A revered Welsh journalist is to receive a posthumous award from the Ukrainian Government for exposing the nation’s widespread famine.

Up to 10m Ukrainians are estimated to have died under Stalin’s government in 1932-33 yet the story was denied by Soviet authorities and western journalists alike for years.

The story was brought to light by the Western Mail’s Gareth Jones, who wrote about the famine after walking through the countryside and seeing families crying out for basic foods.

Along with Manchester Guardian correspondent Malcolm Muggeridge, Gareth is revered in the Ukraine and now both are to be awarded the country’s Order of Freedom.

The presentation will be part of the anniversary commemorations in Westminster to mark 75 years since the famine, known as the ‘Holodomor’.

Exposure and discussion of the famine was suppressed with the full story only coming to light in the Ukraine after the fall of communism.

Mr Jones attempted to tell the world about the starving millions but his story was rubbished by foreign correspondents.

His niece Dr Siriol Colley has written a book about her campaigning uncle’s life and has sought recognition for his work.

She told the Western Mail: “The Ukrainian people have taken him to their hearts – they call him the unsung hero.

“He reported on Ukraine but also on the rise of Hitler and the US depression. He did so much in his short life and it is such a shame that all that knowledge died with him at such a young age.”

Fedir Kurlak, chief executive of the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain, added: “I think for people to have lived for so long, for 70 years, without being able to properly tell others that their little brother, their mother or father died, or half the school died – for them to live with that for 70 years, indicates the terror that existed in that part of the world.

“I’m sure Gareth would have known if he had been caught reporting on the famine that he would have faced certain death.”

Gareth was born in Barry in 1905 but his life was cut short aged just 29 when he was murdered in 1935 in Inner Mongolia.

During his career he also wrote for The Times, Manchester Guardian, Berliner Tageblatt and American newspapers.