An online petition calling on President Volodymyr Zelensky to hold an open press conference with independent and critically minded news organisations has crossed the 25,000 signatures threshold, as evidenced by the official online portal for petitions to the Office of the President of Ukraine.
Petition No. 22/269406-ep was published on the President’s website by Anna Repina on 27 August.
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The petition proposes holding an open press conference with the President, involving reporters with independent media and news organisations of public importance. The petition’s author named Ukrainska Pravda, Bihus.Info, Slidstvo.Info, Radio Liberty, hromadske, The Kyiv Independent, Suspilne, NV, Dzerkalo Tyzhnia, BBC Ukraine, and Liga.net as examples.
The author also called for journalists to be given the opportunity to ask questions without having to get them pre-approved.
The petition needed to gather 25,000 signatures within three months of publication. Once the required number of signatures has been collected, it must be reviewed in accordance with the procedure set out by law.
President Zelensky last held a press conference following the “Ukraine. Year 2025” forum in February 2025. There have been no large-scale, open press conferences with the President that would involve a broad range of Ukrainian media outlets — a concern journalists have previously raised.
Ukrainska Pravda chief editor Sevgil Musaieva pointed out in a Facebook post on 23 August 2026 that Volodymyr Zelensky’s latest open press conference took place as long ago as February 2025.
