Freedom of Speech Barometer for January 2025

The Institute of Mass Information experts recorded 12 freedom of speech violations in Ukraine in January, according to the IMI’s monthly monitoring study “Freedom of Speech Barometer”.

Russia’s crimes (8 cases) included death threats, intimidation, and cyber attacks.

One media professional turned soldier was killed in action in this period:

• Ruslan Hanushchak, a military photographer and cameraman from Ivano-Frankivsk who served in the UAF Mechanized Brigade No. 92. His death was reported in January 2025.

Freedom of speech in Ukraine in January 2025

Journalist Vitaliy Portnikov faced online harassment and reported that his assassination was in the works following a smear campaign targeting him by Russian and pro-Russian agents. The campaign was allegedly triggered by an excerpt from his interview with Natalia Baliuk last year. He said that Russian and pro-Russian agents were using this excerpt to harass him, trying to frame it as him defending an “imaginary 'nobility' that should not be fighting in the army.” According to him, the excerpts from this interview are being used to manipulate people, fostering an environment of hatred around him; Portnikov says he has received death threats.

In January, journalists continued to receive anonymous emails with bomb threats targeting their offices and other facilities across Ukraine. Namely, such letters were received by ZHAR.INFO journalist Alyona Bereza; Rayon.in.ua journalist, West Media Forum coordinator Olha Bulkovska; the Pershyi Kryvorizkyi team, etc.

The FREEDOM TV website sustained a mass DDoS attack. The TV channel suspects Russian hackers to be behind the incident. The attack occurred in two waves. The website received over 5 million requests in a short time, coming from almost 80 countries, and continued to work with minor complications.

The IMI also recorded four cases of freedom of speech violation that were not related to Russia’s war on Ukraine. These included instances of obstruction of legal reporting, denying access to information, cyber attacks, and a lawsuit against a media outlet.

Zhytomyr.info crew faced obstruction in Teterivka community (Zhytomyr oblast) when the parents of a local school’s students called the police on the journalists for filming a bomb shelter. The parents explained that they were concerned for the safety of their children and believed that the journalists had no right to film the bomb shelter. The police officers who arrived on site confirmed that the journalists were allowed to film.

The Dolynska City Council (Kirovohradska oblast) ignored an information query from Tochka Dostupu, who wanted to know the details about the Council purchasing an Opel Combo car for mobile support teams for domestic abuse victims. The news outlet is preparing a complaint with the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights and plans to appeal the Dolynska City Council officials' inaction.

Ukrainian Pravda reported that their YouTube channel had been hacked. The UP channel was livestreaming Bitcoin advertising following the hack. The news outlet later fully restored their channel. The team said that on the day before the attack hackers had posed as CERT-UA to try and access the editorial servers hosting financial documentation through the remote control tool AnyDesk.

Read the full monitoring study below:

RUSSIA'S CRIMES

Death threats, intimidation – 5

1. ZHAR.INFO journalist receives bomb threats via email

05.01.2025 ZHAR.INFO founder and journalist Alyona Bereza received anonymous emails claiming that a bomb had been planted in the building where the media outlet's office is located on January 5 and 6.

Alyona Bereza reported this to the Institute of Mass Information.

The sender, who claims to live in Switzerland and sympathize with the Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas, also threatened to bomb six other facilities in different oblasts.

“For two days in a row, emails similar to those we have received before have been arriving in the inbox. What is new about them is that they feature a list of obscure Telegram groups and a photo of a man in glasses smoking a cigarette. As for the approach, nothing has changed: the letters are sent from a suspicious email address registered under a woman's name. The letter uses masculine pronouns,” says Alyona Bereza.

Inna Hleha, chief of communications at the Khmelnytskyi Oblast Police HQ, said in a comment to the IMI that on January 6, bomb threats also arrived to the inboxes of multiple institutions and organizations in Khmelnytskyi oblast.

She says that the list of the supposedly 'mined' facilities in the email includes names of establishments that never existed in Khmelnytskyi oblast.

“Some of the claims have already been checked by police officers and explosive specialists. The checks are still ongoing. So far, the information has not been confirmed,” Inna Hleha reported.

The police have inspected all the listed facilities and found no explosives. Data on the received threats was entered into the ERDR under Part 2 of Article 259 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (“Knowingly false report of a threat to the safety of citizens, destruction or damage to property”).

On January 5, the police received reports of bombs planted int two shopping malls in Khmelnytskyi. The examination did not confirm the reports.

2. Volyn journalist receives bomb threats via email

20.01.2025 Rayon.in.ua journalist, West Media Forum coordinator Olha Bulkovska received an email in her personal inbox threatening an upcoming series of explosions. She reported this to Maya Holub, the Institute of Mass Information representative in Volyn oblast.

Bulkovska says this was the first time she had received such a letter to her personal email address.

“I inform you that I planted explosive devices in your building. I realized that I am ready to take revenge on everyone. There will be many corpses whose bits you will be collecting across the whole city. For a long time I have been tormented by doubts, for a long time I have been a hostage of my own ideas. So I have made a final decision: I will carry out a series of explosions that will collapse the building like a house of cards…”, the letter reads.

The sender added that they would commit suicide after setting off the explosives.

Similar messages were mass mailed to Ukrainian journalists in 2024. The IMI recorded three waves (in October, November, and December) of anonymous threats to bomb multiple editorial offices and institutions across Ukraine: several media outlets and journalists received identical emails claiming this.

On November 17, 2024, Volyn journalist Olha Bulkovska interrupted a rally featuring pro-Russian narratives in central Berlin. A "Ukrainian men's rights" rally featuring Russian propaganda slogans took place near the Brandenburg Gate. The rally was interrupted after Volyn journalist Olha Bulkovska approached them with questions. It was attended by the former Inter host Roman Kademin, who now records manipulative videos for TikTok. He left Ukraine in 2024.

Later, someone tried to hack Olha Bulkovska's Telegram account. She believes this may be connected to the November 17 rally in Berlin.

3. Pershyi Kryvorizkyi team receives bomb threats

29.01.2025 The Pershyi Kryvorizhskyi editorial team received an anonymous email claiming that a bomb had been planted in the building where the media outlet's office is located, reports executive director Sophia Skyba to the Institute of Mass Information representative in Dnipropetrovska oblast, Kateryna Lysiuk.

The anonymous sender says that they have planted an explosive device in the building and advises to evacuate people from the premises to avoid casualties.

“Recently, bomb threats have been received by many editorial offices besides us. Of course, we report these to the police. Last time, they came to us at the end of the day. They took our statements but did not search the building with dogs. We understand that there is a 99% chance that these are scammers, Russians, pranksters – most likely Russians – however, such incidents add no enthusiasm to the team’s work,” said Sophia Skyba.

Angelina Kradozhon, senior communications inspector at the Kryvyi Rih district police, said in a comment to the IMI representative that specialists were checking for explosive devices on site.

“The police received a bomb report at 1:45 p.m.. The information is currently being verified. Specialists are working on site and checking for explosive devices,” Kradozhon said.

She also reported that on January 29, emails with bomb threats were also received by several local media outlets and the Executive Committee of the Kryvyi Rih City Council.

As the IMI reported, the Russians continued to intimidate and threaten journalists in 2024. The IMI recorded three waves (in October, November, and December) of anonymous threats to bomb multiple editorial offices and institutions across Ukraine: several media outlets and journalists received identical emails claiming this.

4. Pershyi Kryvorizkyi team received bomb threats for three consecutive days

29.01.2025 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.

The news outlet's executive director Sofia Skyba reported this to Kateryna Lysiuk, the Institute of Mass Information representative in Dnipropetrovska oblast.

In the emails, the unknown sender says that explosive devices have been planted in various buildings throughout the city: schools, kindergartens, hospitals, shopping malls, and buildings hosting local media offices. The latest email is different in that the sender no longer recommends evacuating people from the facilities to avoid casualties but threatens to blow up the buildings, describing the deaths, the scale of destruction, and claiming that the explosive devices can not be found with help of the relevant services. Most importantly, they openly proclaim their intention to kill three journalists and their editors.

Sofia Skyba said that the police had been notified of the emails.

“Their goal is to confuse us, distract us from work, intimidate us. Lena (Olena Smolina, journalist, ed.) reports on municipal procurement, fights the spread of disinformation, as does Zhenya (Yevhenia Bykova, journalist, ed.). Zhenya works with municipal issues as well, sends queries to the city authorities, and our Svitlana (Svitlana Koval, journalist, ed.) lives in Mykolaiv,” Skyba said.

In a comment to the IMI representative, Angelina Kradozhon, senior communications inspector at the Kryvyi Rih District Police Department, said that specialists had received the reports and checked the building where the editorial office is located for explosive devices.

“Last week, having received a report about bombs planted in buildings, our officers went there and checked, but no explosives were found,” noted Angelina Kradozhon. The inspector also said that bomb reports continue to arrive today and that inspections are ongoing.

On February 3, Chernihiv online news outlet Cheline received an anonymous email to their editorial inbox. The email claimed that bombs had been planted in schools, kindergartens, and shopping malls across the city.

5. IMI receives anonymous bomb threats via email

31.01.2025  The Institute of Mass Information (IMI) received an email about a "bomb threat" on January 31.

The anonymous message arrived from the email address [email protected].

It says that an explosive device has been planted in a building, but does not specify the address of the building or of the IMI office. The letter threatens that “the explosives will detonate very soon, everyone will be blown up,” while recommending that “people be evacuated from the premises in order to avoid casualties.”

The anonymous sender writes “I hate you” and promises that “everyone who neglects their own safety will be destroyed.”

They add that they are “tired of fighting my own sins and weaknesses” and that having made sure that the explosives have been activated, they will “commit suicide.”

The writing suggests that the author was probably not fluent in Ukrainian.

Previously many Ukrainian media outlets received letters with bomb threats. What sets this letter apart is that it was sent to the IMI address, which had not happened before.

This week, the aforementioned email address has already sent bomb threats to the Leninsky District Court of Kharkiv, as reported on the court's website.

As the IMI reported, the Russians continued to intimidate and threaten journalists in 2024. The IMI recorded three waves (in October, November, and December) of anonymous threats to bomb multiple editorial offices and institutions across Ukraine: several media outlets and journalists received identical emails claiming this.

Cyber attacks – 3

1. FREEDOM TV website under a mass DDoS attack

17.01.2025 The FREEDOM TV website sustained a mass DDoS attack on January 17, supposedly by Russian hackers.

The Institute of Mass Information was informed about this by the press office of the state enterprise International Multimedia Broadcasting Platform of Ukraine (IMBPU), which includes the TV channel.

According to the press office, the attack occurred in two waves. The website received over 5 million requests in a short time, coming from almost 80 countries, and continued to work with minor complications.

DDoS requests were coming from nearly 80 countries, mostly from the USA, Mexico, Colombia, Spain, the Philippines, Brazil, Canada, Peru, Thailand.

Technicians of the IMBPU were able to quickly resolve the problem. The website stayed up, but accessing it was difficult in the countries the attack was being carried out from.

2. Vitaliy Portnikov says FSB is planning to assassinate him

17.01.2025 Journalist Vitaly Portnikov says that his assassination is in the works, triggered by an excerpt from his interview with Natalia Baliuk last year, Portnikov reports on Facebook.

He noted that Russian and pro-Russian agents are using this excerpt to harass him, trying to frame it as him defending an “imaginary 'nobility' that should not be fighting in the army.”

“Anyone who listens to it will see that there was not even a shadow of a desire to shift the blame for the war onto a part of the population, on the contrary: I emphasized that in a democratic state at war everyone should stand next to one another – these words concluded my thoughts,” Portnikov said.

According to him, the excerpts from this interview are being used to manipulate people, fostering an environment of hatred around him; Portnikov says he has received death threats.

“Then – a 'random person' whose nerves gave out. We've seen it all before. The FSB's signature style. But this is not a reason to stop working and not a reason to stop telling people the truth, even if this truth will not taste sweet for a very, very long time yet. After all, this is also an example. If I am gone, others will be telling the truth,” the journalist noted.

As the IMI reported, in 2018, journalist Vitaly Portnikov was added to Russia's sanctions list.

3. Ukraïner website sustains a DDoS attack

30.01.2025  The website of Ukraïner, an educational project about the Ukrainian society and culture, has sustained a large-scale DDoS attack. It is currently inaccessible, founder Bohdan Lohvynenko reported on Facebook.

“The Ukraïner website has been under a large-scale DDoS attack for the past two hours. How unexpected,” he noted.

In a comment to the Institute of Mass Information representative Valentyna Troyan, Bohdan Lohvynenko said that they did not yet know who was behind the attack. He later added that the website infrastructure of Ukraïner sustained a large-scale, well-planned, three-level DDoS attack which was destructive in nature.

He says the attack began in the afternoon and reached its peak between 14:24 and 14:37. During this time, the server was receiving over 358 thousand requests per minute, with the total number of requests amounting to 7.5 million. This caused a critical load on the system and disrupted its operation. This attack was different from typical DDoS attacks in its complexity and sophistication. The hackers were acting on many levels and did not stop at slowing the website down. They also targeted Ukraїner’s internal systems, imitating legitimate traffic in order to override the defense mechanisms.

The attack involved tens of thousands of IP addresses, which made it difficult to block its sources. The goal was not just to disrupt the website, but to completely disable the entire infrastructure.

The server suffered serious damage due to the excessive load. The disk subsystem was failing, which made restoring operations impossible. The RAID array, which is responsible for saving data, could not be correctly reassembled after the failure and critical sectors of the file system were damaged.

Ukraїner has been hacked previously: cyber criminals took over the project's Facebook pages in February 2023. The project's founder, Bohdan Lohvynenko, reported that hackers had gained access to the media outlet's pages by hacking the Meta Business Manager. Facebook later restored access to all 12 pages of the project.

Bohdan Lohvynenko said in a comment to the IMI that he did not rule out Russian involvement in the attack on the project's pages.

CRIMEA – 1

1. Russian prison officials are blocking Vladyslav Yesypenko's parole

21.01.2025 The administration of the Crimean prison where unlawfully convicted journalist Vladyslav Yesypenko is detained is blocking his attempts to apply for parole.

His wife, Kateryna Yesypenko, spoke about this to QIRIM.News.

She says Vladyslav has all grounds to be released on parole, since he has served the required term of imprisonment.

However, the administration of the prison in occupied Kerch is adding various cases to his personal file, accusing Yesypenko of violating prison regulations. The journalist is deliberately framed for breaching the prison's internal rules such as failing to take off his cap when greeting the inspector, being late for a morning inspection, etc.

“After receiving such reprimands, the prisoner loses the right to apply for parole for several months. And so the circle goes on repeating,” his wife said.

According to Kateryna Yesypenko, other routine matters are resolved without issue. For instance, the colony does not block parcels with medicine and food.

The Kerch colony No. 2 is a low security prison for men convicted for the first time.

On March 10, 2021, Russia's FSB detained "Radio Liberty" freelancer journalist Vladyslav Yesypenko in the occupied Crimea. Yesypenko took part in a demonstration dedicated to Taras Shevchenko's birth anniversary, which took place in Simferopol on March 9. Vladyslav Yesypenko was charged with gathering information "in the interests of Ukraine's special services," including the Foreign Intelligence Service. According to the FSB, Yesypenko "had been performing photo and video recording of the area, welfare facilities, and places of mass gatherings of people in the Crimea."

Vladyslav Yesypenko has said that FSB investigators had tortured him in order to coerce him into confessing.

On February 16, the Russian-controlled Simferopol District Court sentenced Krym.Realii freelancer Vladyslav Yesypenko to six years in penal colony for alleged illegal storage and transportation of an explosive device.

Speaking in court on February 15, Yesypenko said the case was politically motivated.

THE FREEDOM OF SPEECH SITUATION IN UKRAINE FOR WHICH UKRAINIAN CITIZENS ARE RESPONSIBLE

PHYSICAL AGGRESSION

Obstruction of legal reporting – 1

1. Parents of Zhytomyr schoolchidren report journalists to the police for filming a bomb shelter

31.01.2025 The crew of the online media outlet Zhytomyr.info came into conflict with the parents of a lyceum's students in Teterivka community (Zhytomyr oblast) while trying to film the state of a bomb shelter used by children in a local kindergarten. The parents, concerned about the safety of their children, objected to the shelter being filmed and later called the police.

Zhytomyr.info multimedia editor Valeria Volodina reported this to Oksana Trokoz, the Institute of Mass Information representative in Zhytomyr oblast.

The conflict occurred on January 29 while the Zhytomyr.info journalists were filming a news story in the Teterivka community. Reporter Veronika Yuzepchuk and cameraman Dmytro Pavlovsky were working on site.

At the locals' request, they were filming a news story about the local kindergarten lacking a bomb shelter. Since providing the preschoolers with a safe space during air raids was impossible, the children were temporarily relocated to a lyceum, which arranged separate classrooms and a shelter for them.

The journalists recorded interviews with a child’s mother and with the director of the Teterivka kindergarten and managed to get footage of the lyceum classrooms assigned for preschoolers, but the parents of the students prevented them from filming the bomb shelter where preschoolers take cover during air raids. The parents said they were concerned for the safety of their children and believed that journalists had no right to film the shelter.

“Having analyzed the situation, we concluded that the parents really were concerned about the safety of their children, yet we believe that the parents were warned about the coming of journalists. We talked to a representative of the local education department in advance, she knew about our work, was present at the meeting, but did not try to persuade the parents that the filming was above board,” said Zhytomyr.info multimedia editor Valeria Volodina and emphasized that the journalists did not film children at any of the locations.

Valeria Volodina says that the discussion between the parents and the journalists lasted about an hour, followed by one of the mothers deciding to call the police. This moment is featured in the news story released by the journalists.

“You will not be going into the bomb shelter. If the police arrive and give you permission, if they say that we, the parents, can not forbid you to film the location where our kids study, then please go and film. Until the police arrive, you wait,” the woman said.

The police officers who arrived on site confirmed that the journalists had the right to film, but said that they would have to settle the matter with the parents themselves.

“In this case, you are doing reporting work and you have the right to film. Please come to an agreement between yourselves as to what will be the right thing to do in this situation, so that it is good for everyone, both the parents and you, of course,” said Dmytro Zhytnik, a patrol police lieutenant at the local police station No. 1, in a comment to journalists.

The journalists continued filming but were unable to get into the bomb shelter assigned for preschoolers.

“Our crew wanted to get into the bomb shelter used by the preschoolers to show the state of it. That shelter was closed. However, the one used by the lyceum students was open and the journalists were able to enter it. When we asked to open the other shelter, the administration responded that they wanted to comply with the demands of the parents, who were worried about their children's safety. Obviously, safety is everyone’s top concern nowadays. But why was one shelter available for inspection, and the other, which was the subject of our filming, was not? Why were we able to see the state of one and not of the other? This question remains unanswered,” said Valeria Volodina.

She added that the journalists did not file a statement on obstruction of reporting but would like to understand the legal aspects of this issue.

Volodymyr Zelenchuk, a lawyer at the Institute of Mass Information (IMI), noted that objects that are part of the protective structures fund are strategically important and information about their state is of public interest.

He noted that if journalists do not violate the rights of children, e.g. not film them without the permission of their parents, then their actions are lawful. Parents can only prohibit journalists from filming their children, but not objects or premises that belong to the school or are managed by it.

“Permission to film in an education facility is granted by the facility’s administration, not the parents. The school administration is responsible for the safety of children within the school's premises, and therefore has the right to deny access to third parties who are not involved in the education process. Moreover, protective structures fund buildings belonging to educational institutions are only available to to participants in the education process while this process is taking place in person.

"Certain restrictions on access to educational institutions and filming of mass gatherings of people can also be imposed by local military administrations. These regulations or restrictions compete with a journalist's right to film in schools and school shelters, therefore the police are more likely to refuse to open a case over obstruction of reporting. In a controversial situation such as this, the police officer was right in saying the parties needed to reach an agreement that would suit everyone,” Volodymyr Zelenchuk explained.

The lawyer reminded that journalists who plan to film in educational facilities should avoid filming children without the permission of their parents or legal caretakers. The best practice is to inform the administration of the educational facility in advance and agree on the format of the filming.

“Both school administrations and parents need to remember the benefits and importance of reporting on school shelters, since they are the party primarily interested in new bomb shelters being built and existing ones being improved. Unfortunately, the active improvement of the shelter network often only begins after the media pick it up,” Volodymyr Zelenchuk noted.

CENSORSHIP, TOPIC CONTROL, ACCESS TO INFORMATION

Access to information for journalists – 1

1. City council in Kirovohradska oblast ignores a query by Tochka Dostupu

28.01.2025  The Dolynska City Council (Kirovohradska oblast) ignored an information query from the Kropyvnytskyi news outlet Tochka Dostupku, which wanted to know the details about the Council purchasing an Opel Combo car, reports the news outlet's journalist Anna Dobran to the regional Institute of Mass Information representative Pavlo Lisnychenko.

According to the journalist, their editorial office sent the query back on January 14. The journalists were interested in the details of the Council purchasing an Opel Combo Life L2 for mobile support teams for domestic abuse victims. However, the journalists never received the requested information or a decision to extend the deadline for processing the query.

Anna Dobran notes that such a reaction is typical for the Dolynska Mayor Yevheniy Zvizdovskyi.

“Over the past year, neither the Mayor nor other City Council officials have ever answered either phone calls or written queries. Zvizdovskyi once responded to our attempts to contact him in Telegram, but even then it was just one sentence without any specifics,” Anna Dobran says.

The news outlet is preparing a complaint with the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights and plans to appeal the Dolynska City Council officials' inaction.

Earlier, the Ternopil oblast SBU, TSC branches declined queries about the salaries of their management by 20 Khvylyn.

ONLINE PRESSURE

Cyber attacks – 1

1. Ukrainian Pravda reports YouTube channel hack

29.01.2025 Ukrainian Pravda reported on January 28 on Facebook that their YouTube channel had been hacked.

“The Ukrainian Pravda YouTube channel has been hacked. The editorial team has no relation to the livestreams or other content that you could see on the channel in the last two hours,” the post says.

The UP channel was livestreaming Bitcoin advertising following the hack.

The news outlet later fully restored their channel. The team said that on the day before the attack hackers had posed as CERT-UA to try and access the editorial servers hosting financial documentation through the remote control tool AnyDesk.

“The consistency of online attacks on Ukrainian Pravda resources may point to the hackers’ goal – to impact our regular releases of high-profile reports. We are currently working with specialists to strengthen the cyber defense of all our media outlets so that the audience receives information without interruptions and on time, as usual,” said Sevgil Musaieva, Ukrainian Pravda chief editor.

LEGAL PRESSURE

Lawsuits against media outlets – 1

1. Official sues Konkurent team for defamation, demands UAH 50 000 in moral damages

21.01.2025 Lutsk City Council deputy Roman Bondaruk is suing the local media outlet Konkurent for defamation, demanding they retract the information he says is inaccurate and pay 50 thousand hryvnias in moral damages, Konkurent website editor Andriy Luchyk reports to Maya Holub, the Institute of Mass Information representative in Volyn oblast.

The lawsuit concerns the media outlet's news story “Ditched his own and uses military aid for PR: How Lutsk-based Servant of the People deputy Bondaruk kowtowed to Palytsia (video)”. The video is by journalist Natalia Polishchuk. The article and video were published on October 22, 2024 and say that the deputy wears military uniform for Instagram photo ops and is rumored to become the next director of the municipal institution Institute for City Development.

Andriy Luchyk says that some time after the article was released, the team received a letter from Roman Bondaruk's lawyer demanding a retraction of some information. However, according to the chief editor, the retraction request did not comply with the law on media: the letter did not specify what the phrases or sentences that the lawyer considers inaccurate should be replaced with.

“The Law 'On Media' clearly prescribes how a retraction request should be formatted. They did not indicate what was incorrect about the material and how it should be replaced. We wrote that in our response letter. The letter was sent to the lawyer, who did not even pick it up from the post office,” said Andriy Luchyk.

Later, data on a trial in this case appeared on the Judiciary of Ukraine website. The editorial team received the lawsuit in early January 2025.

Andriy Luchyk said that the total sum they want to recover from the editorial office and from the author of the news story could reach 90 thousand hryvnias: 50 thousand hryvnias in moral damages and the deputy's legal fees.

The deputy asks the court to order the editorial office to retract the following statements:

• “deputies subordinate to one of the political forces have created a battalion in Lutsk”;
• “the battalion is registered as a NGO as opposed to a military formation”;
• “Lutsk City Council deputy Roman Bondaruk is here in full gear, greeting everyone on Defenders' Day, wearing a uniform and a bulletproof vest”;
• “and here he is all dressed up in army uniform”;
• “Roman Bondaruk, the commander of an entire battalion, probably plans to become the head of the newly created Institute for City Development, whose creation actively advocated himself”;
• “And what about it? Everyone knows that employees of municipal institutions get exempted from conscription”;
• “the head Roman Bondaruk decided to dodge carrying out real military duty”.

The court hearing on this case will take place on February 6 at 12:00 in the Lutsk City District Court, Volyn oblast.