Ukrainska Pravda, one of Ukraine’s largest news media outlets, said on Oct. 9, that “ongoing and systemic pressure” from the Ukrainian Presidential Office is threatening its work and is an effort to “influence our editing policy.”
In a press release published on its website, UP stated that officials were ordered not to communicate directly with UP journalists. They were also denied access to official functions, and businesses were under pressure to stop advertising on the outlet’s website and to not sponsor events organized by UP.
The statement also highlighted a heated exchange between UP journalist Roman Kravets and President Volodymyr Zelensky at a recent Press Conference, where Zelensky questioned UP’s editorial independence.
The statement stated that “These and other nonpublic signals indicate an attempt to influence our editorial policies.”
“It’s outrageous that this (comes at a time) when Russia is waging a full-scale invasion in Ukraine, and our joint struggle to both survive and democratic values is so necessary.”
The statement stated that any attempts by the President’s Office, to pressure UP, would be made public.
The statement reads: “Each such attempt only increases our motivation to expose the corruption and ineffectiveness of management at higher echelons,”
The Kyiv Independent had contacted the President’s Office to get a comment, but at the time of publication it had not received any response.
Ukraine’s independent press has made great strides since 2014’s EuroMaidan Revolution, but there are concerns since Russia’s full scale invasion.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF), in June, indicated the “shrinking of press freedom” in Ukraine. They highlighted a “worrying decrease” in support and respect media autonomy as well as increased pressure by the state or other actors in Ukraine. The statement was made one month after RSF’s annual press freedom index showed that Ukraine had improved compared to the previous year.
According to Ukrainian editors and watchdogs of press freedom, as reported by the Kyiv independent in July, despite attacks on investigative reporters provoking public outcry, authorities continue to exert pressure on media.
“We have faced pressure in our work many times.” “The last time we experienced such economic restrictions was under the presidency of (Leonid Kuchma),” Sevgil Musayeva, editor-in chief of UP, told Kyiv Independent in October. She was referring to Ukraine’s president between 1994 and 2005.
Since the founding of UP in 2000, two journalists — co-founder Georgiy Gongadze and top editor Pavel Sheremet — have been killed.
Gongadze was kidnapped in September 2000. He was a critic of the then-President Kuchma. Two months later, the headless body of Gongadze was found in a wooded area about 70 kilometers from Kyiv.
Sheremet, a Belarusian born in Kyiv, was blown up inside his car on July 20, 2016.
Musayeva emphasized the importance of bringing to light the pressures that UP is facing and urged international audiences to take notice.
She said, “Ukraine has to remain a democratic country and freedom of expression is one of the most valuable values in a society that is free.”
In a press release, the Ramstein Air Base stated that “announcements regarding future Ukraine Defense Contact Group Meetings will be forthcoming.”
The State Property Fund of Ukraine announced on October 9th that it had sold UMCC-Titanium, a state-owned company, to Cemin Ukraine for Hr 3.94 bn hryvnia (96 million dollars).
Lithuania’s Defense Minister Laurynas stated that other bridges leading to Kaliningrad will also be fortified and some may even mined.
Berlin, initially a reluctant partner, has become Ukraine’s largest military donor after the U.S.
Viktor Orban: “I would have loved to debate the Presidential Program but I see that you are not interested.”
Ukraine’s independent press has made great strides since 2014’s EuroMaidan Revolution, but there are concerns since Russia’s full scale invasion.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on October 9 that the talks would focus on achieving peace and Ukraine’s path towards NATO and the EU as well as its reconstruction.
Finland joined NATO in early 2023, after abandoning its long-standing neutral position following Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine.
The General Staff of Ukraine said that the depot is the 67th Arsenal of Russia’s Main Missile and Artillery Directorate GRAU, located near the city of Karachev.
On Oct. 8, Viktor Orban, Hungary’s Prime Minster, said: “We will open several champagne bottles if Trump returns.”
This includes 1,150 casualties that Russian forces have suffered in the last day.
The State Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) announced on October 8 that a Ukrainian court had sentenced in absentia, two members of “Armageddon”, backed by the Russian Security Service (FSB), for carrying out more than 5,000 hacking attacks against Ukrainian institutions and critical Infrastructure.
Mark Rutte, the new NATO Secretary General, warned on October 8 that Ukraine could face its most difficult winter since the beginning of the full-scale invasion as it prepares for further Russian attacks against the energy infrastructure.
In excerpts from Bob Woodward’s book “War“, published on Oct. 8, the U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris encouraged President Volodymyr Zelensky to create a succession plan for the event that he was killed or captured.
The local military administration reported that on October 8, Russia used guided bombs to attack the Esman community, located in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy Oblast, killing two civilians.
The U.S. military’s top commander in Europe Gen. Chris Cavoli has compiled a list of American weapon systems that could help Ukraine fight Russia, but which the Biden Administration has yet to provide.
Senior U.S. intelligence officials have warned that American voters will likely face a surge in misinformation and influence campaigns orchestrated against them by U.S. enemies.
Denys Shmyhal, the Prime Minister of Donetsk Oblast, said that Russia had stolen more than 180,000 tonnes of Ukrainian grain from the port of Mariupol.
According to Bob Woodward’s book, the former U.S. president Donald Trump secretly sent Putin the COVID-19 test device for personal use when the coronavirus epidemic began in 2020.
Biden was to convene in Germany a meeting of leaders of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group on October 12, where President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected present his victory plan.
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