Dnipro police have closed the proceedings concerning obstruction of the lawful reporting by Dnipro.media journalist Maria Onyshchenko. In December 2025, she and a colleague were denied access to the City Council’s session hall, the news website reported.
Having personally contacted the police, Onyshchenko learned that the case had been closed on 12 August 2026. The team is contesting the decision and said that independent media were being treated differently than communal outlets by the City Council.
The proceedings were closed on 30 March 2026. In its ruling, the police noted that the journalists had been granted access to a glazed-in balcony from which they could see and hear the session, while the person who had deliberately obstructed their reporting could not be identified. The proceedings were closed due to the absence of a corpus delicti.
Maria Onyshchenko disagrees with this decision and, with the team’s support, is challenging the ruling to close the proceedings. Complaints demanding that the ruling be overturned and the investigation continued have been filed with the Prosecutor’s Office and an investigating judge.
Previously
Anastasia Taran and Maria Onyshchenko, journalists with the news website Dnipro.media, were not allowed to attend the 10 December 2025 plenary session in the Dnipro City Council’s session hall. Depsite carrying reporter IDs and having been approved to access the building, they were barred from entering the open balcony where journalists usually work for about 30–40 minutes. Security guards with the municipal company Munitsypalna Varta and Council officials gave no specific reasons for the restrictions, citing “the regulations”.
Maria Onyshchenko called the police and filed a statement on obstruction of reporting.
The police refused to enter the data into the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations (URPI) at first. On 17 February 2026, the Shevchenkivsky District Court of Dnipro declared the refusal unlawful and ordered the police to open an investigation into the incident.
On 14 March, the police opened a case under Part 1 Article 171 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (“Obstruction of lawful reporting”).
The police’s findings
Over the course of the investigation, the police questioned Onyshchenko as the victim, along with three witnesses who were in the City Council building at the time the incident occurred. These included the director of the operational support department, an employee of the municipal company Munitsypalna Varta, and a chief specialist at Dnipro City Council.
Investigators also examined video footage recorded by the journalist on her own phone during the session, and recognised it as material evidence.
Moreover, the police requested CCTV footage from the City Council. However, the query was sent almost three months after the incident. The City Council claimed that CCTV footage was only kept for three days, meaning it no longer existed by the time the request was made.
On 30 March, the police closed the proceedings.
Dnipro.media disagrees with the investigation’s findings. The team notes that the footage recorded by the journalists shows their access being restricted. The team also believes that contradictions in the testimony regarding who exactly decided where the journalists were allowed to work were not properly examined during the investigation.
Dnipro.media reports unequal treatment of reporters
Dnipro.media says that the issue of independent journalists’ access to City Council sessions remains problematic.
According to the news outlet, reporters with communal media outlets have been able to work directly in the session hall, while Dnipro.media journalists were directed to a glazed-in balcony during sessions held on 19 February and 10 December 2025.
The outlet points out, however, that under Clause 8 of Article 3 of Dnipro City Council’s Regulations, journalists, photographers, and camera operators are permitted to stay the part of the session hall designated for deputies.