The Washington Post’s Ukraine correspondent is one of the employees who got laid off by the Jeff Bezos-owned newspaper “in the middle of a warzone.” Lizzie Johnson, who had been reporting on the Russia-Ukraine war, said she was “devastated” by the decision.

The Washington Post, which has been owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos since 2013, laid off nearly one-third of its staff on Wednesday. The cuts included shutting down the sports section, closing several foreign bureaus and ending books coverage, according to the Associated Press (AP).

Lizzie Johnson shares shock and grief on social media

Johnson was among those affected by the layoffs. Soon after receiving the news, she shared her reaction on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), writing, “I was just laid off by The Washington Post in the middle of a war zone. I have no words. I’m devastated.”

Johnson joined the paper’s international desk after working on its investigative team, where she was part of the narrative accountability unit. Earlier in her career, Johnson worked as a staff writer at The San Francisco Chronicle. 

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She has been a four-time finalist for the Livingston Award for Young Journalists, most recently for her international reporting. Originally from Nebraska, Johnson joined The Washington Post in 2021, according to her profile on the newspaper’s website.

More than 300 journalists were impacted by the job cuts. Executive editor Matt Murray told staff that the newspaper would now focus mainly on national politics, business, and health coverage, the New York Times reported.

After making the announcement of being laid-off, Johnson shared an older post from January 26, along with a photo of herself working from the backseat of a car. 

In that post, she described the challenges of reporting from a conflict zone and wrote, “Waking up without power, heat, or running water. (Again.) But the work here in Kyiv continues. Warming up in the car, writing in pencil – pen ink freezes—by headlamp. Despite how difficult this job can be, I am proud to be a foreign correspondent at The Washington Post.”

‘Cruel, terrible to abandon your journalists in war zone’: Social media backlash follows

Replying to her post, a user wrote, “I’m so sorry that this is happening to you and other journalists whose life long ambition has been to report the truth.  Bezos is doing the same thing to the WaPo that Trump has done to the Kennedy Center”.

Another user wrote, “Thank you for the coverage you have done and continue to do Lizzie. I’m sorry you are going through this”.

One more user said, (mention the handle name) “Not only is it cruel and terrible to abandon your journalists in the war zone like that, it is also very harmful to Ukraine. We need journalists on the ground and all the publicity we can get!”.

While some users have also criticised Johnson saying, “I’m going to go out on a limb and say that if you had all tried to be actual journalists and impartially reported the news, you would not be going through this right now. Food for thought that you should really reflect on”.

Ukraine bureau chief also among those laid off

The Post’s Ukraine bureau chief, Siobhan O’Grady, was also laid off. In a post on X, she wrote, “It’s been the honour of my life to serve as Washington Post bureau chief in Ukraine.”

Washington Post’s large-scale layoffs across departments

The Washington Post has begun large-scale layoffs that will significantly reduce the size of the newspaper and affect all departments. The newsroom alone is losing “hundreds” of staff members, according to the Washington-Baltimore News Guild union, which represents Post employees.

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Executive Editor Matt Murray told staff that the cuts would affect the international, editing, metro, and sports desks. The move comes just days after the newspaper, founded in 1877, scaled back its coverage of the 2026 Winter Olympics due to growing financial losses.