Khmelnytskyi OMA declined to give comments to journalists until they submitted written query

The Khmelnytskyi Oblast Military Administration only spoke to the local online news outlet ZHAR.INFO about the development strategy after the journalists submitted a written request for comment. Prior to this, the administration had avoided answering some of the questions, the news outlet reports.

The media outlet asked the Economic Development Department and the administration’s leadership to comment for a news story about the administration’s efforts to update the Oblast Development Strategy and about the public’s involvement in this process.

“We first contacted the relevant department with a list of questions regarding the process. We were given an incomplete reply which ommitted the question about involving a wider public in updating the Strategy. Talking to the department director did not help us get answers to all the questions. The reply was short: public involvement took place as intended,” said ZHAR.INFO founder and journalist Alyona Bereza.

According to the journalist, she then texted an administration employee working in the press office in a messenger app. After waiting for a week, Bereza reminded her of the request and received advice in response: to write a written request, because the administration’s management has a tight schedule.

“Of course, we wrote a request for comment and said that we were expecting a reply. We sent it to the official email address and to this employee. The reply said: we will review it in accordance with the established procedures. So we had to remind them of the deadline the day of. We received the answer after business hours, not via the official form but in a messenger, as we had requested from the beginning,” added Alyona Bereza.

In his comments to the news outlet, the head of the Khmelnytskyi Oblast Military Administration said that the broadest possible representation had been ensured while updating the Khmelnytskyi Oblast Development Strategy for 2021–2027 and developing an Action Plan for its implementation, adding that the law did not provide for holding competitions to attract other representatives.

On June 30, 2025, the Kamyanets-Podilskyi City Council only provided the information requested by ZHAR.INFO journalist Maria Turchyna following the journalist’s complaint to the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights. The query concerned the City Council deputies’ business trips abroad.