Prosecuting the people behind the coordinated smear campaign against the Zakarpattia-based journalist Olena Mudra is difficult due to the anonymity of the online resources involved, the journalist’s lawyer Yuriy Melnyk told Espreso.
He said that the campaign targeting Mudra lasted for three months, operating through a network of anonymous websites, which distributed false claims about the journalist along with the environmentalist Oksana Stankevych-Volosianiuk, accusing the two of “high treason” among other things. Moreover, a police report by a fictitious person was filed with the police, triggering proceedings against Mudra (closed in May 2026).
Yuriy Melnyk explained that the biggest difficulty in prosecuting those who organised the campaign is the lack of an identified defendant. Since the websites that pushed the discrediting content do not disclose their owners, there is no one to file a classic defamation lawsuit against.
“When the owner of the website promoting the information is unknown, this significantly complicates the defense, since there is essentially no defendant whom one can correspondingly sue,” explained Yuriy Melnyk.
He added that the lack of a defendant prompted that the journalist’s defense to opt for separate proceedings. This method does not target a specific person, but aims to legally establish the very fact of the reported information being false, which will serve as an official counterargument against defamation.
Previously
On 9 June 2025, Zakarpattia-based investigator journalist Olena Mudra said she was being targeted in a smear campaign in the media. She believes the campaign was triggered by her reporting. She said that several disreputable media outlets had published a deceptive article with false information about her sources of income (alleging she works for Russia and Russian money) and her family.
Olena believes that these incidents are connected with her investigations into the work of LLC Wind Parks Ukraine in Zakarpattia oblast.
Olena Mudra filed a police statement on obstruction of her lawful reporting and violation of her privacy on 27 June 2025. The data was entered into the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations (URPTI) on the following day, 28 June.
On 24 February 2026, NGL.media team collected clues that could lead to the persons responsible for the large-scale smear campaign targeting the Zakarpattia-based investigative journalist Olena Mudra, who reported on the potentially illegal wind power plant construction in the Runa valley.
On 14 May 2026, the police closed the proceedings against Zakarpattia-based journalist Olena Mudra, triggered by a letter signed “Marik Fedirko”.
On 22 July 2026, the Vynohradiv District Court in Zakarpattia oblast opened proceedings on a motion filed by journalist Olena Mudra, who sought to have the claims about her promoted as part of a coordinated online campaign declared false