Pressure campaigns against independent, investigative news outlets in Ukraine have raised concerns about media freedoms. The dramatic developments could undermine Kyiv's efforts to convince the West of its commitment to democratic norms and secure sorely needed financial and military support.
Investigative journalists in Ukraine came under two attacks in just the past week, one involving a threatening home visit and another using covert surveillance. The two incidents are the latest in a series of discrediting campaigns against independent Ukrainian media, often supported by anonymous pro-government Telegram channels, raising concerns about increasing pressure on press freedom in wartime Ukraine. “These are not ordinary cases when journalists are obstructed by (someone’s) security guards, for example, or not allowed to go somewhere,” Oksana Romaniuk, the head of the Institute of Mass Information, a Ukrainian NGO monitoring violations of freedom of speech, told the Kyiv Independent.
Yuriy Nikolov, editor of the Nashi Hroshi (Our Money) anti-corruption investigative project, has recently been on the receiving end of scare tactics and intimidation attempts. Unknown people came to his apartment, tried to break in, scared Nikolov’s mother and neighbors, and left a note on the door calling him a “traitor.”
Mediarukh, a Ukrainian media association, which brings together journalists and media experts, considers the systematic pressure on independent journalists and investigators a crime. In connection with this, they called on President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, law enforcement, and civil society to react.
Ethnic Serbs in northern Kosovo have begun signing a petition to dismiss Albanian mayors in two of the four Serb-majority cities who were elected in snap polls last year amid a boycott of the vote by local Serbs.