Russian media featured Vladyslav Hershon in a propaganda video, photo by RIA Pivden
Another chat administrator of the Ukrainian Telegram channel “Melitopol is Ukraine”, Vladyslav Hershon, has been in Russian detention since August 20, 2023. His name was announced by the service “Kidnapped from Melitopol” on May 3, 2024, reports RIA Pivden.
Vladyslav Hershon was detained in the occupied Melitopol on August 20, 2023. On that day, the Russians detained some administrators of the Telegram channel “RIA Melitopol” and appropriated “Melitopol is Ukraine”.
The occupiers only released the video showing the administrators being detained in their propaganda media and Telegram channels on October 29, 2023. Vladyslav’s relatives recognized him in one of the videos.
Russian media featured Vladyslav Hershon in a propaganda video, photo by RIA Pivden
According to RIA Pivden, the Russian TV report shows Hershon being led out of his cell, searched, handcuffed and taken to an interview with a Russian propagandist, who tells him that no one will swap him and that he will be in prison for 20 years.
All Telegram admins detained on August 20, 2023 are being charged under multiple articles of Russia’s criminal code: public calls for terrorism, high treason, and espionage. They face 12 to 20 years in prison.
On the night of August 21, the Russians hacked the Telegram channel of the Ukrainian media outlet “RIA Melitopol”, which continued to work even after Melitopol (Zaporizhia oblast) was occupied. According to Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov, the occupiers also hacked several other pro-Ukrainian Telegram channels which have been “tirelessly reporting the terrible truth about the life in the TOT while facing constant threats from the occupiers” since the first day of the war.
RIA Melitopol (RIA Pivden) journalist Anastasia Hlukhovska, who was detained together with several Telegram channel administrators in August 2023, has been detained by Russia in an undisclosed location for almost ten months.
Vladyslav Hershon, photo by RIA Melitopol
In early May 2023, Melitopol journalist Iryna Levchenko and her husband Oleksandr were kidnapped in the temporarily occupied city (Zaporizhzhia oblast). Both have been in retirement for years. The occupiers detained the couple on the street, first keeping them together and then separating them. Their current whereabouts are unknown.