Media Movement calls for swapping Russian agent Molchanov for detained journalist Khyliuk

Illustration by the IMI

Ukrainian journalists and media professionals, members of the Media Movement, call on Ukraine's authorities to swap the detained Russian agent, propagandist Kirill Molchanov for Ukrainian journalist Dmytro Khyliuk, who has been in Russian custody for over three years, according to an address by the Media Movement to which the Institute of Mass Information is a signatory.

The address notes that Dmytro Khyliuk was kidnapped by Russian troops on March 3, 2022, while a part of Kyiv oblast was occupied. He is now likely in a prison in the Vladimir region of Russia.

"Ukraine only has unofficial data on the journalist's whereabouts, because Russia does not acknowledge the fact of his detention. This is because international humanitarian law prohibits the detention of civilians. Consequently, there is no exchange mechanism for such cases: these people should be released outside of POW swaps," the address says.

It was reported in the summer of 2024 that Dmytro had lost a lot of weight and weighed no more than 45 kilograms, as the international organization Reporters Without Borders learned from former Ukrainian POW Ihor, who had spent a year sharing a cell with Dmytro in a prison in Russia's Vladimir region.

Meanwhile, on April 1, 2025, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) announced that it had successfully extradited Kirill Molchanov, a Russian agent and "political scientist" from the media pool of treason suspect, former MP Viktor Medvedchuk. According to the SBU, in 2022 Molchanov left for Russia, where he became a key ideologist of the Kremlin's various media projects. He was detained during a trip to Poland and deported to Ukraine.

Since Ukraine already has experience in swapping civilians in the state's interests (for instance, Medvedchuk himself was exchanged for 215 Ukrainian POWs), the Media Movement calls on the President of Ukraine, the Ministry of Defense, the Security Service of Ukraine, the Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications, the Coordination Headquarters for POW Treatment, and other state structures to free Dmytro Khyliuk from Russian custody by exchanging him for Molchanov, who is suspected of collaborationism.

The Institute of Mass Information publishes the full address:

ADDRESS

To the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyi

Head of the Security Service of Ukraine, Vasyl Maliuk

Minister of Defense, Rustem Umerov

Minister of Culture and Strategic Communications, Mykola Tochytskyi

Coordination Headquarters for POW Treatment

We, Ukrainian journalists and media professionals, members of the Media Movement, call on you to swap the detained Russian agent, propagandist Kirill Molchanov for Ukrainian journalist Dmytro Khyliuk, who has been in Russian custody for over three years.

Dmytro Khyliuk was kidnapped by Russian troops on March 3, 2022, while a part of Kyiv oblast was occupied. He was captured in his own yard in Kozarovychi village near Kyiv. He was first held in occupied Dymer and then taken to a pre-trial detention center in Russia.

He is now likely in a prison in the Vladimir region of Russia. Ukraine only has unofficial data on the journalist's whereabouts, because Russia does not acknowledge the fact of his detention. This is because international humanitarian law prohibits the detention of civilians. Consequently, there is no exchange mechanism for such cases: these people should be released outside of POW swaps.

It was reported in the summer of 2024 that Dmytro had lost a lot of weight and weighed no more than 45 kilograms, as the international organization Reporters Without Borders learned from former Ukrainian POW Ihor, who had spent a year sharing a cell with Dmytro in a prison in Russia's Vladimir region.

According to the Institute of Mass Information, at least 30 Ukrainian civilians working in journalism are unlawfully held in Russian detention.

Meanwhile, on April 1, 2025, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) announced that it had successfully extradited Kirill Molchanov, a Russian agent and "political scientist" from the media pool of treason suspect, former MP Viktor Medvedchuk. According to the SBU, in 2022 Molchanov left for Russia, where he became a key ideologist of the Kremlin's various media projects. He was detained during a trip to Poland and deported to Ukraine.

Molchanov has been notified of suspicion under two articles: justification, recognition as lawful, or denial of Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine, glorification of its perpetrators (Part 3 of Article 436-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine); collaborationism (Part 6 of Article 111-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

Since Ukraine already has experience in swapping civilians in the state's interests (for instance, Medvedchuk himself was exchanged for 215 Ukrainian POWs), we call on the President of Ukraine, the Ministry of Defense, the Security Service of Ukraine, the Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications, the Coordination Headquarters for POW Treatment, and other state structures to free Dmytro Khyliuk from Russian custody by exchanging him for Molchanov, who is suspected of collaborationism.

The address was signed by:

The Media Movement

NGO "Institute of Mass Information"

ZMINA Center for Human Rights

Detector Media

For reference. The Media Movement is a community that brings together journalists from leading Ukrainian media, investigative journalists, and experts from media NGOs. Media Movement was launched on February 5, 2019.

The first signatories of the Media Movement Memorandum were UA: Pershyi, Ukrainian Radio, Hromadske Radio, Ukrinform, Interfax-Ukraine, Liga.net, Dzerkalo Tyzhnia. Ukraine”, NV, ‘Censor.net’, Channel 5, ‘Ukrainian Week’, Opinion, a number of regional media, NGOs Independent Media Council, Detector Media, Institute of Mass Information, Internews Ukraine, Center for Democracy and Rule of Law, Souspilnist Foundation, National Association of Media, Donetsk Institute of Information, Pylyp Orlyk Institute for Democracy, Zmina Human Rights Center.

The Movement was later joined by other organizations and individual journalists: more than 70 participants in total. On November 16, 2021, representatives of prominent media outlets called on journalists to unite in the professional community Media Movement to push back against political and commercial pressure on freedom of speech. The statement was initiated by 29 journalists and experts, their names are available here.