Ukraine slams foreign media for joining Russian MoD press tour in occupied territories

Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi reported the information.

Tykhyi stressed that every participant in this event violated international law and Ukraine’s national legislation by crossing an uncontrolled section of the state border, and they will face legal consequences, including entry bans.

He added that Ukraine will officially appeal to the headquarters of all these media outlets, demanding apologies and an end to such conduct.

“If Russian war criminals take you by the hand to the land they have stolen and caused immense suffering, just in order to present you with a fake facade — this is not journalism, but war crimes whitewashing,” Tykhyi emphasized.

He pointed out that while these media outlets “enjoyed their trip arranged by Russia’s Defense Ministry,” at least 28 Ukrainian journalists remained illegally imprisoned in Russia.

“Freeing them has been and remains an extremely difficult task — for instance, the effort to free UNIAN reporter Dmytro Khyliuk took a long time. In the course of its full-scale invasion, Russia committed over 800 crimes against journalists and media in Ukraine. This reality will NOT be shown to the gullible foreign journalists who hopped on the Russian Defense Ministry propaganda tour — Russia is a state of severe censorship, and everyone knows this,” the Foreign Ministry spokesperson noted.

He also emphasized that such tours undermine trust in the media, prompting people to opt for social networks over reporters who are often unable to tell right from wrong.

“I have already initiated the necessary identification of the list of media and its participants to ensure that they face the repercussions outlined above,” Tykhyi concluded.

• Earlier in August, it was reported that since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, 221 Ukrainian artists and 108 media workers have been killed.