far-right Svoboda Party, when he observed dozens of people throwing Nazi salutes. It was an earth-shattering moment for the fresh-faced young journalist from Nottingham. When the Kremlin blamed “Nazis” for the overthrow of their puppet
Viktor Yanukovych, Graham Phillips decided to take their side."
2014–2021 In March 2014, living in
Odesa, Phillips drove to Crimea, as
Russia took control of the peninsula. Phillips wrote an article for
Politico magazine, writing that most of the people he had spoken to in Crimea supported Russia. Phillips then went to work part-time for RT as a reporter in
Donbas in April 2014, covering the
Russo-Ukrainian War, after multiple RT crews were denied entry into Ukraine. Phillips said at this time, that although he was working as a freelancer / stringer for RT, his priority was developing his own YouTube channel. Much of the attention on Phillips was generated by his prolific use of his YouTube channel, with him often uploading 20-30 videos per day, something he combined with his work for RT. In May 2014, Phillips was captured by the
Armed Forces of Ukraine while reporting from
Mariupol. After a day in detention, he was released on the condition that he would immediately leave Ukraine. RT expressed outrage over the treatment of Phillips, who was described as a 'sometime RT correspondent'. At this time, Phillips was working for Russian state channel
Zvezda, as a freelancer, having parted company with RT following his second deportation from Ukraine, along with uploading videos to his YouTube channel. In late 2014, Russian channel
NTV released a film
Военкор ('War Correspondent'), inspired by Phillips' early experiences reporting in Ukraine. In March 2015, after having covered the
Battle of Debaltseve, Phillips returned to the UK, where he was detained at
Heathrow Airport and questioned by
MI5 about his work from Donbas; no charges were presented against Phillips, who was released after several hours. In early 2015, Phillips was added to the Ukrainian
Myrotvorets site, which lists so-called 'enemies of Ukraine', and encourages action against them. Back in the UK in Spring 2015, Phillips organised a fundraising event to raise humanitarian aid for Donbas.
The Daily Beast accused Phillips of forcefully ejecting a heckler in crowd who had shouted that
Givi was a 'murderer'. Responding to criticism of his Donbas charity event blurring journalistic lines, Phillips responded "I think within the scope of journalist you can do some good." Also in April 2015, Phillips attempted to storm into the Museum of Stepan Bandera in London, shouting that it was a "Nazi collaborator museum"; he was escorted from the premises by the police. Later in 2015 Phillips was back in Donbas, and
Inverse published an article based on his work, namely his drone footage from the destroyed city of
Pervomaisk, Luhansk Oblast; Phillips stated that drone footage allowed people to witness war at a 'visceral' level, and that 'the destruction of Pervomaisk was a result of shelling by Ukrainian forces'. In March 2016, Phillips released a film called
Aramis, about the life of a Donbas militant he had known, who was killed in action. The premiere was held in
Saint Petersburg. Phillips then made a film about celebrations of
Victory Day in Russian-occupied Crimea. On 16 March 2016, Phillips was detained in
Riga, Latvia, for disrupting the
Remembrance Day of the Latvian Legionnaires events, shouting that they were 'glorifying fascists', and resisting police orders, after which he was deported to Russia and banned from re-entering Latvia for three years. Latvia's Interior Minister,
Rihards Kozlovskis blasted Phillips for his “provocation” in the Latvian capital. In May 2016, while filming at
Taigan (safari park), Phillips was attacked by a lion, however he laughed the incident off. Phillips was also filmed kissing a Russian bear at the safari park. In June 2016, Phillips travelled around Europe, doing what he described as a 'Brexit reportage project'. He began in
France, asking young men in the
Calais Jungle, why they were planning to come to the UK. Phillips' confrontational tone and questioning, resulted in an incident in the 'Jungle'. Phillips then went to the
Germany vs Ukraine football match at
UEFA Euro 2016 at the
Stade Pierre-Mauroy near
Lille, asking Ukrainian football supporters what they thought of the war in Donbas. Phillips' provocative questioning and manner resulted in multiple confrontational incidents, and Phillips' Rover 75 was broken into, with personal items stolen. Despite being banned from Latvia in March, Phillips then returned there in June, as part of his 'Brexit project'. Upon his return to Latvia, while banned, he referred to the Latvian government as 'morons'. On 2 August 2016, together with German journalist and activist
Billy Six, he entered the Berlin office of the investigative journalism organisation
Correctiv without permission and demanded an interview with
Marcus Bensmann, who was investigating
Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. Phillips, who had been conducting his own investigation into
MH17, repeatedly accused Bensmann of lying, shouting "
Lying press!", while filming the incident, and refusing to leave. Correctiv called the police, however Phillips and Six evaded them. In September 2016, Ukraine accused Phillips of provocation for his reportage from the Crimean border, where he crossed the line from Russian-controlled Crimea into Ukraine-controlled territory, telling the Ukrainian border guards that 'Crimea is Russia'. Back in Donbas, in a 17 September 2016 video published by Phillips, he is seen shortly before a
prisoner exchange having a verbal altercation with a disabled Ukrainian
prisoner of war who had lost both of his arms and sight in a mine blast. The video caused outrage in Ukraine. The
Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group called for journalist NGOs to condemn Phillips' actions.
Judith Gough, British Ambassador to Ukraine, said that she was appalled by the incident. The Ukrainian POW interviewed by Phillips, Vladimir Zhemchugov, for his part, criticised Phillips for 'doing three interviews' with him, and not publishing the one where he (Zhemchugov) 'got the better of Phillips' in their verbal spar. After the Zhemchugov interview, Ukrainians organised a petition to then UK Prime Minister
Theresa May to strip Phillips of his British passport, and ban him from leaving the UK; however, the UK replied that they had 'no grounds' to do this. Back in London, in January 2017, Phillips was thrown out of the UK Parliament at a 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the UK and Ukraine, for disruption, with Phillips having loudly demanded to know why the United Kingdom was 'supporting Ukrainian shelling of civilian areas of Donbass'. Also in January 2017 in the UK, Phillips, in the capacity of 'freelance journalist' gave evidence in the inquest into the death of Barry Pring, setting out results of his investigation indicating that Pring had been killed by his Ukrainian wife Anna Ziuzina. Although the January 2017 inquest returned a verdict of the 'unlawful killing' of Barry Pring, incriminating Ziuzina, the High Court quashed this verdict, and a new inquest in 2021 cleared Ziuzina. In February 2017, Phillips was accused by a Ukrainian prosecutor's office of taking an active role in the information and propaganda activities of the
Donetsk People's Republic and
Luhansk People's Republic, and having collaborated, and been friends, with separatist leaders Givi and
Motorola. From mid-2017, Phillips was back reporting from Donbas. He released a film he made in tribute to a young Luhansk journalist he had known, Irina Gurtyak, who was killed in a car crash. Writing of Phillips in mid-2017,
BBC News stated: "Phillips is highly critical of the Ukrainian government and appears to back the break-up of the country". At the start of January 2018, Phillips released a film about the children's camp
Artek in Crimea. Later in January 2018, Phillips released a film,
A Brit in Crimea, in which he took Scottish businessman Les Scott on holiday to the
Russian-annexed Crimea. The premiere of the film was held in Moscow, it was then released on Phillips' YouTube channel. Back in London, in August 2018, Phillips
gatecrashed an exhibition at the
Embassy of Georgia, London by
Gia Bugadze dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the
Russo-Georgian War, and was arrested by police for disrupting the event, with Phillips having shouted that the exhibition was "propaganda" and that its attendants were "NATO zombies". His actions were condemned by the
Embassy of Ukraine, London who called on the
Foreign & Commonwealth Office to investigate Phillips' "terrorist activity". In early October 2018, Phillips disrupted a press conference with
Bellingcat founder
Eliot Higgins, accusing him of being a 'NATO agent', and insulting him. Later in October 2018, Phillips released a documentary on his YouTube channel, accusing the Ukrainian nationalist politician
Stepan Bandera of being a Nazi. He then travelled to Bandera's grave, in
Munich, tearing down Ukrainian flags which had been placed there and placing a placard on the grave reading "Ukrainian Nazi Stepan Bandera is buried here". In response to Phillips' actions, Ukrainian nationalist MP
Ihor Mosiychuk stated “This monster (Phillips) should live in constant fear, because if European law enforcement officers do not come after him, then Ukrainian nationalists will come after him.” The incident was investigated by the
Munich Police Department; however, no charges were presented against Phillips. Further, in October 2018, in
Vienna, Phillips was accused by the then Ukrainian ambassador to Austria
Olexander Scherba of coming to his premises, calling him a 'fascist', and attempting to provoke him into a fight. In 2019, Phillips went to
Kosovo, recording videos in which he called the country a terrorist state, the
Kosovo Liberation Army a "terrorist organization", and
Ramush Haradinaj,
Hashim Thaçi and other Kosovar leaders "war criminals and terrorists", which sparked outrage in Kosovo. Phillips received death threats for his comments and was banned from Kosovo for life. Phillips then did video reports from
Serbia, which were critical of the
NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. In 2019 Phillips did another reportage project from Russian-occupied Crimea, being the only western journalist to film at a public tour of the
Black Sea Fleet, including the
Moskva, which would be sunk by Ukrainian forces three years later. Later in 2019 saw Phillips back reporting in Donbas. Phillips covered
Black Lives Matter events in London in 2020, describing himself as an opponent to the movement. Phillips then released a documentary about the
Jasenovac concentration camp in
Croatia. In 2021, Phillips went on a hiking expedition to the location of the 1959
Dyatlov Pass incident, in the
Ural Mountains of Russia. He spoke positively of the experience, and scenery, but stated he would not do reportage on the subject as his priority was his work from Donbas. Phillips stated that he had been unable to access Donbas in 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions, however he returned to do a documentary from Donetsk in the summer of 2021. Later in 2021, Phillips travelled around
Siberia doing videos, and documentaries.
Russian invasion of Ukraine (2022–) Return to Donbas, Aiden Aslin interview At the onset of the
Russian invasion of Ukraine in late February 2022, Phillips was at home in London; however, by early March he was already crossing the border from
Belarus into Russian-occupied Ukraine, in breach of his lifetime ban from Ukraine. Phillips published a video at this time claiming that the
Bucha massacre had been staged by Ukraine. On 18 April 2022, Phillips, in Donetsk, interviewed Aslin, a British citizen who had been captured by the
Russian Armed Forces whilst serving in the Ukrainian military and fighting in Mariupol. Phillips uploaded video of the interview to his YouTube channel, in which Aslin could be seen in handcuffs. Australian-British barrister
Geoffrey Robertson said the interview could be a violation of international law, saying "coercive interrogation of prisoners of war for propaganda purposes is contrary to the
Geneva Conventions", and said that Phillips may face a war crime prosecution as a result of the interview. Former British
Cabinet minister Damian Green described him as the modern-day equivalent of World War II Nazi propagandist
Lord Haw-Haw. On 20 April, Phillips was criticised by British Prime Minister
Boris Johnson and by Member of Parliament
Robert Jenrick in the
House of Commons. Johnson accused Phillips of producing propaganda messages and Jenrick said "the interviewer Graham Phillips is in danger of prosecution for war crimes". Phillips stated Aslin himself "requested the interview". "Let anyone serious present any real charges against me, and I'll fully answer all of them – I'm an independent journalist of complete integrity, and absolutely sound of conscience and ethics", he said. In a November 2022 interview, Aslin denied he "requested" the interview with Phillips, and described both Phillips' questions and his answers as "scripted and rehearsed". In an April 2023 interview, he described the behaviour of Phillips as "normal when off camera" but going "psychotic" when cameras were turned on. In September 2022,
The Sun published an article based on an interview with Aslin, who described Phillips as a “war criminal”, and with another prisoner who claimed to have been interviewed by Philips; the newspaper said Philips had “taunted” British POWs and was under police investigation.
The Sun corrected the article that month after a complaint by Philips, as the second prisoner said Philips’ face was obscured so couldn’t be identified with certainty and it later transpired he was interviewed by a different person. The
Independent Press Standards Organisation then investigated the case, concluding in March 2023 that the correction was insufficiently prominent and that there was no evidence Phillips was under investigation by the police. In April and May 2022, Phillips extensively covered the
Battle for Azovstal from Mariupol. Russian media also reported that he engaged in searching for people who had gone missing during war in Mariupol, locating and then evacuating relatives, including the brother of actress
Darya Jurgens. Phillips moved from Mariupol onto covering Donetsk, and in June 2022 Russian media reported that he had saved two women under shelling by evacuating them in his car. Phillips has carried out extensive humanitarian aid work in Donbas, including regular deliveries of humanitarian aid to a children's home in
Lutuhyne. Phillips has conducted multiple interviews over the years with Donbas separatist leader
Denis Pushilin. Phillips is also known to have been well acquainted with Donbas separatist leader
Alexander Zakharchenko.
Sanctions, continued work from Donbas In July 2022, Phillips became the only British-born citizen to date to be sanctioned by his own country. Phillips responded: "I didn't have any opportunity to defend myself, no-one notified me, there are no real charges against me.” According to the
Foreign Office official, the sanctions were because he “has produced and published media content that supports and promotes actions and policies which destabilise Ukraine and undermine or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty, or independence of Ukraine”. In August 2023, Phillips stated that he was taking the UK Government to the
High Court to challenge his sanctions, and that in doing so he is "standing up for the rights of every British citizen... It may be the opinion of the UK government that my work 'destabilizes Ukraine', but that is not a crime. Furthermore, it is a subjective misrepresentation of my work...I am an independent British journalist doing my best, with soundness of mind and conscience, and clearness of purpose - that is to show the truth in everything I do." Phillips' case was first heard at the UK High Court in November 2023, initially by
Mr Justice Swift. Mr Justice Swift removed himself from duties, and Phillips' case was heard again at the UK High Court in December 2023, this time by
Mr Justice Johnson. Mr Justice Johnson noted that Phillips has mostly stayed in Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine since 2022, and has been given access to the frontline by the Russian military. In 2024, due to a personal vendetta, conspiracy theorist
John Dougan published a fake website making unsubstantiated claims of sexual impropriety against Phillips. In October 2024, in Russian-occupied Donbas territory where Phillips continued reporting from and living, he was granted political asylum by Russia, stating in Russian, that “Above all I am a British person. It is just that my country has decided to make my life a living hell because I showed - and show - the truth about Donbas.”. In June 2025, Phillips was added to a list of 'Kremlin mouthpieces' by the Center for Countering Disinformation of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine. In October 2025 Phillips threatened to physically assault a Donetsk
TikToker for accidentally filming a Russian military installation, which was then destroyed, along with a Donetsk supermarket, by a Ukrainian military strike. In November 2025 it was reported that in 2022 the
Metropolitan Police had launched a war crimes investigation relating to multiple alleged breaches by Phillips of the Geneva Conventions, including during his interview with Aiden Aslin. The most widely reported allegation concerned a video report from 2022 which featured pigs devouring the remains of dead Ukrainian soldiers and Phillips' quips while this was happening, which was said to violate international law protections for the dignity of the dead. Phillips responded by saying “Why should I have intervened in that incident with the pigs?... I could say it was pigs eating pigs, but that would be an insult to the pigs.”. Phillips responded by referencing the character "Brick Top" from the film
Snatch, who he has accused the media of attempting to portray him as. Phillips was described by
Euronews as continuing to be active posting videos from "Russian-occupied territories", notably Mariupol. • December 2015 – Medal "For Merit", 2nd Grade, Luhansk, awarded by then head of the Luhansk People's Republic, Igor Plotnitsky. • September 2016 – Medal by order of the Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the LPR, No. 273, "For Assisting the Internal Affairs", Luhansk. • November 2020 – Medal «Военкор» 'War Correspondent', Moscow. Others to receive this award included
Alexander Sladkov, and
Alexander Kots. ==Personal life==