Legal and Legislative Pressure
A Ukrainian court in July banned the Anti-Corruption Action Center, the media outlet Slidstvo.info, and journalist Alina Stryzhak from publishing an investigative report concerning the massive real estate portfolio owned by the brother of Oleksiy Sukhachov, the head of the State Investigation Bureau. Journalist Maksym Savchuk, a co-author of the report, sent the investigation to 27 other media outlets after the ban, and the report reached 4 million views. While courts had previously upheld libel suits, a ban on an investigative report before publication appeared unprecedented. In May 2026, the Supreme Court rejected libel lawsuits from the late Andriy Portnov against Hromadske and the editor-in-chief of the Kyiv Independent. Portnov died in Madrid in May 2025. The Supreme Court also restricted media reporting on criminal cases in October 2025, which included a ban on Dzerkalo Tyzhnia naming a suspect in a case. In August, Dzerkalo Tyzhnia reported that lawyer Dmytro Borzykh is seeking a court order to prevent the publication of his name as a suspect until a guilty verdict is reached. The Ukrainian parliament approved the first reading of a new Civil Code in April 2026, which allows individuals to request the removal of information from search engines and databases if that information has "ceased to be of public interest." This draft code also includes a clause regarding a company’s "digital image" that could require corporate consent for data processing. Kateryna Dyachuk, head of freedom of speech monitoring at the Institute of Mass Information, said that if journalists once investigated a corruption case, all of that material would eventually have to be removed from the internet altogether. Inna Vedernikova, a journalist at Dzerkalo Tyzhnia, told the Kyiv Independent that "the space for freedom of speech is shrinking."
Direct Threats and Military Investigations
Direct threats often follow investigations into military abuse and unpredictable behavior from specific soldiers. In February, a commander of a Brazilian unit in Ukraine’s International Legion threatened journalists from the Kyiv Independent and the Brazilian channel SBT and accused them of taking money from Russia. Ukraine’s military intelligence said in March that the unit command ordered a probe into these threats. In June, Mykola Kharkhan, a soldier in the Skelia assault unit, released a video accusing a Babel reporter of working for Russian money following a report on battlefield losses. Babel reported these threats to the State Investigation Bureau in July, but the bureau only later opened an investigation. In July, the State Investigation Bureau searched the facilities of drone maker Vyriy, the co-founder of which, Oleksii Babenko, holds a 75% stake in Babel. Babel chief editor Kateryna Kobernyk said the outlet is afraid of "retaliation and unpredictable behavior by specific individuals within Skelia." In September 2025, a Security Service official went to the apartment building of Kyiv Independent CEO Daryna Shevchenko to collect information, though the SBU called the incident a "misunderstanding." Journalist Anna Kaliuzhna received 150 insulting messages from fighters in the Skelia and 225th Assault Regiments in March 2026. In July, the outlet Texty published her investigation into the 225th regiment regarding allegations that soldiers were beaten, shot, jailed, and killed. Kaliuzhna said she does not feel any safer behind the front lines than she does at the front.
Political and Financial Pressure
Government authorities use conscription and control over advertising to limit media scrutiny. In 2024, military enlistment officials attempted to draft Yevheniy Shulhat, a journalist at Slidtsvo.Info, while he was investigating the wealth of an SBU official. President Volodymyr Zelensky has not held a major press conference open to all media since February 2025. In late September 2025, Zelensky ignored a petition from Danylo Mokryk that gathered 25,000 votes requesting a press conference for independent media after earlier petitions were blocked for unclear reasons. The President’s office often sends voice messages via a WhatsApp group chat to reporters and holds closed-door briefings where staff picks which quotes journalists can publish. Sevgil Musayeva, editor of Ukrainska Pravda, said the President’s Office pressured advertisers to stop dealing with her outlet in 2024, though this pressure ceased in June 2026 after Andriy Yermak resigned in November 2025. During his 2026 arrest hearing, prosecutors stated that Yermak texted his psychic the names of Musayeva and another journalist to request they be cursed. Funding for independent journalism also changed in 2025 when the United States administration ended most USAID projects.
