Hromadske journalist Denys Bulavin faced online harassment following the release of his article about attacks on servicemembers working in territorial enlistment centers, Bulavin reported to the Institute of Mass Information journalist Valentina Troyan.
Bulavin said he did not know who exactly was behind the campaign targeting him, but had been prepared for such a response, aware that the subject was contentious. The journalist said that both bots and real social media users who oppose the mobilization effort were writing abusive comments about him.
“I don’t know who exactly is behind the harassment attempts. The comments are coming both from bots and users that are negative about the mobilization effort in general. The Telegram channel Kapitan Luhanskyi, which has 70,000 subscribers, especially caught my attention. It is run by blogger Andriy Serebrianskyi, known as ‘Andriy Luhanskyi,’” Bulavin said.
According to the Center for Countering Disinformation, Andriy Luhanskyi left Ukraine after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion and has been using his social media to peddle narratives that align with Russian propaganda, in particular smearing the mobilization effort.
“In 2025, the NSDC (National Security and Defense Council – ed.) introduced sanctions against him, and YouTube blocked his channels. So it is clear why Luhanskyi made a post about me,” Denys Bulavin remarked.
After the article was released, posts containing the same screenshot of his Facebook post appeared on Luhanskyi’s Telegram channel, Threads, and X pages, Bulavin said.
“Some accounts also spread manipulative claims that I was exempt from the draft. This is not true: I am not,” the journalist emphasised.
He explained that he defines the comments and posts about himself as abusive and defamatory content with value judgments by the commentators.
“There is no liability for this, because this is an expression of people’s personal opinion,” he said, adding that he had been prepared for such a response to his reporting.
“I was prepared that by taking on a contentious topic that Russian propaganda often manipulates, I might encounter a similar response,” Bulavin said.
Previously
On 16 March 2026, Hromadske released an article by Denys Bulavin: “Servicemembers working in enlistment centers are being beaten, stabbed, and run over with cars. How can they protect themselves?” In the article, he discussed attacks on enlistment center employees, the investigations into the attacks, and the consequences faced by the attackers. Within a day, the Telegram channel Kapitan Luhanskyi made a post about Denys Bulavin. The post itself contained no obscenities, just ironically commented on the journalist’s looks. However, the comments to the post contained calls for physical violence against the media professional, including beating. Denys shared screenshots of the comments on Facebook and added, “The way they are trying to harrass me for not being afraid to take up this topic is fascinating to watch.”
