Freedom of Speech Barometer for May 2025
The Institute of Mass Information experts recorded 10 freedom of speech violations in Ukraine in May, according to the IMI’s monthly monitoring study “Freedom of Speech Barometer”.
In May, the IMI recorded four crimes against the media and journalists that were committed by Russia. These included shelling strikes and threats to journalists, as well as cyber attacks on media outlets’ websites.
Three media professionals were killed in action in May:
- Vyacheslav Kobrzhytskyi, service member and motorsports commentator with Setanta. His death was reported on May 1, 2025. Killed in action in Donetsk oblast.
- Vasyl Dovbush, former media professional at BC Lux and Channel 24 turned soldier. Killed while performing a combat mission near Mohrytsia (Sumy oblast) on May 6, 2025.
- Bohdan Lysenko, killed in action in Zaporizhzhia oblast on April 13, 2025. His reporting included dozens of articles in both national and regional media outlets such as Fakty, KP v Ukraini, Subota, Ekho.
In May, Russian troops targeted Suspilne Donbas filming crew (chief editor Andriy Kramchenkov and reporter Vladyslav Ukolov) with a drone as they were recording an interview in Rodynske village (Donetsk oblast). The media workers were wearing black bulletproof vests and “Press” badges. They were unharmed.
Freedom of speech violations in Ukraine in May 2025
Serhiy Horbatenko, a war reporter with the Radio Liberty project Donbas.Realii, faced violent threats and harassment on pro-Russian Telegram channels in Donetsk oblast following the release of the project’s video commemorating the second anniversary of the Russian occupation of Bakhmut.
Ukrainian Pravda was targeted in a cyber attack: malefactors exploited their service for sending out letters to the UP Club and sent out an email with Russian spam on May 9. In the email sent on behalf of the UP, the Russians greeted Ukrainians on Victory Day, calling the occasion “our common Victory.” The Crimean Tatar Resource Center website for tracking Russia’s crimes was hacked as well. The incident occurred on the eve of the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Crimean Tatar Genocide, which is celebrated on May 18. The organization said that the website posted articles telling the truth about the crimes committed against the Crimean Tatar people and informed the world about the current repression in the occupied Crimea.
The IMI also recorded six freedom of speech violations not related to Russia’s war against Ukraine. These included death threats, indirect and legal pressure, and cyber attacks.
Threats were reported by:
- Vilne Radio, a media outlet relocated from Bakhmut (Donetsk oblast): by the Kyiv City Military Administration spokesperson Yevhen Iyevlev. The official responded to an article about the 2024 profits of Donetsk oblast enlistment centers’ employees, including Iyevlev’s father. Iyevlev used obscene language to refer to the author of the article and threatened to “smash his face in”.
- Hromadske Radio host Maryana Chorniyevych: she received a threatening email following the livestream of the program “That Same Morning”, which discussed the Ukrainians' attitudes to May 9 and the way the topic of World War II is handled in schools. The cyber police identified the man who had sent the threats as a Russia supporter living in Ukraine’s occupied territories.
- Journalists with the Mykolaiv-based media outlet MykVisti, who were threatened by a man armed with a gun while filming the progress of historic building renovations in a Mykolaiv neighborhood on May 26. The man explained to the police that he believes reporters to be sabotage agents helping Russian troops aim their strikes by taking photographs of buildings. The journalists decided not to file a crime statement.
Rivnenski Novyny has released another article smearing the investigative journalism agency Chetverta Vlada and its chief editor Volodymyr Torbich. The news story hurls several insults at Chetverta Vlada, calling them a “tabloid” and a “mickey-mouse outfit”. The website also attacked Volodymyr Torbich's character, accusing him of contempt for the troops and of exploiting army crowdfunding campaigns to raise funds for the media outlet, and calling him a “pookie”.
Syla Pravdy reported that Viktor Humeniuk, director of the municipal enterprise Lutskvodokanal who has been featured in their articles, is trying to trademark the name of their outlet. The official filed the brand registration application with the Ukrainian National Office of Intellectual Property and Innovations in July 2024. The team reached out to Humeniuk asking why he needed a trademark with that name and whether this was an attempt to hinder the work of journalists or retaliation for Syla Pravdy's critical reporting. After a pause, the official replied to all three questions with one phrase: “Thank you”.
LIGA.net website sustained a mass DDoS attack on May 12. The attack targeted the column by strategic communications consultant Nadia Pototska which discussed the value gaps in Ukrainian society in view of the conflict sparked by blogger Anna Alkhim. Nadia Pototska analyzed the scandal surrounding blogger Anna Alkhim, seeing it as a manifestation of a deeper value-based conflict in Ukrainian society. She stressed that language and consuming Russian content have become markers of identity and attitudes towards the war and that publicity implies accountability.
Read the full monitoring study below.
RUSSIA’S CRIMES
Shelling strikes on journalists – 1
Suspilne Donbas journalists targeted by Russian drone while taking interview in Donetsk oblast
28.05.2025 Suspilne Donbas filming crew (chief editor Andriy Kramchenkov and reporter Vladyslav Ukolov) came under Russian fire in Donetsk oblast on May 25.
The incident happened in Rodynske village (Donetsk oblast), which is 14 km away from the front line, Andriy Kramchenkov reported in a Facebook post.
In a comment to the Institute of Mass Information representative Valentyna Troyan, Andriy specified that they were wearing black bulletproof vests and “Press” badges.
“As we were recording a voiceover from a local woman, I saw an airplane-type drone literally above the house, already approaching the target. I managed to shout that there was a drone above us in time, we ran to take cover wherever our eyes could see,” Andriy Kramchenkov wrote.
He added that the drone fell down between two houses and did not hit anyone. At that moment, he and his colleague ran into an apartment building.
"A few more drones, they were being shot down with small arms. Explosions. We are trying to get to the car by running there and hoping that it is intact. Because how else can we get out of here? No phone connection, because there has been no electricity for months," added Andriy Kramchenkov.
The car turned out to be intact. The team was able to leave.
In a comment to the IMI representative, Andriy Kramchenkov said that the drone had changed its route after seeing him and Vladyslav Ukolov and had tried to attack.
“We were saved by the fact that it was a plane-type and those are not as maneuverable as copters,” added the Suspilne Donbas chief editor.
Vladyslav Ukolov posted a video on Facebook showing the drone circling in the sky. The video also shows him running to take cover.
He said that the drone attacked as they were recording an interview with a local.
“It flew out from behind the trees and disappeared just as quickly. I thought, we got lucky, it didn't see us. But no: a moment later it turns around, flies straight at us, gets swayed, tries to stabilize and comes flying right in our direction. We were really lucky – it didn’t have enough angle to hit us. We just rushed to meet it at that moment,” the journalist wrote.
Death threats – 1
Radio Liberty correspondent Serhiy Horbatenko receives death threats after a video about Bakhmut
29.05.2025 Serhiy Horbatenko, a war reporter with the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty project Donbas.Realii, faced violent threats and harassment on pro-Russian Telegram channels in Donetsk oblast. He posted screenshots of the threats and insults on Facebook, saying, "We know are doing things right when the occupiers and their minions have the correct reaction."
In a comment to the Institute of Mass Information representative Valentyna Troyan, Serhiy Horbatenko explained that the threats started coming after the Donbas.Realii video commemorating the second anniversary of the Russian occupation of Bakhmut.
“We showed that the city has long resisted Moscow, showed how beautiful it was before the full-scale invasion; showed that the massive shelling by the Russian troops has turned my hometown into ruins and now these ruins house rocket and barrel artillery positions; showed the May 9 propaganda posters and the 'drone parade' among the buildings completely destroyed by the Russian army. Of course, Russians and, I assume, Bakhmut residents who have fled to the Russian Federation responded to the video,” the reporter explained.
He said that he perceives such comments as high praise for his work and the work of his colleagues.
“I take it calmly, because this is part of the war, as are the Russians' daily war crimes, as are the round-the-clock strikes on peaceful cities in Donetsk oblast and across Ukraine,” explained Serhiy Horbatenko.
He added that he does not plan to contact the police.
“In my opinion, it is both Russian bots and ordinary people who were either raised in the Soviet-imperial tradition as children or are crippled by Russian propaganda writing these things. Such attacks have happened before. For instance, followers of public Telegram groups in Kostyantynivka, Slovyansk, and Kramatorsk have written and still write similar things. Interestingly, some users replied to such characters, coming to my defense. I am very grateful to them for this!” said the correspondent.
In February, Radio Liberty war correspondent Serhiy Horbatenko released a poetry collection titled “Hypostases of Feather Grass,” which was published by Teren. He donated the revenues to two Ukrainian Armed Forces units.
Cyber attacks – 2
Ukrainian Pravda reports Russian spam mailed on their behalf
09.05.2025 Spammers are posing as Ukrainian Pravda to mass mail Russian propaganda, the news outlet reported on Facebook on May 9.
“On May 9, unknown attackers exploited our email service for sending out letters to the UP Club and sent an email with Russian spam. The editorial team had no involvement in this,” the media outlet added.
The UP has already restored access to the email service and is investigating the hack.
In the email sent on behalf of the UP, the Russians greet Ukrainians on Victory Day, calling the occasion “our common Victory.”
Crimean Tatar Resource Center website reporting on Russia's crimes hacked
13.05.2025 The Crimean Tatar Resource Center website has been hacked as part of a mass attack on the hosting. This happened on the eve of the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Crimean Tatar Genocide, which is celebrated on May 18, the Crimean Tatar Resource Center reports.
The organization added that the website was running a campaign dedicated to the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Crimean Tatar Genocide.
“We posted articles that tell the truth about the crimes committed against the Crimean Tatar people and informed the world about the current repression in the occupied Crimea. Which is why the attack can not have been accidental: the occupiers are purposefully trying to destroy any means of spreading this information,” the Crimean Tatar Resource Center said.
The organization emphasized that the website contains a large database of documented crimes by the Russian Federation, collected over more than 10 years, and that the Crimean Tatar Resource Center had been declared an “undesirable organization” in Russia in 2024, "which once again confirms that we are feared because of the truth we reveal."
The Crimean Tatar Resource Center IT specialists are working to restore the resource.
“We give all important updates and information on our social media — we urge you to follow them,” the organization added.
THE FREEDOM OF SPEECH SITUATION IN UKRAINE FOR WHICH UKRAINE’S CITIZENS ARE RESPONSIBLE
PHYSICAL AGGRESSION
Threats, intimidation – 3
06.05.2025 The team of Vilne Radio, a media outlet relocated from Bakhmut (Donetsk oblast), reported violent threats to their journalist Yevhen Vakulenko from the Kyiv City Military Administration spokesperson Yevhen Iyevlev. Iyevlev explained that he “allowed himself some emotion regarding the author” because the latter's article mentioned Iyevlev’s family, according to the media outlet's statement and a Facebook post by Yevhen Ievlev.
The team says that following the release of the article “From buses to Infiniti: what car purchases in the Donetsk enlistment centre employees' 2024 declarations raise questions,” Yevhen Iyevlev added the journalist as a friend on Facebook and left a comment under the post promoting the article, asking the journalist to text him. The journalist did.
What followed was a private message exchange in which Iyevlev used obscene language. Namely, he claimed that he would “smash the journalist's f***ing face in” if they met in person. He called Vakulenko “an enemy of Ukraine and of the Ukrainian people” who “sells trash content.”
The media outlet explains that in his article, Yevhen Vakulenko reported on the wealth of the employees of Donetsk oblast enlistment centres for 2024. The media outlet took all the data for the article from open sources – the Unified State Register of Declarations.
One of the figures mentioned in the article was was Yevhen Iyevlev's father Serhiy Iyevlev, a serviceman working at the Pokrovsk district enlistment center. He declared a 2011 Toyota Land Cruiser worth 773 thousand hryvnias as the property of his wife Svitlana Iyevleva. However, the latter has no official income, according to the documents.
“We submitted information queries to all the Donetsk oblast enlistment centers where the officials mentioned in the text work. We simply asked them to explain how they were able to buy certain cars. The only enlistment center that did not respond to the query was the Pokrovsk one. We waited more than five business days, as required by law, and released the article,” explained the author of the material, Yevhen Vakulenko.
After the news of violent threats gained traction, hromadske also reported on it. In a comment to this media outlet, Iyevlev said that there had been no conflict between him and the Vilne Radio journalist.
“A 60-year-old serviceman who resumed service in 2017 – if you count his declarations, there would be enough for 15 such Land Cruisers,” the KCMA spokesperson said about his father.
Iyevlev also accused journalists of being unprofessional and stressed that his father bought a “15-year-old Land Cruiser for less than 20 thousand dollars.”
“Of course, this person works in an enlistment centre. In our country, enlistment center servicepeople should not have anything to do with this, they should probably drive Daewoo Lanoses. […] If a journalist aspires to have at least some truth in his investigation, then he should publish the declarations for three or four years earlier, what was bought, what was sold, and then we can draw conclusions from this,” Iyevlev said.
He added that last year the National Corruption Prevention Agency conducted a full monitoring study of the lifestyle of Iyevlev’s parents and allegedly had no complaints.
At around 20:00 on May 5, Iyevlev sent a comment to the Institute of Mass Information representative Valentyna Troyan regarding the conflict with Vilne Radio. He posted the comment in full on Facebook. And, as follows from the supplement to the hromadske article, he shared the same text with their editorial office.
In it, he said that “the last eleven years were difficult for him and his family.” He mentioned that a part of Donetsk oblast, where he hails from, has been under occupation since 2014. He added that his father devoted most of his life to serving in the Ukrainian Armed Forces and is now close to retirement age, so he continues to serve in an enlistment centre in a frontline community.
“The other day, journalists from a news outlet released an article raising doubts about the declaration filed by my parents’ family. And I allowed myself some emotion regarding the author of this article. Because I believe that the article mentioning my family is manipulative and emotionally loaded. This does not align with journalistic standards,” Iyevlev noted.
He added that a spokesperson's task is “to extinguish conflicts, reduce misunderstandings, and resolve problematic issues.”
“Today I failed this task, I let down the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the Ukrainian Military Academy and my boss Timur Tkachenko. I fully support constructiveness in the media community and hope for understanding. As a citizen, I have the right to emotions. All the men in my family have fought, damaged their health, and risked their lives for Ukraine. As a decent son, I have the right and will defend my parents from attempts to insult their honor and dignity,” stressed Yevhen Iyevlev.
In a comment to the IMI, the Vilne Radio executive director Anastasia Shybiko said that so far the journalist sees no need to contact the police regarding the threats.
“However, if the threats continue in any form, then, of course, he will go to the police,” Anastasia added.
Police identifies man who threatened Hromadske Radio host Maryana Chorniyevych
08.05.2025 Hromadske Radio host Maryana Chorniyevych received a threatening email following the May 8 livestream of the program “That Same Morning”. Contacting the cyber police helped identify the man who had sent the threats, Maryana Chorniyevych tells the Institute of Mass Information representative Valentyna Troyan.
According to her, the program discussed the Ukrainians' attitudes to May 9 and the way the topic of World War II is handled in schools.
The journalist says she focused on the findings of a survey by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, which showed that as of 2025 only 11% of Ukrainians are in favour of Victory Day being celebrated. For comparison, in 2010 this figure was 58%. These numbers sparked an intense reaction from listeners.
“This is a huge difference. I focused on it a lot. After the livestream, I checked my social media and email and noticed that I had received a letter. At first I thought it was spam, because it was in Russian,” the radio host said.
However, upon opening the email she realized that it was addressed to her personally. The sender had listened to the entire livestream and went through all the topics that Maryana had touched on the air.
“The person said that if I continued to speak negatively about Russia and undermine it, he would leak my photos in a pornographic video and post it to social media,” the host added.
She said that this was the first time she had encountered such a threat, and she reported it to the chief editor. After that, she filed a complaint with the cyber police.
“I filed a statement, it was registered. I explained what happened, and within two hours we knew the man’s full name, his residence address, date of birth and even his personal phone number. He lives in the temporarily occupied territories,” the host said.
The media professional hopes that after the de-occupation he will receive a “pleasant surprise” from the Ukrainian state.
In a comment to IMI representative Valentyna Troyan, Hromadske Radio chief editor Viktoria Yermolaeva emphasized that the media outlet had also appealed to the Cyber Police Department of the National Police of Ukraine with a request for an appropriate response.
“Unfortunately, I cannot protect the team from such incidents, but I do know what to do if a situation like this occurs again,” Viktoria Yermolayeva noted.
Armed man threatens MykVisti journalists in Mykolaiv
26.05.2025 Journalists with the Mykolaiv-based media outlet MykVisti were threatened by a man armed with a gun while filming the progress of historic building renovations in a Mykolaiv neighborhood on May 26, reports Kateryna Sereda, the Institute of Mass Information representative in Mykolaiv oblast, who witnessed the incident first hand.
She says that she and her colleague went to check the progress of construction work in a historic building in central Mykolaiv. A man shouted at them from the fifth floor of a neighboring building and threatened them.
“We explained to the man that we were there as journalists, we were not filming him. To which he started shouting at us, forbidding us to film and threatening us. He vanished for a few seconds, then reappeared and started waving something that looked like a gun in our direction, letting us know that he was ready to shoot if we did not leave,” says Kateryna Sereda.
The journalists called the police, who recorded their appeal. The man did have an air gun on him. The police had a conversation with him and took down his explanation. He explained that believes reporters to be sabotage agents helping Russian troops aim their strikes by taking photographs of buildings.
The journalists decided not to file a crime statement.
INDIRECT PRESSURE
Other types of indirect pressure – 1
Rivne-based website posts smear article, calls Chetverta Vlada readers small-minded
19.05.2025 Rivnenski Novyny has released another article smearing the investigative journalism agency Chetverta Vlada and its chief editor Volodymyr Torbich, reports the Institute of Mass Information representative in Rivne oblast, Hanna Kalaur.
Rivnenski Novyny published a news story with the headline “'Let your fatface editor go and serve…! Instead of sitting there clowning around…' army serviceman says about the owner of a Rivne tabloid” on May 16. The article is based on statements by Yuriy Kovaliuk, former head of the Radyvylivka enlistment office, probably about Volodymyr Torbich. However, the website does not indicate when and in what context the comment was received.
Earlier, Kovaliuk gave an interview to Chetverta Vlada, which gained traction and resulted in his dismissal from his post, after which he was deployed to the front line. When the agency’s journalist called him to get a comment on the dismissal, he cursed at her obscenely and expressed his wish that Chetverta Vlada chief editor go serve in the army himself. These statements became the basis for the Rivnenski Novyny article.
The Rivnenski Novyny news story hurls several insults at Chetverta Vlada, calling them a “tabloid” and a “mickey-mouse outfit”. The website also attacked Volodymyr Torbich's character, accusing him of contempt for the troops and of exploiting army crowdfunding campaigns to raise funds for the media outlet, and calling him a “pookie”. The article also calls the Chetverta Vlada readers who support the agency financially "small-minded people".
In a comment to the IMI, Volodymyr Torbich said that he believed this smear article to be the work of Andriy Androschuk, a former advisor and assistant to the former Rivne Oblast Administration chair, Oleksiy Mulyarenko.
“In my opinion, this is obviously being done by Andriy Androschuk, a former advisor and assistant to Oleksiy Mulyarenko. The Andriy Androschuk whom Chetverta Vlada helped resign as advisor to the chair of the Rivne Oblast Administration after he slandered and insulted journalist Inna Biletska. The Andriy Androschuk, whom Chetverta Vlada exposed for 'jeansa', for violating other rules of journalistic ethics, for causing a drunk driving accident, for negative PR ordered by the Rivne local authorities,” Volodymyr Torbich said.
He added that Rivnenski Novyny and the Viber channel of the website Ridne Rivne have been consistently posting false and manipulative information. Since both resources are anonymized, it is difficult to hold the authors accountable.
“In my opinion, this behavior has signs of retaliatory obstruction of reporting. We will consult with lawyers on how to hold the masterminds of this smear campaign accountable,” Volodymyr Torbich commented.
The IMI representative in Rivne oblast contacted Rivnenski Novyny chief editor Andriy Androschuk in Telegram, asking for a comment on the release of another smear article targeting Chetverta Vlada. Andriy Androschuk read the message, but did not reply, instead blocking her contact in the messenger app.
Earlier, when an IMI representative called Andriy Androschuk with a similar request regarding another instance of the smear campaign against the agency, he said he was a different person. And later added an offensive tag to her profile in a phone number identification app.
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 and another one in April 2025.
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 crimes – 1
LIGA.net under mass DDoS attack after reporting on Alla Alkhim case
12.05.2025 The website of the media outlet LIGA.net sustained a mass DDoS attack on May 12. The attack targeted the column by strategic communications consultant Nadia Pototska which discusses the value gaps in Ukrainian society in view of the conflict that arose around the blogger Anna Alkhim, LIGA.net reports.
LIGA.net stressed that the column is the author's subjective opinion, which the reader may agree or disagree with.
“But the very opportunity to express your opinion freely is the foundation of a democratic society. This right cannot and should not be hampered by force, pressure, or attacks.
"Attempts to disrupt the work of a media outlet due to disagreement with an article are not an opinion. They are an act of aggression. We condemn any forms of pressure on freedom of speech,” the team emphasized.
LIGA.net chief editor Yulia Bankova said that the column was not about any specific person, did not offend anyone's dignity and did not designate anyone as aggressor or victim.
“This is an attempt to dissect the root causes of a deep rift in society and to offer solutions that can help overcome it. But this attack on our media outlet proves that our society does not know how to discuss problems like adults, can not build a civilized debate around deeply painful issues,” Bankova noted.
Nadia Pototska’s column on LIGA.net analyzes the scandal surrounding blogger Anna Alkhim, seeing it as a manifestation of a deeper value-based conflict in Ukrainian society. The author stresses that language and consuming Russian content have become markers of identity and attitudes towards the war and that publicity implies accountability. She calls for a systematic response to Russian cultural expansion through restricting access to pro-Russian content, investment in the Ukrainian media space, and ethical public pressure.
As Suspilne reported, a popular Dnipro blogger Anna Alkhim sparked a language-based scandal after a video from a party at blogger Stasya Makeeva's house, where the host asked Alkhim to sing a Ukrainian song, to which she reacted with discontent and irritation. The clip of the exchange went viral on social media. Alkhim faced a barrage of criticism from the military and bloggers due to her reaction and ambiguous statements about the war with Russia. Namely, influencer and volunteer Olena Mandziuk said that the popularity of content creators such as Alkhim shows society’s degradation. In her post, she urged the SBU to take action against Alkhim, who has called Putin "handsome" and "cool." Alkhim later announced that she had left Ukraine and posted a video from a Polish airport and from a plane. Alkhim said that she had fled in search of political asylum and accused Olena Mandziuk of harrassment.
LEGAL PRESSURE
Other types of indirect pressure – 1
Syla Pravdy says Lutsk official is trying to appropriate their name
30.05.2025 Viktor Humeniuk, director of the municipal enterprise Lutskvodokanal who has been featured in articles by the Investigative Journalism Center "Syla Pravdy", is trying to register the trademark "Syla Pravdy", the media outlet reports.
According to the journalists, the official filed the application with the Ukrainian National Office of Intellectual Property and Innovations in July 2024. Syla Pravdy believes that Viktor Humeniuk intends to appropriate the media outlet's name.
The team says that they learned about the official’s applying to register the Syla Pravdy trademark by chance and reached out to him to ask why he needed a trademark with that name. They also asked Humeniuk whether this was an attempt to hinder the work of journalists or retaliation for Syla Pravdy's critical reporting.
After a pause, the official replied to all three questions with one phrase: “Thank you”.
The head of Lutskvodokanal, Viktor Humeniuk, has been repeatedly freatured in articles by Syla Pravdy over the past few years. For instance, in 2020, the team reported that Lutskvodokanal pressured customers to verify their water meters through "their" company, which had ties to representatives of the political party “Batkivshchyna” and likely the Lutskvodokanal director himself. In 2023, Syla Pravdy also reported on a company once owned by Viktor Humeniuk's first deputy Svyatoslav Dmytrotsa being contracted by Lutskvodokanal with virtually no competition; on the wealth of the company’s director; on the details and reasons for the bankruptcy of Lutskvodokanal's subsidiary Evoda Trade.
Syla Pravdy says they repeatedly reached out to the official for comments while working on these reports, including official queries.
“That is, Viktor Humeniuk knew about the work of the Invstigative Journalism Center 'Syla Pravdy' and appears to have been aware of what he was doing when he attempted to register a trademark of the same name,” the media outlet writes.
Media law expert at the Institute for Regional Press Development, attorney Oksana Maksymeniuk, believes that Viktor Humeniuk is trying to pressure on the editorial office and journalists.
“A registered trademark allows a person to send those using a similar name a cease-and-desist letter and to demand compensation for material damage. In my opinion, this is a way of putting pressure on the journalists and obstructing their reporting… This will not stop the work of the media outlet per se, but it may create problems in using the name,” the lawyer explained.
In view of this, the lawyer recommends that the media register their names as trademarks from the start.
Syla Pravdy has appealed to the Ukrainian National Office of Intellectual Property and Innovations with an objection to the official’s application. In the document, the media outlet argues that the commercial name "Syla Pravdy" has belonged to their office since 2017 and is well-recognized by the public.
The Investigative Journalism Center "Syla Pravdy" has been exposing corruption and abuses of office in Volyn oblast for over seven years, with law enforcement and control bodies having launched multiple investigations based on their reporting.
DEFENDING FREEDOM OF SPEECH
The government’s response to freedom of speech violations – 1
Police opens case over attack on journalist by UOC MP supporters
06.05.2025 The police have opened a case into the attack on freelancer journalist Diana Lavryk by UOC MP supporters during a conflict in a Verkhni Stanivtsi church (Chernivtsi oblast), reports Chernivtsi Oblast National Police spokesperson Karolina Marysheva in a comment to Alyona Chorna, regional representative of the Institute of Mass Information.
“The data from the citizen’s statement regarding this event has been entered into the URPTI under Part 1 of Article 125 ('Intended minor bodily injury') of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The necessary investigative actions are being carried out as part of the criminal case. A pre-trial investigation is underway,” Marysheva reported.
Asked why the proceedings were not classified as violence against a journalist, the spokesperson said that a pre-trial investigation is currently underway and a decision on whether to recategorize the case or not will be made after all facts and circumstances are clarified.
Journalist Diana Lavryk told the IMI representative that she had come to Verkhni Stanivtsi as a journalist to report on the first divine service at a parish that had switched to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine a few months ago.
“I said right away that I was a journalist and was filming what was happening, I had an ID badge around my neck. I wanted to film the service, but I was attacked by UOC MP supporters who broke into the church's premises. They were throwing pebbles and sand in my face and at the camera. They had batons, gas sprays, and the gas got in my face as well. After that, the men beat us with large sticks. I said again that I was a journalist, but this did not stop the attackers. They shoved me, I fell down, they started dragging me by my hair around the church yard and beating me with sticks. Then one of the men from the OCU took me inside the church,” Lavryk said.
According to her, the attackers broke into the church through the altar, fired gas from fire extinguishers and forced people out of the temple: “In the hallway, they beat us with batons again, pulled me aside, pulled me by my hair, wanted to take away my equipment.”
The journalist says that the police and an ambulance arrived later. She did not seek medical help at the time, continued filming, and filed a police statement about the attack on site.
Diana Lavryk said that she had her injuries recorded: "I had bruised legs, torn knees, bruises on my neck and head. I took an examination. The X-ray did not confirm this, but based on all the symptoms it could have been a mild concussion, because I was nauseous, my neck was swollen. This had to be recorded immediately. I did not go to Vyzhnytsia to have the beatings recorded right away. I was threatened with murder if I came there again. An investigator in Kolomyia is working on my case."
According to Lavryk, she did not file a death threats report because she has no material proof of this, having heard these words from the attackers.
Diana Lavryk also clarified that she was not filming for a media outlet and did not have an editorial assignment, but came as a journalist at the invitation of the parson, Father Roman Hryshchuk.
The journalist said that her news story was posted to Roman Hryshchuk’s Facebook page. “There, he explains what was happening. The news story was also published on media resources that interviewed me (after the conflict. – Author),” she said.
Diana Lavryk added that the church service took place a few days later and was covered by Roman Hryshchuk on Facebook page and by her personally.
She also said that she has been working in journalism for over six months, writes for the printed newspaper Vilnyi Holos, and runs the information department at the S. Bandera National Association “Tryzub”.
Archpriest, OCU chaplain Roman Hryshchuk said in a comment to the IMI representative that thanks to Diana Lavryk, the actions of UOC MP supporters were filmed. “Diana Lavryk filmed the things that representatives of the UOC MP were doing. If she were not there and it was not filmed, they (the UOC MP) would have presented it as if they were the ones getting beaten,” said Roman Hryshchuk.
As reported earlier, 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.
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