Detector Media

🗣️ Detector Media Editor-in-Chief Nataliia Lygachova: “Essentially, we’ve been fighting all this time for the independence of journalism” Nataliia Lygachova is one of the key figures in Ukrainian media criticism. With nearly 40 years in the field, she not only analyzes the market but also forecasts where it is headed — against the country’s current social and political backdrop. In an interview with Women in Media, Nataliia Lygachova discusses the transformations Ukrainian media have undergone since independence, the most pressing problems in the media sector today, and the attacks she has faced because of her professional work. 🔗 Read here: en.detector.media/post/detector-… #Ukraine #media #journalism

🕯️ Today, May 15, has been declared a day of mourning in #Kyiv in memory of those killed in the Russian strike on May 14. The announcement was made by Kyiv Mayor Vitalii Klychko. 💬 “On this day, flags will be flown at half-mast on all municipal buildings across the city. It is also recommended that state flags be lowered on buildings of both public and private ownership,” Klychko wrote. He added that all entertainment events are prohibited in the city on May 15. According to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine (SES), the search and rescue operation in Kyiv’s Darnytskyi district, which lasted more than 28 hours, has been completed. The deaths of 24 people have now been confirmed, including three children. In total, 48 people were injured in Kyiv as a result of the attack. #RussiaUkraineWar #RussiaIsATerroristState

❓ How do people living under occupation search for the truth—and do they risk their safety in doing so? In this new episode, we explore access to information, journalism without on-the-ground correspondents, and the role of local residents as vital sources. 🗣️ In the podcast Mediumy (Mediums), Iryna Semeniuta, a journalist at Detector Media who covers, among other topics, Ukraine’s temporarily occupied territories, speaks about how VPNs, closed chat groups, and human trust help people overcome information isolation in areas occupied by Russia, why this is becoming increasingly dangerous, and how the very nature of media work is changing under occupation. She also discusses why Ukrainian media must communicate with people in occupied territories in a language they understand, how to maintain that connection, and why the topic of occupation remains deeply underexplored. 🔗 Read more: en.detector.media/post/getting-h… #RussiaUkraineWar #RussianWarCrimes #Ukraine

🪆 Anastasia Kashevarova, a propagandist from the Russian channel Solovyov.Live, has spoken out about the heavy losses suffered by the Russian army and the apparent failure of Russian weaponry. 📺 The remarks were highlighted in a YouTube video by blogger and journalist Denys Kazanskyi. 💥 According to Kashevarova, #Russia’s Solntsepyok and Oreshnik weapons systems have proven largely ineffective, while Russian offensive operations are being significantly hindered by Ukrainian drones. 💬 She also gave an emotional account of the scale of #Russian losses: “So many boys are dying, so many are left disabled—without arms, without legs! Who is left to keep fighting?” 🪖 Kashevarova also suggested that some within Russia’s leadership would not oppose ending the war but have no clear understanding of how to make that happen. #RussiaUkraineWar

🇮🇪 Ireland’s national broadcaster will not air the Eurovision final due to Israel’s participation. Instead, the broadcaster will show an Irish film and an episode of the sitcom Father Ted dedicated to the Eurovision Song Contest. The episode, released in 1996, satirically portrayed Ireland’s participation in #Eurovisión. The characters Father Ted and Father Dougal represent the country with the deliberately absurd song My Lovely Horse in an attempt to lose the competition and spare Ireland from having to host the next contest. The show’s co-creator, Graham Linehan, criticized the broadcaster’s decision, accusing RTÉ of using the series as “a tool of antisemitic persecution.” #Eurovisión2026 #Ireland

🇫🇷 The premiere of the documentary Peace for Nina, directed by Zhanna Dovhych, took place in Paris as part of the international competition at the 45th Jean Rouch International Documentary Film Festival. 🎞️ The film tells the story of Nina Branovytska, the mother of Ihor Branovytskyi, a defender of the Donetsk Airport who was captured and tortured to death by #Russian militants in 2015. Following the screening at the Claude Lévi-Strauss Theater, a discussion was held featuring director Zhanna Dovhych, producer Liuba Knorozok, and French historian Christian Delage. He emphasized that the film serves as an important reminder for France that Russia’s war against #Ukraine began back in 2014, and that Russia’s war crimes were already evident at that time. Among the guests were French journalists, academics, and members of the festival’s international audience.

💥 Russia attacks the grounds of Suspilne’s Zaporizhzhia branch with a drone On Wednesday, May 13, #Russian forces attacked the grounds of Suspilne Zaporizhzhia, a regional branch of #Ukraine’s public broadcaster Suspilne, using a drone. No staff members were injured, according to the broadcaster’s correspondents. The strike damaged windows in residential buildings near the branch office. Television broadcasting in the city has also been temporarily disrupted. At the time of the attack, all branch employees were in a safe location. “The most important thing is that everyone is safe. There is no significant damage to the branch building,” said Marianna Hura, manager of Suspilne Zaporizhzhia. #RussiaIsATerroristState

❗ As a result of #Russia’s war against #Ukraine, 1,783 cultural heritage sites and 2,540 cultural infrastructure facilities have been damaged or destroyed. These figures, current as of early May, were reported by the Ministry of Culture. Among the damaged sites, 161 have national significance status, 1,460 are of local significance, and 162 are newly identified heritage sites. A total of 46 cultural heritage landmarks have been completely destroyed. Overall, damage has been recorded across 18 regions of Ukraine. The most extensive destruction has affected cultural heritage sites in the Kharkiv region (353), Kherson region (303), Odesa region (202), Donetsk region (225), and the Kyiv region, including Kyiv city (173).

🇪🇺 The EU has imposed sanctions on those involved in the abduction and militarization of Ukrainian children The Council of the European Union has imposed sanctions on 16 individuals and 7 organizations responsible for the illegal deportation, forced transfer, and assimilation of Ukrainian minors, as well as their unlawful adoption and relocation to #Russia and temporarily occupied territories. The corresponding statement was published on the institution’s official website. The sanctions list includes federal state institutions affiliated with the Ministry of Education of Russia, such as the Russian children’s centers Orlyonok, Alye Parusa, and Smena. “They organise -in coordination with occupation authorities- programmes for Ukrainian children in which they are subjected to pro-Russian indoctrination, including through patriotic events, ideological education, and military-oriented activities,” the statement said. #RussiaUkraineWar #UkraineNeverSurrenders

🏆 A joint investigation by Texty.org.ua and the Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) about a boy from Oleshky who was taken to Russia has become one of the 10 winners of the Sigma Awards 2026. This was announced on the competition’s official website. For more than a year, the two newsrooms worked together on a project aimed at locating Ukrainian children who had been taken to #Russia. The journalists developed their own technology based on AI tools for comparing photographs and used OSINT methods, interviews, and data collection and verification. 🔍 The journalists managed to compare 951 photographs of missing #Ukrainian children with 41,039 images from Russian and Belarusian adoption databases. This work made it possible to tell the story of one boy from Oleshky, Ostap Topolin, whose life was upended by Russia’s war and who ended up in the Ural, where he lost his father. The boy was placed in an orphanage and later put up for adoption. After that, the team searched for information across Ukrainian and Russian social media, local chat groups, media outlets, and open databases, and also spoke with Ostap’s relatives, neighbors, and teachers. 🔗 Read the full investigation here: texty.org.ua/projects/11646… #RussiaUkraineWar #RussiaIsaTerroristState

🗣️ Mendel told Carlson that Zelenskyy “agreed to give up Donbas” in 2022. The Presidential Office denied the claim Former presidential press secretary Yulia Mendel gave an interview to American conservative podcaster Tucker Carlson. During the conversation, she claimed, among other things, that in 2022, Volodymyr #Zelenskyy had allegedly been ready to hand over the Donetsk region to Russia to end the war. Ukraine’s Presidential Office denied this information. According to Mendel, during the negotiations in Istanbul in the spring of 2022, the Ukrainian delegation was allegedly prepared to agree to all of #Russia’s demands in order to secure a ceasefire. At the same time, presidential communications adviser Dmytro Lytvyn stated that Yulia Mendel was not involved in the negotiation process and had no access to state decision-making. 💬 “This woman did not participate in the negotiations, did not take part in decision-making, has long been out of touch, and who may have told her something—or whether it actually happened—is not something worth commenting on seriously,” Lytvyn said in the Presidential Office press service WhatsApp chat. During the interview, Mendel also claimed that throughout her two years working in the Presidential Office (2019–2021), Zelenskyy had allegedly repeatedly said that “#Ukraine is not ready for democracy” and that “dictatorship means order.” In addition, the former presidential press secretary expressed the opinion that Volodymyr Zelenskyy is “deliberately prolonging the war” to remain in power, and that its end would mean “political suicide” for him. #RussiaUkraineWar #UkraineNews #Mendel

📵 Mobile internet to be completely shut down in Moscow on May 9 #Russia’s Ministry of Digital Development announced that mobile internet and SMS services will be completely shut down in Moscow on May 9. This was reported by Deutsche Welle. “To ensure the security of Victory Day celebrations on May 9, access to mobile internet — including to the ‘whitelist’ of websites and SMS messaging services — will be temporarily restricted in Moscow,” the ministry said. The ministry added that home internet and Wi-Fi services will continue operating “normally and without restrictions.” Russia’s Ministry of Digital Development also stated that there are currently no plans to restrict mobile internet in #Moscow on May 7–8, though this remains possible “in the event of security threats.”

🔍 From the “closure of schools” in Kherson Oblast to a “digital concentration camp”: disinformation roundup for April 29 — May 5, 2026 From April 29 to May 5, 2026, Detector Media analysts documented 13 disinformation campaigns. Russian propagandists spread fake claims about the “mass closure” of schools in Kherson Oblast allegedly due to a lack of funding, circulated fabricated BBC reports about “stolen paintings” in Zelenskyy’s office, and shared staged videos showing alleged “abuse” of employees of Ukraine’s territorial recruitment centers (TCCs). The analysts also recorded manipulations regarding alleged ultimatums to Ukrainians in Hungary, “total surveillance” in the EU through the EES system, and further attempts to drive a wedge between Ukraine and Poland using outdated photos and distorted crime statistics. Read more: en.detector.media/post/from-the-… #Russia #Ukraine #disinformation

🗣️ “We don’t let Sievierodonetsk die in the Ukrainian media space." Editor-in-Chief of SD.ua, Yana Chumachenko, on how the outlet covers events in the occupied city. Detector Media regularly reports on media outlets and journalists who write about territories occupied by Russia and try to maintain connections with their audiences there. The results of recent content monitoring by the Institute of Mass Information show that the volume of coverage about events in temporarily occupied territories (TOT) in Ukrainian media is decreasing. In 2023 such information accounted for about 3.25% of all Ukrainian news, while by January 2025 this figure had dropped to approximately 1%. Why is this happening? How are outlets that previously operated in territories seized by Russia managing to stay connected with their audiences today? Detector Media spoke with Yana Chumachenko, editor-in-chief of the local media outlet SD.ua, about these issues 👇 en.detector.media/post/we-dont-l… #Ukraine #Russia #RussianWarCrimes

🇷🇺 The Russian Union of Journalists has been expelled from the International Federation of Journalists following a decision by the organization’s Congress, which approved the recommendation of the Appeals Commission. The decision was adopted at the 32nd IFJ Congress, taking place in Paris from May 4 to 7, 2026. This was reported by the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine. The #Russian organization lost its membership amid accusations of cooperation with the state and activities in the occupied territories of #Ukraine. President of the Swedish Union of Journalists, Ulrika Hyllert, stated that the IFJ cannot include organizations that maintain close ties with the state. According to her, the Congress decision did not spark debate. She added that the Federation will now be able to focus on protecting freedom of speech, professional ethics, and supporting journalists, particularly in times of war. #RussiaUkraineWar #RussiaIsATerroristState

🇦🇷 In Argentina, Dmitry Novikov, the coordinator of a Russian disinformation network, has been detained. This was reported by the Center for Countering Disinformation under Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council. According to a statement by the State Intelligence Secretariat (SIDE), Novikov was staying in the country under illegal immigration status, falsified the reasons for his entry, and posed a threat to national security. 🗣️ “We caught the #Russian leader of fake news. Dmitry Novikov arrived as a tourist, but he came to act, destabilize, and attack our institutions. A threat to the democratic order. We identified and stopped him, and we are also preparing to deport him,” wrote Argentina’s Minister of Security Alejandra Monteoliva. According to El Periodico, Novikov is accused of leading the disinformation network La Compañía in Latin America, which spread hundreds of fake news stories.

🔍 IMI experts documented 14 cases of freedom of speech violations in #Ukraine in March. Nine of these crimes were committed by Russia. This is evidenced by data from IMI’s monthly monitoring, the “Barometer of Freedom of Speech.” In April, it became known about the deaths of two media professionals on the front line: - Serviceman and film director Ihor Malakhov had been considered missing since 2023. He was killed on December 29, 2023, in fighting near Avdiivka, close to the village of Stepove in the Donetsk region; his death was confirmed by DNA testing; - Servicewoman and casting director of the “2+2” TV channel Viktoria Bobrova served as an officer in the communications unit of the 10th Separate Mountain Assault Brigade “Edelweiss.” She was killed on April 23 in the area where combat missions were being carried out. 🔗 Read more: imi.org.ua/en/news/imi-re…

🧑‍⚖️ The ECHR found that Russia violated freedom of assembly in Crimea in 2015 The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) delivered its judgment in the case “Shukurjiev and Kuzmin v. Russia and Ukraine,” which concerned the persecution of participants in a demonstration marking Taras Shevchenko’s birthday in occupied Crimea. This was reported by the Government Agent before the ECHR, Marharyta Sokorenko. 📅 During the demonstration, held on March 9, 2015, in Simferopol, participants carried Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar flags and ribbons and wore traditional clothing. After the event, the two applicants were detained by the occupying police, and later the so-called “courts” punished them “for violating the procedure for holding public events” — sentencing each to 40 hours of community service (later replaced with a fine of 10,000 rubles) for displaying a banner reading “Crimea is Ukraine.” The Court found a violation of Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights (freedom of peaceful assembly) by #Russia. It ruled that Russian legislation applied in Crimea does not qualify as “law,” as its extension violates international humanitarian law, and that the actions against the applicants form part of a broader administrative practice of suppressing pro-Ukrainian gatherings. At the same time, the ECHR dismissed the applicants’ complaint alleging that #Ukraine had failed to conduct an effective investigation into their persecution by #Russian “authorities.” The Court recalled that a state which does not control part of its territory has limited obligations under the Convention. These include taking diplomatic, legal, and other measures that are realistically available in such circumstances. In this case, the Prosecutor’s Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea initiated criminal proceedings on its own motion based on open-source information. It identified those involved, granted the first applicant victim status, and questioned him. According to the Government Agent before the ECHR, it was objectively impossible to carry out investigative actions directly in the occupied territory where the witnesses were located.

🖼️ Ahead of the Venice Biennale, an “Invisible Pavilion” dedicated to Ukrainian artists killed in the war was presented On the eve of the opening of the #VeniceBiennale, the Association of Ukrainian Organizations in Italy (NAU) launched the “Invisible Pavilion” project, dedicated to Ukrainian cultural figures who were killed as a result of #Russia’s full-scale war against #Ukraine. Journalist Zoia Zvinyatskivska reported this on Facebook. As part of the project, posters were placed around Venice featuring a biennale program that could have taken place if the participating artists were still alive. Among the announced events: 🔹 A poetry reading with Nina Kozhushko, who was killed on August 30, 2024, during a Russian shelling in Kharkiv; 🔹 A reading and discussion with writer Viktoriia Amelina, who died after a Russian missile strike on Kramatorsk on June 27, 2023; 🔹 A special screening of the film “How the War Began. Chronicles, Witnesses” and a talk with film director Ihor Malakhov, who was killed on December 29, 2023, in battles near Avdiivka; 🔹 A presentation of the children’s book “Daddy’s Book,” along with a reading and illustration workshop with Volodymyr Vakulenko, who was killed by Russian forces during the occupation of the Kharkiv region in 2022. Each poster features the message: “Canceled. Because the artist was killed by Russia,” along with a QR code linking to a monitoring website documenting the losses among Ukrainian artists, created by Ukrainian PEN at the beginning of the full-scale war. The database currently lists 273 cultural figures whose creative work was cut short by Russian aggression.

❓ Between Russian propaganda and ads for legal services: how TikTok users perceive mobilisation in Ukraine Videos depicting the use of force during mobilisation make up nearly 38% of the sample and receive 10–12% more shares and comments compared to other posts, indicating higher audience engagement with such content. 🪖 Criticism of the necessity of mobilisation in #Ukraine is present in approximately 26% of videos in the sample, while only 14% of posts articulate support for it. The median aggregate engagement metrics of critical content are nearly twice as high as those of supportive videos. Videos advancing claims about the illegitimacy of mobilisation — both disinformational and speculatively framed for discussion — constitute ~30% of the analyzed videos. At the same time, their median reach metrics are lower, which may indicate certain limitations for harmful content imposed by the platform’s algorithms. 🔗 Read more in our analysis: en.detector.media/post/between-r…