The Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv is set to begin trial in the lawsuit filed by Kostyantyn Andriyuk, host of the YouTube channel ZupynyLosia, against the Institute of Mass Information (IMI) and its Rivne oblast representative Hanna Kalaur, on 19 August. The first hearing is scheduled for 12:45 p.m.
The decision was passed on 20 May 2026, Hanna Kalaur reported after receiving the ruling.
Andriyuk requests that IMI retract previously reported information, believing it to be defamatory.
Andriyuk filed the lawsuit in March 2026. The court initially dismissed it and gave the plaintiff time to fix errors in it. Later, on 30 March, the plaintiff submitted clarifications through the Digital Court system and the court opened proceedings.
The case will be tried by Judge Natalia Ponomarenko in a simplified claim procedure with summons to the parties.
According to the court’s ruling, IMI and Hanna Kalaur have 15 days to file a response to Andriyuk’s claim.
“I believe that we reported socially important information in compliance with journalistic standards. That is why I expect that the court will properly assess the details of the case. Moreover, Kostyantyn Andriyuk had the opportunity to explain his position when I asked him for a comment, but offered no comprehensive explanations. I think we did everything right and the court will see this,” Hanna Kalaur commented.
Previously
Kostiantyn Andriyuk sued the Institute of Mass Information (IMI) and its Rivne oblast representative Hanna Kalaur in March 2026.
He requests that IMI retracts information reported in their 5 January 2026 news article “Journalist uses photo of deceased servicewoman in fundraiser without family’s consent”, claiming that it defames him and is misleading.
In the article, IMI reports that Kostyantyn Andriyuk launched a fundraiser for the army on his YouTube channel ZupynyLosia, using a photo of the late Lana Chornohorska (Sati), a servicewoman of the Ukrainian Volunteer Army’s unmanned aviation service, who had been killed in a Russian drone strike in Ukraine’s South. The photo was posted without the consent of Sati’s family and with no mention of her death. The relatives of the deceased servicewoman called the decision unethical and demanded the takedown of the image.
Kostyantyn Andriyuk refused to explain the motives for using the deceased servicewoman’s photo in his comment to IMI. When asked about the reasons for posting the photo and leaving the relatives’ appeal without response, he replied that he “cannot explain anything” and stated that he saw nothing unethical in his actions. Andriyuk added that he did not intend to comment on third party requests and offered no additional explanations regarding the situation.
