ABOUT
Sara Cincurova is a Slovak-born, Ukraine-based journalist whose reporting on global issues, conflict, human rights, and rape as a weapon of war has been featured in The New York Times, The Guardian, BBC News, Al Jazeera English, Der Spiegel, Foreign Policy, New York Magazine, Ms. Magazine, Newsweek, and Women Under Siege, among other outlets. A former Agence France-Presse correspondent, she has reported from more than 20 countries, bringing to light some of the world’s most urgent crises: documenting the use of rape as a weapon of war in Ukraine; reporting on sexual violence in Libya and the trafficking of refugee women across Europe; covering the plight of refugees from inside Belarus; and investigating Venezuela’s humanitarian collapse between 2019 and 2025.
Fluent in Slovak, English, French, Ukrainian, Russian, and Spanish, Cincurova brings a rare cross-cultural perspective to frontline reporting and war crimes investigations. Educated at the Sorbonne, Cincurova’s work has earned international recognition, including nominations for the One World Media New Voice Award (2022, 2023) and the Hans Verploeg Award (2023). She was also named runner-up for the prestigious Elizabeth Neuffer Fellowship with the International Women’s Media Foundation, or IWMF (2023).
As of 2026, Cincurova is a Journalism Fellow with the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Migration and Bridging Divides at Toronto Metropolitan University, and was a Scholar in Residence at the Institute for Documentation and Exchange (INDEX) in Lviv, Ukraine.
Selected Writing: Rape and Gender-Based Violence in Russia's War Against Ukraine
- Ukrainian Women Tell Their Stories of Sexual Violence by Russian soldiers – The New York Times
- Fleeing Domestic Violence, and the Russian Advance – The New York Times
- Ukrainian Refugees Report Cases of Exploitation in Europe – Der Spiegel
- Stronger Together: Older women who experienced wartime rape in Ukraine form a network of survivors who speak out – Ms. Magazine (Summer 2025 Edition)
- Three Years After Bucha’s Liberation, Ukrainian Women Still Struggle for Justice – More To Her Story
- Motherhood on the Frontlines – The Conversationalist
- Sex for Aid – Women's Media Center
- How Women Respond to War: An Interview with Three Nobel Laureates – Women’s Media Center
Selected Writing: Global Reporting and Human Rights
The New York Times
- As Slovakia’s Prime Minister Remains Hospitalized, Politics Return to a Boil
- Fleeing Domestic Violence, and the Russian Advance
- Hikers Stumble Upon a Pile of Gold Coins, Igniting a Historical Hunt
- Slovak Prime Minister Is Improving After Second Operation, Official Says
- Slovak Prime Minister Speaks Publicly for First Time Since Assassination Attempt
- Suspect Is Charged in Attempted Killing of Slovakia’s Leader
The Guardian
- ‘Parents risk children’s lives – the alternative is worse’: on board a migrant rescue ship
- Child rape survivors face extraordinary barriers in states with abortion bans
Al Jazeera English
- ‘I hear shelling’: Fear grips Ukrainian villages near Russia
- ‘Please save us’: Refugees face death at Poland-Belarus border
- Elderly Ukrainians: ‘I was born in a war and will die in war’
- Fears grow for child refugees stranded on Belarus-Poland border
- Holocaust Remembrance Day: Letters from Slovakia
- In Pictures: Europe’s forgotten war grinds on
- Photos: On Ukraine’s front lines, women endure the war alone
- Taliban takeover ‘a trigger’ for child refugees in Greece
- The devastating ways women suffer at the Poland-Belarus border
- Venezuela arbitrarily detaining reporters covering COVID-19: CPJ
BBC
- ‘I wasn’t allowed to look out of the window’
- “Найбільше боюся, що Кривий Ріг стане прифронтовим”. Як живуть діти з інвалідністю в Україні
Der Spiegel
- (S+) Flucht aus der Ukraine: Das Nadelöhr von Vyšné Nemecké
- Our Orders Are Clear. Nobody Gets Through.
- Ukrainian Refugees Report Cases of Exploitation in Europe
- Wie Ukrainerinnen in Europa ausgebeutet werden
Lighthouse Reports
The New Humanitarian
- As Maduro cracks down, aid organisations find it harder to assist and fear worse is to come
- Nowhere left to turn, part 1: Venezuela’s COVID fallout leaves children dying and the poor scavenging for food
- The challenge of collecting COVID-19 data in Venezuela
- Ukraine reporter’s diary: ‘The desperation I saw was hard to process’
- What happens when Ukrainian refugees return?
- Women rescued from the Med tell of Libya detention centre abuse
The Cut
Foreign Policy
Newsweek
The Conversationalist
Women’s Media Center
- ‘All I Can Do Is Pray’: Elderly and Disabled Women Left Behind in Eastern Ukraine – Women’s Media Center
- ‘I have seen tyranny’: Venezuelan Women Activists Recount Physical and Sexual Violence by Security Forces – Women’s Media Center
- Hidden in Plain Sight: A Venezuelan Survivor of Incest Speaks Out
- Less Than a Number’: How European Policies Leave Pregnant Refugees to Die in the Mediterranean
- Pregnant Women Are Still Crossing the Deadliest Migration Route in the World
- Sex for Aid: The Ongoing, Invisibilized Sexual Exploitation of Ukrainian Women – Women’s Media Center
- Women journalists face life-threatening risks in Venezuela – Women’s Media Center
Balkan Insight
- In Shadow of Attack, Situation of Slovakia’s Trans Community Remains Precarious
- On the Bread Line in Slovakia
More to Her Story
Mediapart
To see Sara's full portfolio, please visit her MuckRack page