Freedom of Speech Barometer for February 2025
The Institute of Mass Information experts recorded 14 freedom of speech violations in Ukraine in February, according to the IMI’s monthly monitoring study “Freedom of Speech Barometer”.
The majority of the crimes (12 cases) were committed by Russia. These included injuring journalists, death threats and intimidation of media workers, and damage to media offices.
Two media professionals were killed by Russian forces in February:
- Yaroslav Shapochka, a soldier, former Fakty journalist, had been considered missing in action since March 2023. His death in Donetsk oblast was reported on February 10, 2025.
- Tetyana Kulyk, a journalist with Ukrinform, died in a Russian drone strike on Kyiv oblast on the night of February 25/26. Tetyana was the author and host of the project “Nation of the Invincible”.
According to the Institute of Mass Information, a total of 98 media professionals have died as a result of Russian aggression since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion.
In February, anonymous emails with bomb threats to media offices and various buildings across the country continued to arrive to journalists. Namely, such emails were received by: Cheline, Volynski Novyny, Pershyi Kryvorizkyi, Syla Pravdy, IMI, Detector Media, Novyny Khmelnytskyi.
The IMI also recorded cases of media offices being damaged by Russian shelling. Both cases were recorded in Kyiv: FREEDOM TV (dozens of windows in the office were broken by the shock wave of the Russian strike, production facilities and cars nearby were damaged) and the Crimean Tatar TV channel ATR (windows and doors in the offices were either broken or blown open).
The IMI recorded two freedom of speech violations that were not related to the Russian war on Ukraine. These were cases of obstruction of legal reporting and beatings.
My—Ukraina TV journalist Viktoria Dmytrenko was attacked by a woman while filming a news story about the murder of a teenage boy. According to eyewitness accounts and video footage of the incident, the woman hit the journalist in the face until she bled and knocked the mobile phone out of her hands. Viktoria Dmytrenko filed a police report for obstruction of reporting and assault.
Dnipro.media reporter Valeria Tokar was not allowed into the session hall during the February 19, 2025 Dnipro City Council meeting. She spent the entire event on the specially designated balcony. Meanwhile, representatives of another Dnipro media outlet – the communal enterprise Dnipro Studio Television (Dnipro TV) – were moving freely around the hall, filming the entire meeting.
Read the full monitoring study below:
Russia's crimes
Journalists injured – 1
1. Russian drone targets TSN filming crew in Kharkiv oblast. Cameraman wounded
05.02.2025 A TSN (1+1 TV) filming crew – journalist Oleksandr Motornyi and cameraman Pavlo Borysko – were targeted by a Russian drone near Vovchansk (Kharkiv oblast) on February 4. The cameraman was injured, TSN reports.
At the time of the attack, the journalists were filming a news story about the work of Ukrainian UAV operators near Vovchansk.
The cameraman survived the strike with multiple shrapnel wounds and a broken leg. Medics provided Pavlo with all the necessary aid.
“At some point, artillery started firing off around us. The boys said that there would most likely be an attack. They were given a takeoff command. The boys took off – Pasha and I filmed the first launch,” said Oleksandr Motornyi.
Pavlo Borysko was filming the next drone's launch and was next to a UAV crew member. That was when they were attacked by an enemy drone.
Oleksandr Motornyi says that he first thought that they had been hit by artillery. He rushed outside and saw Pavlo covered in blood, the man accompanying Borysko was injured even more severely. The squad commander applied a tourniquet and stabilized his leg with a splint. The wounded men were taken to the hospital, where the doctors provided the necessary assistance.
The Kharkiv Oblast Prosecutor's Office has opened a pre-trial investigation into a war crime (Part 1 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). According to the investigators, the Russian army attacked the TSN crew with an FPV drone.
Earlier, Hromadske journalists came under Russian drone fire near Kupyansk.
Death threats, intimidation – 9
1. Chernihiv's Cheline receives threats about bombs in schools and kindergartens
03.02.2025 Chernihiv online news outlet Cheline received an anonymous email to their editorial inbox today, February 3. The email claimed that bombs had been planted in schools, kindergartens, and shopping malls across the city.
Editor Pavlo Solodovnyk reported this to the regional coordinator of the Institute of Mass Information, Pavlo Pushchenko.
The unknown sender writes that bombs have been planted in all schools, kindergartens, shopping malls, universities, colleges, city hospitals, and administrative service centers in Chernihiv.
“After the explosives are activated, many people will die, the shock wave will blow up every mined building,” the email says. The sender adds that “one can only achieve his goals through mass terror and murder.”
Moreover, the sender says that they developed a desire to kill in childhood and claims to have murdered their own parents.
Earlier, the Institute of Mass Information's regional hub Mediabaza Chernihiv received an email with threats of terrorism.
2. Volynski Novyny team receives bomb threats via email
06.02.2025 The online media outlet Volynski Novyny received an email whose sender claimed to have planted bombs in schools, kindergartens, shopping malls, the administrative services center, the city hospital, and other institutions.
Volynski Novyny chief editor Ivan Savych reported this to Maya Holub, the Institute of Mass Information representative in Volyn oblast.
Ivan Savych says that this was the first time that the editorial team received such letter. He has contacted the police. His report has been registered.
The letter did not mention a specific city. The unknown sender threatened that the city’s cemeteries would soon be filled to the brim due to the explosives they planted.
In January and February, multiple media workers received emails with bomb threats. Namely, Volyn journalist Olha Bulkovska, Chernihiv media outlet Cheline, Pershyi Kryvorizkyi, etc.
Similar letters were mass mailed to Ukrainian journalists in 2024. The IMI recorded three waves (in October, November and December) of anonymous emails threatening to bomb editorial offices and institutions across Ukraine. These were identical emails sent to the inboxes of editorial offices and individual journalists. This year, media professionals have been receiving emails with bombing threats again.
The Security Service of Ukraine calls on citizens to report attempts to recruit them to plant pombs in territorial enlistment centers to the SBU chatbot “Expose the FSB”.
In February 2025, several explosions occurred near enlistment centers (TSC) in Ukraine. On February 5, an explosion went off near the TSC building in Kamyanets-Podilskyi. According to Suspilne Khmelnytskyi, the impact killed one man and injured four people. On February 2, an explosion went off near the TSC building in Pavlohrad (Dnipropetrovska oblast). On February 1, there was an explosion at the Rivne TSC, which killed the bomber and injured eight people.
3. Pershyi Kryvorizkyi receives bomb threats again
14.02.2025 The Pershyi Kryvorizkyi team received an email with bombing threats on February 14, the media outlet reports.
The sender threatens the media outlet's journalists, claiming that explosives have been planted in the building.
The news outlet reminds that they have been receiving similar threats of bombs planted in various buildings in the city every business day since mid-January. There have been such reports before that, but less frequently. Usually, no explosives are confirmed to be in the buildings.
As reported earlier, the Pershyi Kryvorizkyi editorial team received anonymous emails for three consecutive days (January 29, 30, and 31) claiming that bombs had been planted in the building where the media outlet's office is located.
4. Pershyi Kryvorizkyi receives bomb threats yet again
18.02.2025 The Pershyi Kryvorizkyi team received another anonymous email with threats of bombing on February 18, the media outlet reports.
The email arrived at 13:24. The sender claimed that the explosives would detonate in 90 minutes.
“Your building will be blown to bits. If you want to save your life, I recommend that you evacuate immediately. After a while, people will be blown up, leaving nothing but memory behind. The game has begun,” the letter said.
The reports of planted explosives have not been confirmed.
Furthermore, today, February 19, the team received another email threatening to blow up multiple buildings across the city. The anonimous sender claimed to have planted bombs in the Kryvyi Rih City Council, the MIA Service Center, the Kryvyi Rih Northern Tax Inspectorate, the Kryvyi Rih Heating Plant, as well as all schools, kindergartens, enlistment offices, municipal hospitals, and administrative service centers around the city.
On February 14, the Pershyi Kryvorizkyi team received an email claiming that a bomb had been planted in the media outlet's office. The team had received such anonymous emails for three consecutive days (January 29, 30, and 31) before.
The news outlet reminds that they have been receiving similar threats of bombs planted in various buildings in the city every business day since mid-January. There have been such reports before that, but less frequently. Usually, no explosives are confirmed to be in the buildings.
5. IMI receives bomb threats again
20.02.2025 The Institute of Mass Information (IMI) received an email on February 20 claiming that a bomb had been planted in the IMI office building.
The letter came from a user signed Serhiy Ivanovich Boyko at the email address [email protected].
“Today your building will explode, and your loved ones will be picking you up piece by piece. Because it was I who took it upon myself to destroy biowaste,” the sender writes.
They asked to take their email seriously and added that their devices contain a total of about 13 kilograms of explosives with striking elements that “will cause maximum damage to everyone nearby.”
The sender listed nine more locations in different cities of Ukraine where, as they claim, “explosions will go off today.”
The letter contains hate speech, and the sender mentions that they “always loved to kill,” that they have tortured animals, and also murdered their own parents.
The IMI first received an email about a "bomb threat" on January 31, 2025. The anonymous sender threatened to blow up an unspecified building. The writing suggested that the author was probably not fluent in Ukrainian.
The Russians continued to intimidate journalists and mass mail threats to them in 2024. The IMI recorded three waves (in October, November, and December) of anonymous emails claiming that bombs had been planted in various media offices and other facilities across Ukraine: identical emails were received by many media outlets and journalists. This trend continues in 2025.
6. Pershyi Kryvorizkyi receives bomb threats yet again
20.02.2025 The Pershyi Kryvorizkyi team received another anonymous email with bomb threats on February 20, the media outlet reports.
The letter arrived at 10:12. In it, the anonymous sender claimed that the explosives would detonate soon.
“The devices contain a total of about 13 kilograms of penthrite – this is approximately 20 kilograms in TNT equivalent,” the email reads.
The sender also said that bombs had been planted in the Tsentralno-Miskyi district enlistment office and the Dnipro city employment center, as well as in other cities across the country.
Earlier today, the Institute of Mass Information received an email claiming that a bomb had been planted in the IMI office building. That letter, like the one received by Pershyi Kryvorizkyi, mentioned 13 kilograms of explosives with strike elements.
The Pershyi Kryvorizkyi team received an anonymous email with threats of bombing on February 18.
7. Syla Pravdy receives bomb threats via email
20.02.2025 The Investigative Journalism Center "Syla Pravdy" received an email with bomb threats in their editorial inbox on February 20, Syla Pravdy director Yuriy Horbach reports to Maya Holub, the Institute of Mass Information representative in Volyn oblast.
Horbach says that the letter arrived in their editorial inbox this morning.
“A bomb has been planted in your building! I inform you of a life-threatening situation!” read the email's subject line.
The letter alleged that an unknown person had planted explosives in the building: 20 kg in TNT equivalent.
It also mentioned bombs being planted in nine buildings in different cities across Ukraine. Namely, buildings in Kryvyi Rih, Lutsk, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi, Kyiv and Odesa.
“From the moment you receive this letter, your life is in danger,” the sender said.
The Institute of Mass Information and Pershyi Kryvorizkyi received similar letters earlier today, February 20.
8. Detector Media receives bomb threats
20.02.2025 Detector Media received an email on February 20 claiming that a bomb had been planted in the building where their office is located, the media outlet reports.
The letter is identical to the one sent to the Institute of Mass Information: by a user named Serhiy Ivanovich Boyko, at the email address [email protected].
“Today your building will explode, and your loved ones will be picking you up piece by piece. Because it was I who took it upon myself to destroy biowaste,” the sender writes.
They asked to take their email seriously and added that their devices contain a total of about 13 kilograms of explosives with striking elements that “will cause maximum damage to everyone nearby.”
The sender listed nine more locations in different cities of Ukraine where, as they claim, “explosions will go off today.”
The letter contains hate speech.
The Institute of Mass Information, Pershyi Kryvorizkyi and Syla Pravdy received similar letters earlier today, February 20.
9. Khmelnytskyi media outlet receives bomb threats via email
20.02.2025 Khmelnytskyi-based news outlet Novyny Khmelnytskyi received an email about a bomb planted in their building. The news outlet reported this to Alyona Bereza, the Institute of Mass Information representative in Khmelnytskyi oblast.
The mentions explosive devices that “create a danger to people”.
“Do not even try to neutralize the devices – they are controlled remotely. I warn you, if you do not comply with all safety measures, the consequences will be terrible. Very soon your building will be blown to bits!” the letter reads.
The letter also contains a list of other buildings where bombs have allegedly been planted. It includes one of the largest shopping malls in Khmelnytskyi, Oasis Mall.
Earlier, Suspilne Khmelnytskyi reported that several shopping centers were claimed to have bombs planted in them, according to the Khmelnytskyi district police communications inspector, Vira Mazur.
The official was quoted as saying that all specialized services were working on the ground, inspecting the buildings and checking them for explosives. People were also being evacuated.
As of 16:00, the inspection was completed. No explosives were found.
Earlier, on February 5, other media workers based in Khmelnytskyi oblast, including the Novyny Khmelnytskyi team, received letters of the same content. The emails were sent from a Russian domain.
The Institute of Mass Information, Pershyi Kryvorizkyi, Syla Pravdy, and Detector Media received similar letters earlier today, February 20.
Damage to media offices – 2
1. FREEDOM TV office damaged by Russian strike on Kyiv
12.02.2025 The FREEDOM TV office in Kyiv was damaged by the February 12 Russian shelling strike, but the channel continues to broadcast, as reported on the channel’s website and Telegram channel.
The channel’s reporter Valeria Nekipelova said on the ground that dozens of windows in the TV channel’s office were broken by the shock wave of the Russian strike and that production facilities and cars nearby were damaged.
The TV channel reported that the air defense had shot down six ballistic missiles, “one of which was targeting a Ukrainian TV broadcasting office.”
Some of the Ukrainian international broadcasting channels were also affected, such as the international branch of UATV English, UATV Español, UATVArabic, UATV Português.
According to the Institute of Mass Information, in the 2 years and 11 months since the start of the full-scale invasion Russia committed 807 crimes against journalists and the media in Ukraine.
2. Russian strike on Kyiv damages the office of the Crimean Tatar channel ATR
12.02.2025 Russian missile strike on Kyiv on February 12 damaged the building where the office of the Crimean Tatar TV channel ATR is located, reports Ayder Mujdabayev, journalist and the channel's deputy CEO.
He says that a missile fell down near the channel’s building. He posted a video of the interior. The windows and doors in the offices are either broken or blown open.
The office of the channel’s editor-in-chief is badly damaged; the furniture and equipment in the studio is broken or overturned. There are a lot of glass shards on the floor.
“I have no doubt that they were aiming for the TV channel. Such incidents do not happen just like that. So I believe that the ATR was the target,” Mujdabayev emphasized.
He recalled that in 2014, Russian special forces stormed the channel’s office in Crimea. After that, the editorial team was forced to leave the peninsula. For a while, the TV channel had support from the state, but eventually lost it. Mujdabayev suggested that this happened under the influence of pro-Russian forces.
“And now we have nothing. Our only luck is is that no one was physically injured here. Everyone is alive,” said the ATR deputy CEO.
As reported earlier, the FREEDOM TV office in Kyiv was damaged by the February 12 Russian shelling strike, but the channel continues to broadcast.
THE FREEDOM OF SPEECH SITUATION IN UKRAINE FOR WHICH UKRAINIAN CITIZENS ARE RESPONSIBLE
PHYSICAL AGGRESSION
Beatings, assault – 1
1. My—Ukraina journalist attacked while filming in Shevchenkivskyi district court of Kyiv
05.02.2025 My—Ukraina TV journalist Viktoria Dmytrenko was attacked by a woman while filming a news story about the murder of Maksym Materukhin in the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv on February 5, the media outlet reports.
“Journalist Viktoria Dmytrenko was attacked by the mother of the suspect in the teenager's murder while performing her official duties,” the team writes.
According to eyewitness accounts and video footage of the incident, the woman hit the journalist in the face until she bled and knocked the mobile phone out of her hands.
“A journalist with the TV channel My—Ukraina was attacked. This is nothing less than blatant obstruction of reporting. The attack on a media representative must be appropriately assessed by legal authorities. We at the TV channel will do our best to protect the interests of our journalist,” the editorial office noted.
Viktoria Dmytrenko filed a police report for obstruction of reporting and assault.
Alina Kondratenko, a journalist with the media project Watchers, posted the footage of the moment when Viktoria Dmytrenko tries to take her phone back from the woman on Facebook.
"Possibly a relative of Artem Kosov, who is the defendant in the case of murder at a funicular station in the capital, snatched the mobile phone from one of the journalists' hands before today's hearing began, refused to give it back, then hit the journalist, according to the latter," Kondratenko wrote.
Obstruction of legal reporting – 1
1. Journalist barred from attending Dnipro City Council meeting
25.02.2025 Dnipro.media reporter Valeria Tokar was not allowed into the session hall during the February 19, 2025 Dnipro City Council meeting, Dnipro.media chief editor Nika Yehorova reports to Kateryna Lysiuk, the Institute of Mass Information representative in Dnipropetrovska oblast.
Yehorova says that the editorial office had submitted a query to the City Council in advance, asking if the journalist could be present at the meeting. When Valeria Tokar arrived at the building, she was met by Natalya Kuzmina, the chief specialist of the City Council's media support department, who immediately lead her onto the balcony.
When the journalist asked, “Why here, and not to the session hall?” the official replied that she had been instructed to take the reporter to the balcony. When the journalist tried to enter the session hall, men who were probably from the communal company Municipal Guard did not let her in, arguing that "We don't know anything. We were told to let you all out onto the balcony."
Dnipro.media chief editor Nika Yehorova says that “a very odd story is unfolding” in Dnipro with reporters and the community's access to the City Council sessions.
“Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, just entering the City Council building has been impossible, especially so on session days. First, you need to submit a request in advance asking to be present at the session (this is a mandatory condition for both the media and the community); during the sessions all entrances to the building are shut (both the main one and the side door); media workers and public activists (those who were allowed to cover the session) are met at the entrance by representatives of the Dnipro City Council’s support department and led into the City Council building and onto the balcony. Municipal Guard employees line the entire route, standing on the street and inside the building, forming a living corridor. And City Council representatives are on the balcony throughout the session, as if watching over those present,” says Yehorova.
She adds that the director of the City Council’s operations department, Oleksandr Lytvynenko, was on the balcony during the whole session. When asked by the journalist why she was not allowed into the session hall, he said: “I don’t know, I’m only responsible for escorting you to the balcony!”
"The balconies in the City Council session hall always used to be open. Until a couple of months ago, when they installed noise-absorbing double-glazed windows on these balconies for almost 400 thousand hryvnias from the budget, so as not to hear questions from the community and 'so that their shouting doesn’t interfere with their work,'" says Nika Yehorova.
While the Dnipro.media journalist was on the balcony, representatives of another Dnipro media outlet – the communal enterprise Dnipro Studio Television (Dnipro TV) – were moving freely around the hall, filming the entire meeting.
IMI representative Kateryna Lysiuk asked Yulia Vitvytska, the City Council press office representative, for a comment on the selective access of the media to the session hall. Vitvytska replied that employees of municipal media outlets worked in the session hall and they were only filming, thereby not interfering with the work of the Mayor and the deputy corps. When asked why the journalists were taken to the balcony and not released until all the deputies had left the City Council building, she responded, "Such was the order." And when asked who gave the order, she told Kateryna Lysiuk to submit an information query.
The IMI representative has submitted a query asking about the situation and the decisions that led to it.
IMI lawyer Volodymyr Zelenchuk notes that barring the journalist from attending open council meetings is an obstacle to her legal reporting.
He says that it is a violation not just of the Law of Ukraine “On Information”, but of the Dnipro City Council's own regulations as well.
He remarks that free access to local councils' plenary sessions for mass media representatives is guaranteed by Article 25 of the Law "On Information" and that a journalist lacking credentials cannot be a reason for denying that journalist admission to open events held by a subject of government authority.
“That is, regardless of whether a journalist's presence is 'approved' by the Council or not, denying them access to open Council meetings is obstruction of their legal reporting,” explains Volodymyr Zelenchuk.
Furthermore, the lawyer reminds that Article 3 of the Rules of Procedure of the Dnipro City Council of the 8th convocation states that plenary sessions of council meetings, standing committee meetings, as well as meetings of temporary control committees and other Council committes are open and public, with journalists having free access.
“Which means that the Dnipro City Council officials responsible for the admission of journalists to council meetings are not only unlawfully give some accredited journalists preference over others, but also create obstacles (soundproof glass) in recording the meeting for journalists whose work is not funded by the Council itself. Such unlawful restrictions, even if only on the 'audio' part of a journalist's work, should also be considered obstruction of legal reporting," the lawyer said, adding that such actions by City Council officials should be assessed by the police and the Dnipro community.
DEFENDING FREEDOM OF SPEECH
The authorities' response to freedom of speech violations – 1
1. Mykolaiv police closes case on journalists being barred from the City Council
03.03.2025 The Mykolaiv police have closed the previously initiated proceedings on denial of access to the Mykolaiv City Council building to journalists, according to the response by Kyrylo Barashkovskyi, chief of investigations at the Mykolaiv oblast police, to an information query from Kateryna Sereda, the regional representative of the Institute of Mass Information.
In May 2024, journalists from MykVisty tried to enter the Mykolaiv City Council building to get comments from officials after a staff meeting. However, they were not allowed inside, allegedly due to new access regulations. According to these, mass media representatives can only enter the building with a one-time digital pass issued based on lists prepared by the City Council's organizational department, and only if they are escorted by employees of the media support department.
On July 26, 2024, following a news story by the Institute of Mass Information, the police opened a case on obstruction of reporting.
However, the Mykolaiv police found no corpus delicti and closed the case.
“On October 22, 2024, the proceedings were closed on the basis of Clause 2, Part 1, Article 284 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine (lack of a corpus delicti. – Note). At present, the resolution on closing the proceedings in question has not been canceled,” the response to the query states.
It was previously reported that the Mykolaiv City Council plans to use artificial intelligence during their sessions, namely to automatize the process of reading draft decisions aloud.
Response by the journalist community – 1
1. Media Movement demands MCSC resume issuing permits for traveling abroad to journalists
27.02.2025 We, Ukrainian journalists and media workers, members of the Media Movement, express our deep concern over the decision by the Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications (MCSC) to suspend the issuance of permits for traveling abroad to journalists. This move deals a serious blow to the media community's reputation and creates artificial obstacles to reporting for journalists.
For the three years since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Ukrainian journalists have been performing their work in good faith, covering events on the battlefield and in the homefront. They have also been securing international support for Ukraine through their work abroad. Thousands of our colleagues have joined the Ukrainian Armed Forces and are defending the country with weapons in their hands. 98 journalists died in that time, two-thirds of whom were killed in action.
In the meantime, the profession is increasingly stigmatized in society, in particular through the spread of unfounded allegations about journalists dodging the draft. According to our information, the number of journalists who did not come back after leaving abroad over the past year is less than ten people.
The MCSC decision creates serious risks for Ukrainian journalism and undermines its ability to work effectively. In particular, it disrupts the work of journalists covering international events and discredits the entire profession of journalism by unfoundedly and collectively condemning it.
We demand:
- That the MCSC revoke the decision to suspend the issuance of letters for traveling abroad to journalists. If there are individual violations, they should be reviewed by competent law enforcement agencies. Introducing mass restrictions for the entire profession is no way to address this situation.
- That the MCSC invlove its expert council in decision-making that concerns journalists' travel.
- That the MCSC ensure transparent decision-making and provide justification for restricting the travel of all journalists.
- That the MCSC refrain from creating additional bureaucratic obstacles to the work of journalists.
- That the MCSC promote the work of Ukrainian media.
We call on state authorities to respect the profession of journalism, as journalists are an integral part of Ukrainian society, and to engage with the community in a constructive dialogue so as not to weaken Ukraine.
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