Freedom of Speech Barometer for April 2025
The Institute of Mass Information experts recorded 11 freedom of speech violations in Ukraine in April, according to the IMI’s monthly monitoring study “Freedom of Speech Barometer”.
In April, the IMI recorded 5 crimes against the media and journalists that were committed by Russia. These included damage to media offices and cyber attacks.
The death of one media professional who had enlisted in the Ukrainian Armed Forces was reported in April:
Volodymyr Kotsur, sports journalist turned soldier. Volodymyr's death was reported on April 29, 2025. He had enlisted in the Ukrainian Armed Forces following Russia's full-scale invasion. He was a contributor to the news outlets Sports Express Ukraine, Ukrainskyi Futbol and Komanda.
Russian shelling strikes resulted in damage and destruction of several media offices in several cities:
- in Kyiv, the buildings that had housed the offices of the TV channels Dim and FREEDOM were severely damaged in a Russian ballistic missile strike, destroying the new FREEDOM newsroom and the top three floors of the business center housing the international broadcasting channels.
- in Sumy, the CUKR office and the Sumy Press Club were damaged. The strike also destroyed a photo exhibition by Kordon.Media at the Congress Center.
- in Poltava, the Poltavska Khvylia office was damaged (the shock wave damaged the office’s ceiling, deformed the lighting fixtures, and partially destroyed the interior structures).
Freedom of speech in Ukraine in April 2025
The Institute of Mass Information was targeted in a cyber attack, receiving multiple phishing emails from hackers affiliated with Russian intelligence. The emails were sent by the hacker group UAC-0050, which is affiliated with the Russian intelligence services. The phishing emails had the name of the NGO listed in the subject line, which made them stand out from similar emails the IMI has received in the past. The emails included an attachment with link to a zip document containing malicious files. Both emails were signed by a “chief accountant” addressing the IMI's finance department with a demand to sign some documents and submit copies of them.
IMI representative Valentyna Troyan also received a phishing email with a malicious file attachment that collects data about the system.
The IMI recorded six freedom of speech violations unrelated to Russia's war against Ukraine. These included attacks on journalists, obstruction, indirect pressure, and cyber attacks.
Two media professionals were attacked in April:
- in Kyiv: Yuriy Makarov, executive producer at Suspilne Broadcasting and a prominent journalist, was attacked and stabbed by an unknown man. Yuriy Makarov was hospitalized in serious condition, but there is no threat to his life. The police have opened a case under the article “severe bodily harm” (Part 1 of Article 121) and investigating the incident. Law enforcers are looking into the theory that the attack could have had a pro-Russian trail. Yuriy Makarov believes that the attack on him is most likely to have a “Russian trail” such as Russian intelligence aiming to demoralize society by attacking a public figure.
- in Chernivtsi oblast: independent journalist Diana Lavryk was injured while covering the conflict around the St. Nicholas Church in Verkhni Stanivtsi village (Chernivtsi oblast) switching from the Moscow Patriarchate to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine on April 8. The journalist was assaulted despite having clearly stated that she was a reporter performing her professional duty.
A Dumska journalist faced obstruction in Odesa. He was attacked by staff while filming at the municipal St. Pantaleon House of Mercy for the Elderly when the correspondent tried to enter the institution's dining room to take photos of the meals served to the residents. The staff tried to knock the equipment out of his hands and even scratched his face.
Kremenchutska Hazeta chief editor Oleh Bulashov and Kirovohradska Pravda were targeted in cyber attacks. Bulashov's likeness was featured in an AI generated video posted anonymously to Facebook. In the fake video, the chief editor appears to be commenting on Kremenchuk deputy Bohdan Lazorenko's calls on Ukrainians to enlist in the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Kirovohradska Pravda sustained a large-scale phishing attack: the news outlet’s editorial phone number was receiving notifications about attempts to access the weekly’s official email account and Telegram channel for 20 minutes.
The website Rivnenski Novyny posted another discrediting article about Chetverta Vlada based around an anecdote shared by “Servant of the People” MP Dmytro Solomchuk, who claimed to have treated a Chetverta Vlada journalist to some buckwheat. Chetverta Vlada chief editor Volodymyr Torbich says both the MP’s story and the Rivnenski Novyny article are a lie.
Read the full monitoring study below.
RUSSIA'S CRIMES
Damage to media offices – 3
1. Russian strike destroys Dim TV, FREEDOM TV offices
06.04.2025 The Russian ballistic strike on April 6 severely damaged the buildings that housed the offices of state-owned enterprise International Multimedia Broadcasting Platform of Ukraine (IMBPU) channels following the February 12 shelling, IMBPU website chief editor, deputy chief of website administration and social media, Vadym Lubchak, reported in a Facebook post.
The building that came under fire housed the offices of the following TV channels: FREEДОМ; Dim; UATVEnglish; The Gaze; UATVEspañol; UATVArabic; UATVPortuguês; the digital office.
The building also housed service departments.
“Fortunately, our employees were unharmed. Despite everything, the international broadcasting platforms continue to work,” Vadym Lubchak said.
The IMBPU website reports that the Russian missile strike destroyed the new FREEDOM TV newsroom, where the IMBPU was building an upgraded studio after the February 12 shelling strike.
The three upper floors of the business center where the international broadcasting channels were located have been destroyed, there is now a huge crater next to the building, and the lower floors also sustained significant damage and are unusable.
The IMBPU CEO Yulia Bin stressed that this is the second strike they have faced in less than two months. This time, the premises where the digital and service departments used to work and where the company had transferred part of the staff and production facilities after the February shelling strike have effectively been destroyed.
“This is where we were preparing to launch the upgraded FREEDOM studio and were doing other renovations. The State Emergency Service is working on the ground now, clearing away the rubble, and the police are investigating. Because of this, we cannot yet fully assess the scale of the inflicted damage ourselves. It is clear that this venue is now unfit for work, but we will find a solution. What matters is that no one on the international broadcasting team was injured. We continue to go on air. Thank you to everyone who is supporting and helping us,” Yulia Bin said.
2. Several media offices damaged in Russian missile strike on Sumy
13.04.2025 The Russian ballistic missile strike on Sumy on April 13 damaged the office of the media outlet CUKR and the Sumy Press Club. A photo exhibition by the news outlet Kordon.Media at the Congress Center was destroyed as well, as reported by CUKR director Dmytro Tishchenko in a Facebook post and by Kordon.Media co-founder and director Alyona Yatsyna in a comment to the Institute of Mass Information.
“The impact was minimal. Our colleagues are already working on site. Thanks to everyone who writes to us, asks questions, supports us. This is invaluable. Condolences to the families of all the deceased and injured,” Dmytro Tishchenko wrote.
He clarified in a comment to the Institute of Mass Information representative Valentyna Troyan that none of the employees were injured.
Kordon.Media co-founder and director Alyona Yatsyna reported in a comment to the IMI that the father of their war reporter was injured in the strike. He was in the epicenter of the explosion: he works as a security guard at the Congress Center. The man is in the hospital. The strike also destroyed a photo exhibition initiated by Kordon.Media, which was located in the Congress Center.
Alyona Yatsyna says that the hallway windows in the Sumy Press Club, which hosts press conferences, were blown out by the strike.
Alyona Yatsyna adds that the Nyankiny Theater has been destroyed.
“Everything was destroyed. They were in the Congress (Congress Center. – Ed.) bomb shelter; children were supposed to come there at 12:00,” Yatsyna said.
According to her, the shelter was targeted directly and did not withstand the blow.
On April 13, 2025, Russia struck central Sumy city with two ballistic missiles. As reported by the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky on Telegram, as of 2:00 p.m., 31 people were known to have died. Over 80 people were injured, including ten children.
3. Poltavska Khvylia office damaged in Russian shelling strike
22.04.2025 The office of the Poltava-based online news outlet Poltavska Khvylia was damaged in a Russian drone strike on the night of April 22, the media outlet reports.
The shock wave damaged the office’s ceiling, deformed the lights, and partially destroyed the interior structures. None of the employees were injured during the shelling.
“Some areas of the office building are currently unusable due to the risk of them collapsing further, but we continue to work. Part of the ceiling has crumbled, metal structural elements have been deformed, and light fixtures have been torn from their mounts and are hanging from the ceiling,” the team noted.
Cyber attacks – 2
10.04.2025 The Institute of Mass Information (IMI) received multiple phishing emails claiming to be from accountants, which arrived to the NGO's inbox on April 8. The emails were sent by the hacker group UAC-0050, which is affiliated with the Russian intelligence services, as confirmed to the Institute of Mass Information representative Lesya Lutsiuk by the State Computer Emergency Response Team of Ukraine (CERT-UA).
The phishing emails had the name of the NGO listed in the subject line, which made them stand out from similar emails the IMI has received in the past. The emails included an attachment with link to a zip document containing malicious files. The emails were sent from different addresses, probably generated by software: [email protected], [email protected].
The emails sent to the IMI team are identical in content and structure, with the senders placing particular emphasis on the urgency of the letter. The letters were sent in quick succession, with a few minutes gap. Both emails were signed by a “chief accountant” addressing the IMI's finance department with a demand to sign some documents and submit copies of them.
Digital Security Laboratory (Tsyfrolaba) tells the IMI that such emails aim to install malware that will spy on the victim and steal data from their computer's Windows system.
Tsyfrolaba specialists explain that the archives sent by the hackers contain password-protected documents and the malicious file “Password.js”. If you run it on a computer with a Windows operating system, it will secretly install the software Remote Utilities, which can take screenshots, make recordings with the microphones and cameras, steal passwords, documents, etc.
“The Russians are closely monitoring and looking for weak points to gain access to journalists and activists. While in the past their emails used to be in Russian or a mix of languages, now they are improving the letters, writing them in Ukrainian and adding some details to create the impression that the email is authentic. However, all these letters have one style: a call to act urgently and a 'document' attached that has to be downloaded from another service. They hope that Ukrainians will download the document in a hurry and then the Russians will be able to access their accounts or monitor their devices remotely,” said Yana Mashkova, a media expert at the Institute of Mass Information.
In early 2025, Tsyfrolaba reported a surge in finance-related phishing attacks by Russian hacker groups, which likely target accountants, heads of organizations, and sole proprietors in order to install remote access malware.
The IMI has also reported that Ukrainian information systems are being targeted by hacker groups working as part of Russian intelligence services, and that some private hacker groups have also begun to work for the Russian state.
In the first year of the full-scale invasion, the IMI was targeted with a powerful cyberattack. The perpetrators tried to stop the IMI website from working through the newsletter subscription form. In 2023, the website sustained another DDoS attack and was down for more than an hour. The IMI believes the attacks to be retaliation for the NGO's work such as documenting the crimes committed by Russia against the media and journalists.
2. IMI representative receives phishing email collecting system data
24.04.2025 Institute of Mass Information representative Valentyna Troyan received a phishing email on April 24 with a malicious file attachment that collects data about the system.
Unlike the similar emails that had arrived in her inbox earlier, the file was in .pdf format, not the usual .zip.
The Digital Security Laboratory (Tsyfrolaba), which Valentyna contacted for advice, says that the attached file contained malware.
“The file contains a link that downloads an archive with several password-protected documents and a 'password,' but it is probably some kind of script that collects data about the system, the IP address, language, and also tries to bypass protection. Probably followed by another payload,” adds Tsyfrolaba.
In April 2025, the Institute of Mass Information (IMI) received multiple phishing emails claiming to be from accountants, which arrived to the NGO's inbox. The emails were sent by the hacker group UAC-0050, which is affiliated with the Russian intelligence services. Tsyfrolaba specialists explain that the archives sent by the hackers contain password-protected documents and the malicious file “Password.js”. If you run it on a computer with a Windows operating system, it will secretly install the software Remote Utilities, which can take screenshots, make recordings with the microphones and cameras, steal passwords, documents, etc.
THE FREEDOM OF SPEECH SITUATION IN UKRAINE FOR WHICH UKRAINE CITIZENS ARE RESPONSIBLE
PHYSICAL AGGRESSION
Beatings, assault – 2
1. Unknown man stabs Suspilne's executive producer Yuriy Makarov
16.04.2025 Yuriy Makarov, executive producer at Suspilne Broadcasting and a prominent journalist, was attacked and stabbed by an unknown man late on April 16, Suspilne Broadcasting reports.
The company says that Yuriy Makarov has been hospitalized in serious condition. As of now, there is no threat to his life.
The police have opened a case under the article “severe bodily harm” (Part 1 of Article 121) and investigating the incident.
“We call on the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine to take the investigation under his personal control. The Suspilne Broadcasting team wishes Yuriy Makarov a speedy recovery and hopes that the attacker will be found and punished,” the company says.
Law enforcers are looking into the theory that the attack could have had a pro-Russian trail.
Yuriy Makarov believes that the attack on him is most likely ot have a “Russian trail” such as Russian intelligence aiming to demoralize society by attacking a public figure.
The Media Movement, Ukrainian journalists and media professionals called on law enforcement agencies to promptly and comprehensively investigate the attack on Yuriy Makarov, to find the perpetrators and clearly identify the motives behind the attack on the journalist.
2. UOC MP supporters in Bukovyna attack journalist for filming parish joining OCU
17.04.2025 Independent journalist Diana Lavryk was injured while covering the conflict around the St. Nicholas Church in Verkhni Stanivtsi village (Chernivtsi oblast) switching from the Moscow Patriarchate to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine on April 8, report the Kolomyia city and district newspaper Vilnyu Holos and NTK TV.
Diana says she had been invited by the parishioners and the parson, Roman Hryshchuk, to film the first liturgy of the new OCU parish in the church. However, the event ended in a mass brawl as they were attacked by UOC MP supporters. The journalist was assaulted despite having clearly stated that she was a reporter performing her professional duty.
“When we, together with the priests and parishioners, entered the church, the attackers approached, armed with batons and pepper sprays. Threats rained down on us. Stones and sand were being flunged at us, angry people were beating us with sticks. I stood to the side, recording the events on video, and said clearly and distinctly that I was a journalist. I was hit, pulled by the hair… Someone picked me up and dragged me into the church to save me from the angry crowd,” she told Vilnyi Holos.
However, the journalist continued, the attackers fired gas from fire extinguishers into the church and when she and others were exiting the church, “they beat us fiercely, they pulled me aside by the hair, beat me, tore off my journalist ID, they wanted to take away my equipment…” Later, the people were evacuated from the church.
“They beat everyone until we left the church premises. As soon as the police arrived, within 15 minutes, they took a statement from me… To record the injuries, I would have to come back there, to Verkhni Stanivtsi, the following day. I won’t go, I’m afraid for my life…” the journalist said.
Father Roman Hryshchuk, archpriest, chaplain of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, said that Diana Lavryk was targeted deliberately and purposefully: the attackers threw stones at her and beat her with batons.
“Her shouting, 'I am a journalist!' only added to the fury. We rescued her, huddled against the church wall, and two other boys, from the massacre, dragged her inside the church,” he added.
The journalist filed a statement with the police and the investigation is underway. Diana also had to seek medical help.
Diana Lavryk is a contributor to the newspaper Vilnyi Holos. Born in Lviv oblast, she now temporarily lives in Kolomyia and is a member of the Kolomyia branch of the National Union of Journalists. She reports on topical subjects, most recently – on parishes switching from the UOC MP to the OCU.
Obstruction of legal reporting – 1
1. Dumska journalist attacked while filming in Odesa retirement home
29.04.2025 A journalist with the newspaper Dumska was attacked by staff while filming at the municipal St. Pantaleon House of Mercy for the Elderly.
The incident occurred when the correspondent tried to enter the institution's dining room to take photos of the meals served to the residents, according the news story "Exploiting the elderly for embezzlement: municipal shelter in Odesa purchases food at inflated prices", released on the media outlet's website on April 24.
The team says that the shelter's residents contacted them to complaint about the poor food offerings and invited the reporter to visit the institution at lunchtime. The media outlet adds that the St. Pantaleon House of Mercy is not a closed institution; visitors are allowed at the residents' invitation.
When the reporter tried to enter the dining room, several employees of the institution attacked him, trying to cover the camera lens with their hands. The staff behaved aggressively, tried to knock the equipment out of the correspondent's hands and even scratched his face.
The staff claimed their actions were due to the quarantine measures in place at the institution, as well as the internal rules banning outsiders from entering the premises.
The reporter had to leave the institutions' territory for safety reasons and to avoid possible reprisal against the institution's residents.
Dumska chief editor Yuriy Basiuk told the Odesa oblast representative of the Institute of Mass Information that the team had decided not to contact the police or escalate the situation due to the position of the journalist himself, who did not want to argue with the institution's staff.
The team also reported that the correspondent decided to remain anonymous for the investigation.
The Institute of Mass Information lawyer Volodymyr Zelenchuk listed the grounds to argue that the journalist had the right to film in the retirement home.
“If a retirement home is open to the public freely or by invitation, then it can be considered a public place where permission for filming is not required. Moreover, access to information about the work of a municipally owned institution cannot be limited. These two facts alone are grounds enough to argue that the journalist had the right to film in the retirement home, of course given that each person in the home can prohibit filming them personally,” the lawyer said.
At the same time, Volodymyr Zelenchuk emphasized that it is also necessary to take the public interest into account, such as the possible corruption risks, which, according to the journalists, involve the work of this institution.
INDIRECT PRESSURE
Other kinds of indirect pressure – 1
1. Rivne website posts smear content about Chetverta Vlada again
28.04.2025 The website Rivnenski Novyny has posted another discrediting article about Chetverta Vlada based around an anecdote shared by “Servant of the People” MP Dmytro Solomchuk, who claimed to have treated a Chetverta Vlada journalist to some buckwheat. Chetverta Vlada chief editor Volodymyr Torbich says both the MP’s story and the Rivnenski Novyny article are a lie.
Hanna Kalaur, the Institute of Mass Information representative in Rivne oblast, looked into the situation.
The article titled “'I fed them buckwheat:' MP speaks frankly about his relations with the so-called 'independent' journalists in Rivne” was released on April 16. Rivnenski Novyny singled out the "tasty Ukrainian buckwheat" anecdote from Solomchuk's interview with Suspilne and claimed that Chetverta Vlada has hardly mentioned him since the MP treated the journalist to the meal.
In September 2024, the Civil Society Network “Opora” released a study showing that Dmytro Solomchuk “has become infamous for continuously giving away groceries in his reception room for voters.” Chetverta Vlada journalist Olha Pidhorodetska recorded the groceries giveaways and the personal data of the elderly people receiving them being taken down. When asked by Suspilne about this practice, the MP replied with an anecdote about how he “treated” the journalist to some buckwheat.
“Yes, I later invited the Chetverta Vlada journalist to my office. I put a pot on the stove, cooked her some buckwheat, treated her to the buckwheat, and they wrote nothing about it. The buckwheat was quite tasty, harvested in Ukraine, by Rivne farmers, from Khmelnytskyi. It was grown locally,” Dmytro Solomchuk told Suspilne.
Instead of analyzing Solomchuk’s “buckwheat politics”, Rivnenski Novyny focused on a cherry-picked episode featuring the journalist. “By the way, the website has hardly ever mentioned Dmytro Solomchuk, who represents the pro-government party “Servant of the People”, since this visit,” the website hints. The article also alleges that Chetverta Vlada has failed to comply with the incorruptibility principles.
The MP Solomchuk's buckwheat article is by the Chetverta Vlada journalist Olha Pidhorodetska, who said in a comment to the IMI representative that she considers the Rivnenski Novyny article a smear attempt.
“First of all, no one invited me to meet MP Dmytro Solomchuk. As a journalist, I contacted his assistant and arranged an interview to find out what kind of buckwheat distribution campaign was going on and why they were collecting people's personal data. I don't recall having to try or eat buckwheat in the company of the MP and his assistants. Yes, the MP really showed me a pot of buckwheat and suggested that I try it, claiming that he and his assistants were just about to sit down and have lunch. But I wasn't going to write about it, because it was irrelevant to my topic,” said Olha Pidhorodetska.
The journalist suggested that the MP's statement could have been a PR stunt or that he had misspoken. "But this does not mean that I violated journalistic standards or became part of his PR stunt. At the very least, the MP should publicly apologize to me personally and to the editorial team by donating to Rivne Drone fundraiser," she said.
Chetverta Vlada chief editor Volodymyr Torbich called the Rivnenski Novyny article a lie in his Facebook post. He says that the website's editor Andriy Androschuk "parroted and exaggerated the lies by a populist Servant of the People MP".
“Dmytro Solomchuk, I will accept a public apology for spreading false information in the form of a donation to the drone fundraiser for the UAF Airborne Assault Forces Jaeger Brigade No. 71,” Torbich wrote.
This is not the first time that Rivnenski Novyny has tried to discredit Chetverta Vlada. The website posted two defamatory articles about the investigators in December 2024.
Rivnenski Novyny was founded by Andriy Androschuk, once an adviser to the former head of the Rivne Oblast Administration, Oleksiy Mulyarenko. Androschuk has been a subject of multiple Chetverta Vlada investigations into his spreading misinformation about journalist Inna Biletska, as well as drunk driving.
ONLINE PRESSURE
Cyber attacks – 2
1. Kremenchutska Hazeta chief editor reports fake video with his AI generated likeness to police
08.04.2025 Kremenchutska Hazeta (Poltava oblast) chief editor Oleh Bulashev filed a statement with the police after an AI generated video featuring his likeness was posted on the Facebook page "Regional News". Bulashev asks law enforcers to help block this page. In the fake video, the chief editor appears to be commenting on Kremenchuk deputy Bohdan Lazorenko's calls on Ukrainians to enlist in the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The journalist spoke about this in a comment to Nadia Kucher, the Institute of Mass Information representative in Poltava.
“An AI generated video where I appear to be saying all this was posted on Facebook, but even with the naked eye you can see that the words do not match the way my mouth moves in the video. I did not make this video, so this is another fake that smears my name,” said Oleh Bulashev.
He added that he asks the police to identify those who use his name, punish them according to the law, and block the page “Regional News”.
“Regional News” became active in March 2025, when the page posted the first video about the Kremenchuk City Council deputy Bohdan Lazorenko. The official himself denied involvement in the video on his official Facebook page and said that it was AI speaking on his behalf. There are no other videos on the page apart from the one featuring the AI generated image of the Kremenchuk deputy.
2. Kirovohradska Pravda reports phishing attempt
22.04.2025 The regional print weekly Kirovohradska Pravda has sustained a large-scale phishing attack, editor Natalia Marynets reports to Pavlo Lisnychenko, the regional representative of the IMI in Kirovohradska oblast.
Marynets says that the news outlet’s editorial phone number was receiving notifications about attempts to access the weekly’s official email account and Telegram channel for 20 minutes on Friday, April 18. They also received messages offering various discounts, bonuses, and opening credit limits to this number.
“Since all our official communication channels are tied to this number, we were somewhat concerned. Losing access to the Telegram channel would be critical for us,” says the journalist.
She added that having received several dozen such messages, the team began checking whether third-party users had logged in to their resources.
“Just in case, we changed all passwords and updated our two-factor authentication. We also reported the situation to the Cyber Police,” added Natalya Marynets.
She attributes the attempted hack to the popularity of the news outlet’s Telegram channel, which allows Kirovohradska Pravda to meet the needs of different audiences and has a "newspaper with memes" reputation in the regions.
On April 8, the IMI received multiple phishing emails claiming to be from accountants, which arrived to the NGO's inbox. The emails were sent by the hacker group UAC-0050, which is affiliated with the Russian intelligence services. The Digital Security Laboratory (Tsyfrolaba) tells the IMI that such emails aim to install malware that will spy on the victim and steal data from their computer's Windows system.
DEFENDING FREEDOM OF SPEECH
The authorities' response to freedom of speech violations – 7
1. Court orders the Verkhovna Rada Apparatus to decline ZHAR.INFO query with reasons explained
01.04.2025 The Administrative Court of Appeal No. 7 granted a part of the appeal by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (VRU) Apparatus in the lawsuit against ZHAR.INFO on access to information on deputies' business trips since the day of the large-scale invasion and until the query submission date. The Court of Appeal overturned the part of the first instance court's ruling ordering the VRU Apparatus and the Department for Citizens' Appeals to provide the information requested by the online media. This is stated in the March 6 court ruling.
The cancelled ruling was issued by the Khmelnytskyi District Administrative Court on October 22, 2024 and ordered the VRU Apparatus' Department for Citizens' Appeals to provide the media outlet with the data they had requested on February 7, 2024.
The Khmelnytskyi District Administrative Court had ordered the VRU Apparatus' Department for Citizens' Appeals to provide the ZHAR.INFO journalist Alyona Bereza with data on deputies' business trips starting from the day of the large-scale invasion and up to the query submission date.
The Court of Appeal noted in their ruling that the timeframe listed in the journalist's query, namely February 24, 2022 to December 31, 2023, coincides with the period of martial law in Ukraine. The court added that the requested data includes information about the terms, destinations, purposes of the deputies' business trips and conclusions about the information received, the work carried out and its benefit for Ukraine, which is considered limited access information (part 2 of Article 6 of the law).
At the same time, the panel of judges indicated in the ruling that the manager of public information is obligated to prove that access to information may be limited. It was clear from the Department for Citizens' Appeals response to the requester that the respondent did not comply with the requirements of the current law on proper processing of information queries and providing a response.
According to the appellate instance judges, the first instance court did not consider the full picture of the case and chose an incorrect method of restoring the plaintiff's violated right, which then served as the basis for overturning the ruling in this part. The court also ordered the VRU Department for Citizens' Appeals to re-review the query, taking into account the appellate court's findings.
The online media outlet ZHAR.INFO is preparing to file a cassation appeal, founder Maria Turchyna told the IMI.
2. Journalist wins lawsuit on access to data about Shlyakh system exploiters
01.04.2025 Journalist Olha Yuskovets won an information access lawsuit against the State Transport Safety Service (STSS). The court ordered the state body to provide her with data on draft-eligible men who left Ukraine through the Shlyakh system at the request of licensed freight carriers and did not return.
The Administrative Court of Appeal No. 8 passed the ruling on March 12, 2025, reports Syla Pravdy.
Olha Yuskovets used to be a journalist at Syla Pravdy and has been working at Bihus.info since last year.
The court recognized the requested information as socially important and the STSS's refusal as unlawful, and ordered the journalist’s request to be reconsidered.
The STSS must provide the data to the journalist, but with certain limitations. The court decided that the STSS will not have to disclose the full names of the fugitive drivers.
The Court of Appeal also overruled the earlier verdict in this case by the Rivne District Administrative Court. On May 30, 2024, the Rivne District Administrative Court granted the journalist's claim, declaring the STSS's refusal unlawful. The court ordered the State Transport Safety Service to provide copies of the letters from the State Border Guard Service featuring the names of the violators and with other personal data, such as document numbers and identification codes, redacted. The STSS appealed this ruling.
In April 2024, Syla Pravdy journalist Olha Yuskovets investigated the draft-eligible men and enterprises exploiting the Shlyakh system. She wanted to know how many draft-eligible men did not return to Ukraine after leaving abroad through this system from 02/24/2022 to 03/31/2024. However, the STSS refused to provide her with answers to her query. Then the journalist filed an administrative lawsuit. Olha Yuskovets insisted that such information was of considerable community interest. While the trial was ongoing, Syla Pravdy released an investigation into how hundreds, if not thousands, of Ukrainian men left Ukraine as international transport drivers in the two years of the war.
3. BIHUS.Info wins lawsuit by former intelligence officer Semochko
08.04.2025 The team of investigators with BIHUS.Info won in court against Serhiy Semochko, the former First Deputy Chief of Foreign Intelligence, BIHUS.Info reported in a Facebook post. The media outlet noted that the trial had lasted six years.
“2018, an investigation into the family’s Russian passports, estates in Kozyn, and the SBU’s interference in medicine procurement. After that – a six year long trial. And what the intelligence officer and his lawyers have not done during this time! They implicated random people in the case, seized the accounts and property of the journalists and the TV channel, made them retract the investigation several times,” the team wrote.
The journalists add that the case once went through all three instances and was submitted back for a re-trial due to multiple violations, and that in the fall of 2024 the Holosiivskyi Court of Kyiv ruled that the journalists should retract the investigation for the second time and re-pay Semochko the money they had already paid several years ago.
“Imagine having to pay a fine that has long been paid off for the second time or being fired from a job that you have not worked for three years. Absurd? Yes, but that's our courts for you, such things happen here. However, judges love the joke 'the appeal court will fix it' for a reason. Today the Kyiv Court of Appeals did fix it. The ruling has been canceled, the money will be given back to the journalists. It is only a pity that there is no procedure to make Semochko go on air and retract the retraction,” the team said.
In October 2018, the program “Our Money with Denys Bihus” (Bihus.Info) released an investigation into the interference in dialysis medicine procurement by Serhiy Semochko, the First Deputy Head of the Foreign Intelligence Service. The interference led to a suspension of purchases and a medicine shortage. The journalists also investigated the official’s family and found that over the past three years its members had bought three estates in Kozyn with a total value of about $8 million, which is inconsistent with the family’s official income. Moreover, the journalists reported that his family has Russian passports and often visits the occupied Crimea.
On November 9, 2018, Semochko filed a defamation lawsuit demanding that the journalists retract the reported information about his family’s property and Russian passports.
On November 13, 2020, it was reported that the Holosiivskyi District Court of Kyiv ordered multiple Ukrainian news outlets to retract the information they had published about Serhiy Semochko as untrue and causing moral damage.
In the same month, Judge Yuriy Mazur of the Holosiivskyi District Court of Kyiv granted the claim by Serhiy Semochko and issued an order for forced execution of the court ruling without waiting for it to be appealed. As a result, a private bailiff arrested the accounts of Channel 24 and journalists Denys Bihus and Lesya Ivanova.
4. Rivne judge loses lawsuit against journalists
17.04.2025 The Supreme Court ruled that the incriminating information about the Rivne City Court judge Oleksandr Tymoshchuk, shared in multiple journalistic reports, is not misleading or defamatory, according to the Court's verdict of April 9, 2025.
The journalist whom the judge sued, Victoria Mamotiuk, reported on Facebook that the trial had lasted for 10 years.
“We won in the first instance twice, once on appeal, and once finished in a 'draw': supposedly, the information that I published was false, but there was no need to retract it. Neither here nor there. And at last, the Supreme Court put a full stop to it and confirmed the journalists were in the right,” Victoria Mamotiuk said.
With this ruling, the Supreme Court satisfied part of the claims by Victoria Mamotiuk, who appealed to the court after the Rivne District Court and Rivne Court of Appeal ruled that some of the reports about the judge may have contained inaccurate information. The court also ordered Judge Oleksandr Tymoshchuk to pay a court fee.
In its ruling, the Supreme Court notes that the courts that partly sided with Oleksandr Tymoshchuk failed to take into account that Victoria Mamotiuk’s reports were about bribery in domestic courts — a topic that, in the Supreme Court’s opinion, is of public interest.
The Supreme Court also repeatedly refers to the case law of the European Court of Human Rights regarding the importance of the media and freedom of expression.
“The Supreme Court emphasizes that the news stories mention the plaintiff as a judge, and the statements used by the authors point to an illegal practice that may constitute a crime. Given the gravity of the allegations, these statements could undermine the authority of the judiciary. [...] The reasons given by the courts to justify the interference with the right to freedom of expression were not 'relevant or sufficient,'” the Supreme Court ruled.
As the IMI reported, in 2015, Oleksandr Tymoshchuk filed a defamation lawsuit against Victoria Mamotiuk, who at that time was a journalist for the online news outlet Holosno. In addition to retracting the information, the judge demanded 200 thousand hryvnias in moral damages. However, as stated in the Supreme Court ruling, the courts previously closed the proceedings in the case over the judge’s refusal to collect the compensation, and this decision was never appealed.
In addition to Victoria Mamotiuk, the lawsuit targeted the platforms on which the reports were distributed, such as the websites Vse and Holosno, former journalist Oleksiy Kryvosheyev, and ex-lawyer Liana Dynovska, who is now the director of the Rivne City Center for Social Services.
The reports that Oleksandr Tymoshchuk tried to declare inaccurate concerned the judge’s alleged abuses of office, in particular in the case of apartment fraud.
“It all started with a story where an elderly lady suddenly 'lost' an apartment. The documents disappeared straight from the judge’s hands, the apartment ended up in the hands of a realtor, and Tymoshchuk himself was far from an extra in this scheme,” Victoria Mamotiuk said on Facebook.
Judge Oleksandr Tymoshchuk has been a figure in journalistic investigations and exposés. He has been accused of bribery and other abuses of judicial office.
5. Court of Appeal orders Mykolaiv TPP to provide data on salaries, bonuses to MykVisti
17.04.2025 The Mykolaiv Thermal Power Plant (TPP) lost an appeal regarding the disclosure of public data on the salaries and bonuses paid to the management and members of the company's supervisory board in 2023 to Kateryna Sereda, chief editor of the online news outlet MykVisti.
Kateryna Sereda tells the Institute of Mass Information that on April 14, the Administrative Court of Appeal No. 5 tried the TPP’s appeal and dismissed it.
Over a year ago, on January 24, 2024, Kateryna Sereda submitted an information query to the company, asking for data on the salaries and bonuses received by the management of Mykolaiv Thermal Power Plant in 2023. The letter also included a request for information on rewards, expense compensations, and additional benefits provided to members of the supervisory board of the private joint-stock company Mykolaiv TPP. In May 2024, the media outlet sued the TPP to make them release data on the salaries. On February 17, the Mykolaiv District Administrative Court fully granted MykVisti's claim against Mykolaiv Thermal Power Plant.
Disagreeing with the court’s ruling, the Mykolaiv TPP claimed in their appeal that to the court had incorrectly applied the substantive law and that its conclusions were inconsistent with the details of the case, and requested that the Mykolaiv District Administrative Court ruling be canceled and a new one be passed that would dismiss the plaintiff's claims. The Mykolaiv TPP emphasized that despite 100% of the company’s shares being owned by the state, the company itself belongs to legal entities under private law.
The company also cited its charter, according to which the board's chair must not disclose information that constitutes an official or commercial secret.
However, the appeal court disagreed with the arguments of the Mykolaiv TPP representatives. The panel of judges examined the company’s decrees approving the list of information that is considered confidential and constituting a commercial secret. According to these decrees, commercial secrets include information on the official salaries of employees, the terms of the contracts with the supervisory board chair and members, grades and formulas for determining the amount of remuneration for the company's employees. However, the court believes that the TPP's claim that the requested information is a commercial secret or confidential contradicts the requirements of the Law of Ukraine “On Access to Public Information” and the Law “On Information”, since the company is owned by the state.
The court upheld the ruling by the Mykolaiv District Administrative Court and ordered the Mykolaiv TPP to provide all requested information on the salaries and remuneration of the company’s management and supervisory board. The court’s ruling entered into force on April 14.
Kateryna Sereda's interests were represented in court by Oksana Maksymeniuk, a lawyer and head of the legal department at the Institute for Regional Press Development.
Earlier, the Mykolaiv police closed the previously initiated proceedings on denial of access to the Mykolaiv City Council building to journalists.
6. Kolo chief editor loses cyberbullying lawsuit against former Poltava City Council secretary
18.04.2025 Tetyana Tsirulnik, chief editor of the Poltava-based news outlet Kolo, lost her lawsuit against the former Poltava City Council secretary, Andriy Karpov, whom she was suing over cyberbullying. On April 18, the Oktyabrskyi District Court of Poltava dismissed her defamation lawsuit against Karpov, as Tetyana Tsirulnik reported to Nadia Kucher, the IMI representative in Poltava oblast.
In a comment to the IMI's Poltava representative, thee journalist’s lawyer Dmytro Semekha suggested that the judge was probably swayed by the linguistic examination conclusions, which, the lawyer said, stated that Karpov’s post was a value judgment. The journalist and her lawyer say that they plan to file an appeal.
In February 2023 the editor-in-chief of the Poltava website "Kolo", Tetiana Tsirulnik, has filed a lawsuit against Poltava City Council secretary Andriy Karpov after facing cyber bullying over her article about Karpov.
In her defamation lawsuit, the journalist demanded that Karpov's post be recognized as degrading to her honor and dignity, that the part of the official's post where he claims that journalists are lying about his salary by alleging it exceeds 100 thousand hryvnias, be recognized as misleading, and that she be compensated for moral damage, which she estimated at 100 thousand hryvnias.
An October 26 news report titled "The price for 8 years of Vata Show: Poltava City Council secretary Andriy Karpov is raising money for an operation," had a reference to the official's Telegram channel, where he wrote about his treatment and the fundraising campaign.
Karpov posted this article on his social media, having taken screenshots from the "Kolo" website. The official accused the journalist of distorting the truth, claiming that she had written a news article with the headline "Karpov is raising money for penis enlargement/reduction surgery." After that, Karpov's supporters started humiliating and insulting the journalist in the comments under his Facebook post.
7. Court dismisses sabotage convict's lawsuit against Prestupnosti.NET
28.04.2025 The Central District Court of Mykolaiv dismissed a lawsuit by local Mykhailo Zmiyevskyi against the online media outlet Prestupnosti.NET (LLC “Ukrainian Media Group Company”), who demanded the journalists retract the reported information about his detention and involvement in leaking data on the location of Ukrainian army positions in Mykolaiv oblast.
The court ruling was issued on April 11, 2025, as reported by the media outlet's chief editor Anatoliy Chubachenko in a comment to Kateryna Sereda, the Institute of Mass Information representative in Mykolaiv oblast.
On July 15, 2022, the media outlet reported in a Telegram post that the Security Service of Ukraine had detained a man on suspicion of helping the Russian troops aim their strikes on Mykolaiv and Bashtanka. The media outlet disclosed the man's full name and posted an unblurred photo of him. This post prompted Mykhailo Zmiyevskyi to file a lawsuit demanding that the information about his detention and involvement in the crime be retracted.
“This trial lasted several years. The man who was detained on suspicion of aiding Russian troops in aiming strikes on Bashtanka and Mykolaiv sued us because he believed that the information we had reported was misleading. Having tried the case a few months ago, the first instance court found him guilty of the crimes he had been charged with and sentenced him to 11 years in prison. The court ruling in the case over which he was detained confirmed the information we reported: that he was detained precisely because of what he was charged with,” said Anatoliy Chubachenko.
The journalist believes that the man will file an appeal.
“We are satisfied with the court’s ruling, we believe that society should know such information, it is important for today,” said Anatoliy Chubachenko.
He also added that the court had found the use of the photo lawful, since the plaintiff had posted it on social media himself. The court pointed out that the post concerned a socially important event: the detention of a person who, according to official data, could have been aiding the Russian troops. In such a context, under martial law, the provisions of the laws of Ukraine “On Information” and “On Media” allowing the reporting of socially significant information from official sources are applicable.
Bashtanka resident Mykhailo Zmiyevskyi actively leaked data on the location of Ukraine's army units on pro-Russian Telegram channels in 2022, which put the soldiers' lives at a real risk, says the court’s verdict, quoted by Prestupnosti.NET.
On July 15, 2022, the Security Service of Ukraine reported that a Mykolaiv oblast resident had been detained on suspicion of leaking location data to the Russian troops. On December 20, 2024, the court sentenced the man to 11 years in prison, finding him guilty under several articles of the Criminal Code, such as dissemination of information about the transportation of weapons and denial of Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine.
Earlier, the Administrative Court of Appeal No. 5 ordered the Mykolaiv TPP to provide MykVisti with the requested information on the salaries and bonuses received by the company’s management.
Responses by the media community – 1
1. Media Movement, journalists call for prompt investigation into attack on Yuriy Makarov
17.04.2025 The Media Movement, Ukrainian journalists and media professionals call on law enforcement agencies to promptly and comprehensively investigate the attack on the prominent Ukrainian journalist and Suspilne Broadcasting executive producer Yuriy Makarov, to find the perpetrators and clearly identify the motives behind the attack on the journalist, as stated in the address by the Media Movement, to which the Institute of Mass Information is a signatory.
The media community does not rule out that the attack on Makarov might have to do with his reporting and his stance on the Russo–Ukrainian war.
The authors of the address also call on the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, Ihor Klymenko, to take the investigation into this attack under personal control and ensure that the public receives regular updates about the progress of the investigation.
“Attacks on journalists are unacceptable in a democratic society. Their investigation should be a priority for a state that declares commitment to the principles of freedom of speech and human rights,” the address says.
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