Police prevents some reporters from accessing Okhmatdyt premises to cover the rescuers' work

Journalist Kamila Hrabchuk says that on July 8, the police did not allow her and her colleagues to report on the work of rescuers following the Russian shelling strike on the children's hospital "Okhmatdyt".

She wrote about it on Facebook and shared the details in a comment to the IMI.

"Journalists were not allowed on the premises, I arrived some time around 14 o'clock, there were already a lot of people there. The police say that journalists cannot do anything there, tell us to look for all info in the official channels, and all that talk," Kamila told the IMI.

She wrote on Facebook that she has accreditation and an approved request from the State Emergency Service, "but they can't help me." She was only allowed to access the hospital after three hours of waiting.

Kamila Hrabchuk believes that "the police were instructed not to let journalists in, and they paid no attention to whether those journalists were accredited or not," she said in a comment to "Detector Media".

In the video filmed by Kamila Hrabchuk, a police officer is featured saying: "Many children died, and you want to make a news story on this blood. When they take you there in groups, you will enter."

In another video, a policemen is refusing to explain why the journalists were not allowed to work there. A police representative advised the journalist to "stay in a safe spot and film the work of rescuers from there."

Photographer and journalist Stas Kozliuk notes that this is not the first time when the police do not allow journalists to enter shelling sites or demand credentials to work in places where this is not required. He was able to enter the hospital's premises:

"I had no problems. I got there relatively quickly, and this is a general rule of thumb in such situations – before everyone realizes what is happening, you can go in and film in peace. A National Guardsmen asked me for my credentials, I showed them, and I understand everything perfectly. But the problem is that accreditation is perceived as a single press ID, which is not the case. And without it, as I understand, I would have been kicked out. This is not the first time I have come across something like this," says Stas Kozliuk.

Media lawyer Roman Holovenko believes that journalists should not be demanded to show accreditation when not working on battlefields.

"The accreditation we are talking about is given by the Armed Forces, that is, it is for admission to the UAF structures and the front line. That is, if a missile hit some military object, then yes, it is necessary. And this has nothing to do with it, because the very term 'accreditation' was introduced in the law on media to help the authorities promote their work. That is, it concerns a certain entity," the lawyer explains.

As for the shelling sites, Roman Holovenko says that if there are rescuers working there, they can determine whether to admit someone or not based on certain factors. "For example, if there are still explosives that have not gone off or a building may collapse. But then it is not an accreditation matter, and it is strange that they are talking about it at all. For example, the 'Okhmatdyt' administration as a business entity could determine whom to admit if, let's say, there are still undressed children or parents there. That is, we are talking about a certain procedure for accessing the place, but the decisions should definitely be made by specific authorized people. It is clear that there is a public interest in journalists reporting from a crime scene, but journalists must also consider the state of the people they are filming. On the other hand, people have mobile phones, and photos get posted anyway," says the media lawyer.

He added that certain ethical or safety issues may affect the decision to admit journalists and that it should be defined more clearly who is responsible for the decision-making in such cases.

"But if the National Guard or the police do not allow media workers under the pretext of accreditation, which does not apply to this at all, all while there are people on the territory filming everything on their phone, this is not normal," says Roman Holovenko.

According to the Security Service of Ukraine, on July 8, 2024, Russia targeted the children's hospital "Okhmatdyt" with a Kh-101 missile. Two hospital workers died. 16 people were injured, including three children.

According to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, the Russian strike on Kyiv on July 8 killed 27 people, including four children. 117 were injured, and seven people have been rescued.

Previously, the Institute of Mass Information wrote a memo for employees and servicemen of the Security and Defense Forces of Ukraine (National Police, SBU, National Guard, Ukrainian Armed Forces) regarding interaction with journalists doing their work to provide media support for Ukraine's defense operations.