Vilne Radio reports threats by Kyiv CMA spokesperson. Spokesperson says he "allowed himself some emotion"

The team of Vilne Radio, a media outlet relocated from Bakhmut (Donetsk oblast), reported violent threats to their journalist Yevhen Vakulenko from the Kyiv City Military Administration spokesperson Yevhen Iyevlev. Iyevlev explained that he “allowed himself some emotion regarding the author” because the latter's article mentioned Iyevlev’s family, according to the media outlet's statement and a Facebook post by Yevhen Ievlev.

The team says that following the release of the article “From buses to Infiniti: what car purchases in the Donetsk enlistment centre employees' 2024 declarations raise questions,” Yevhen Iyevlev added the journalist as a friend on Facebook and left a comment under the post promoting the article, asking the journalist to text him. The journalist did.

What followed was a private message exchange in which Iyevlev used obscene language. Namely, he claimed that he would “smash the journalist's f***ing face in” if they met in person. He called Vakulenko “an enemy of Ukraine and of the Ukrainian people” who “sells trash content.”

Vilne Radio journalist's chat with the Kyiv CMA spokesperson Yavhen Iyevlev. Photo by Vilne Radio, Yavhen Vakulenko

The media outlet explains that in his article, Yevhen Vakulenko reported on the wealth of the employees of Donetsk oblast enlistment centres for 2024. The media outlet took all the data for the article from open sources – the Unified State Register of Declarations.

One of the figures mentioned in the article was was Yevhen Iyevlev's father Serhiy Iyevlev, a serviceman working at the Pokrovsk district enlistment center. He declared a 2011 Toyota Land Cruiser worth 773 thousand hryvnias as the property of his wife Svitlana Iyevleva. However, the latter has no official income, according to the documents.

“We submitted information queries to all the Donetsk oblast enlistment centers where the officials mentioned in the text work. We simply asked them to explain how they were able to buy certain cars. The only enlistment center that did not respond to the query was the Pokrovsk one. We waited more than five business days, as required by law, and released the article,” explained the author of the material, Yevhen Vakulenko.

After the news of violent threats gained traction, hromadske also reported on it. In a comment to this media outlet, Iyevlev said that there had been no conflict between him and the Vilne Radio journalist.

“A 60-year-old serviceman who resumed service in 2017 – if you count his declarations, there would be enough for 15 such Land Cruisers,” the KCMA spokesperson said about his father.

Iyevlev also accused journalists of being unprofessional and stressed that his father bought a “15-year-old Land Cruiser for less than 20 thousand dollars.”

“Of course, this person works in an enlistment centre. In our country, enlistment center servicepeople should not have anything to do with this, they should probably drive Daewoo Lanoses. […] If a journalist aspires to have at least some truth in his investigation, then he should publish the declarations for three or four years earlier, what was bought, what was sold, and then we can draw conclusions from this,” Iyevlev said.

He added that last year the National Corruption Prevention Agency conducted a full monitoring study of the lifestyle of Iyevlev’s parents and allegedly had no complaints.

At around 20:00 on May 5, Iyevlev sent a comment to the Institute of Mass Information representative Valentyna Troyan regarding the conflict with Vilne Radio. He posted the comment in full on Facebook. And, as follows from the supplement to the hromadske article, he shared the same text with their editorial office.

Kyiv CMA spokesperson, TDF Brigade No. 109 serviceman Yevhen Iyevlev. Photo by Yevhen Vakulenko on Facebook

In it, he said that “the last eleven years were difficult for him and his family.” He mentioned that a part of Donetsk oblast, where he hails from, has been under occupation since 2014. He added that his father devoted most of his life to serving in the Ukrainian Armed Forces and is now close to retirement age, so he continues to serve in an enlistment centre in a frontline community.

“The other day, journalists from a news outlet released an article raising doubts about the declaration filed by my parents’ family. And I allowed myself some emotion regarding the author of this article. Because I believe that the article mentioning my family is manipulative and emotionally loaded. This does not align with journalistic standards,” Iyevlev noted.

He added that a spokesperson's task is “to extinguish conflicts, reduce misunderstandings, and resolve problematic issues.”

“Today I failed this task, I let down the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the Ukrainian Military Academy and my boss Timur Tkachenko. I fully support constructiveness in the media community and hope for understanding. As a citizen, I have the right to emotions. All the men in my family have fought, damaged their health, and risked their lives for Ukraine. As a decent son, I have the right and will defend my parents from attempts to insult their honor and dignity,” stressed Yevhen Iyevlev.

In a comment to the IMI, the Vilne Radio executive director Anastasia Shybiko said that so far the journalist sees no need to contact the police regarding the threats.

“However, if the threats continue in any form, then, of course, he will go to the police,” Anastasia added.