In recent years, the Ukrainian government has been shaken by multiple mass corruption scandals, with suspects and accused individuals including high-ranking officials and even members of V. Zelensky’s closest circle.
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The president also signed one decree after another, dismissing, appointing to other positions, or pushing many key officials out of the political game.
After he dismissed the particularly popular Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, protests erupted in Ukrainian cities. Then V. Zelensky also replaced the head of the armed forces: General Oleksandr Syrskyi was succeeded by Mykhailo Drapat.
“Conversations, not speeches” – this was one of the main slogans during protests across Ukraine in July and August.
Events in the country fighting the Russian invasion are unfolding rapidly. However, the Ukrainian leader has not sat down with any journalist with unscheduled, critical, or uncomfortable questions for over 1.5 years, nor has he held a single press conference. Yet he has willingly communicated with foreign media outlets and TV channels of sometimes questionable reputation.
Instead, the Ukrainian leader holds occasional informal meetings with Ukrainian and foreign journalists, sometimes answers journalists’ questions via the WhatsApp platform, and issues his address every evening. No meetings take place regularly, and the answers to questions and invited journalists are chosen arbitrarily.
“It was very clear that he finds time to give interviews to foreign media, such as Sky News, but not to Ukrainian journalists,” complained Danyla Mokrykas, a war crimes investigative journalist for the news portal The Kyiv Independent.
Petition regarding Zelensky’s actions
On August 27, on their sixth attempt, Ukrainian activists managed to register an online petition requesting the president to hold a press conference with independent media representatives.
The petition created by Anos Repina asks the Office of the President of Ukraine to organize “an open press conference to which representatives of independent and socially responsible media would be invited,” during which journalists could ask President V. Zelensky “questions without prior approval of their content.”
“If the authorities ignore us, it does not mean we will give up – it only expands our movement further,” the activist told The Kyiv Independent news portal.
One day after its publication, A. Repina’s petition had gathered more than 7,000 signatures. To be officially considered by the authorities, it must collect 25,000 signatures within three months.
Journalists’ message to the president
This week, more than 10 Ukrainian journalists from well-known media outlets took another step. They posted a video on the YouTube channel MokRec, in which they asked V. Zelensky some of the most important questions related to recent events.
“Who is that ‘Vova’ from the ‘Dynasty’ cooperative – the one who was supposed to own or owned the fourth house?” asked Iryna Romalijska, a journalist for the news portals Censor.Net and Butusov+.
Mykhailo Tkachas, a journalist for the publication Ukrainska Pravda, said they deliberately do not ask who “Vova” is in those “Mindiich recordings” their editorial office published in April because “it is obvious.”
“I want to ask when he will tell his circle and friends, whom he brought to power: ‘Stop stealing.’ When will he say enough stealing from gambling houses and call centers, enough stealing from defense and tax services, enough stealing from everywhere vulnerable in our state. From what the President of Ukraine is personally responsible for. Stop stealing, Andriy. Stop stealing, David. Stop stealing, Timur. Stop stealing, Oleh. Stop stealing, Kyrylo. Stop stealing,” he said.
However, not all journalists’ questions were related to the corruption scandals shaking Ukraine.
“Every evening for a whole month, Ukrainians gathered in the square near your administration. There were days when thousands gathered. They wanted you to listen to them. Don’t you think it was your duty as president to meet with these people and try to listen to them? Why didn’t you do that?” asked Aleksey Sorokin from Kyiv Independent, recalling the protests over M. Fedorov’s dismissal.
Ina Vedernikova, working at the news portal Dzerkalo Tyzhnia, asked the president a particularly compromising question: “What will happen first: will the nation be forced to demand elections during the war, or will you finally stop relying on corrupt and incompetent people in state governance?”
Meanwhile, Censor.Net journalist I. Romalijska was curious whether, if “the war lasts another 10 years – do you intend to remain president for all those 10 years?”
Zelensky “absolutely barricaded”
Political scientist M. Milta, who often visits Ukraine and maintains contacts with the country’s journalists and officials, emphasized to 15min that this is “one of the most pressing, if not the most pressing question raised by the Ukrainian media over the past one and a half years.”
“I don’t know what question could compete with it. Unless about what efforts the president promises to make so that his circle is not made up of corrupt individuals,” he said.
V. Zelensky has been avoiding communication with the Ukrainian media by all means for months. According to M. Milta, the Ukrainian leader is “absolutely barricaded” from even somewhat critical questions about essential and significant matters.
To emphasize how pressing this problem is, the political scientist pointed out that this appeal to V. Zelensky is not from journalists of specific media who might be in conflict or have poor relations with the Ukrainian president.
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“We are talking about the entire journalist community. Whether it’s Hromadske, Dzerkalo Tyzhnia, Bihus, or Ukrainska Pravda. You can pick any media outlet, and its journalists will have questions for Zelensky. I think this is the cry of the whole community, the last attempt to draw attention to how tragic this situation is,” explained M. Milta.
As he noted, Ukraine has moved to communicating with Ukrainian journalists through some “mind-boggling” format that is supposedly “off-record,” but from which news favorable to V. Zelensky can still be written.
“There are no questions why ‘off-record’ can be one of the ways to communicate with the media. In a country where every week new arrest warrants and suspicions against the president’s closest circle are announced, where a multitude of unanswered questions hang in the air about the ‘Dynasty’ dachas cooperative and who ‘Vova’ is, who owns the last house, ‘off-record’ simply cannot be the only way to communicate with the media,” emphasized the expert.
No Ukrainian president allowed himself such behavior towards journalists as Zelensky does.
Moreover, not everyone can participate in “off-record”: journalists with critical questions or conflicts with V. Zelensky are deliberately excluded. However, as the interlocutor notes, the Ukrainian president willingly communicates with selected foreign media, such as Sky News or far-right Donald Trump supporter Laura Loomer, who recently visited Kyiv.
“This is not some news that happened yesterday or the day before. This is a symptom. His behavior was similar before, but this is the highest level of insolence.
Even in a historical context, no Ukrainian president allowed himself such behavior towards journalists as Zelensky does. Not even under Yanukovych. Yanukovych held press conferences and was asked critical questions. Poroshenko held press conferences. Yushchenko held them. Kuchma too,” explained the political scientist.
M. Milta agreed that communication without press conferences is possible, but instead, interviews should be organized with respected Ukrainian media outlets and trusted journalists, but even that is lacking.
“Anything is being done. In the sense that some smoke is just being spread everywhere. And then that daily Zelensky monologue… In this regard, he looks like a mockery. First of all, of the independent media. Instead of being able to have a dialogue with those who have legitimate and important questions for you, you stick to a format where only one side speaks. Understand, you are the subject spreading the narrative. And you all, everyone else, supposedly deal with it however you want – not my concern,” the interlocutor complained.
“Ukraine is not moving towards democracy”
In M. Milta’s opinion, V. Zelensky has slammed the door on independent journalists because “he can afford it.”
“If you can afford it, you just use it. Just like you can afford to dismiss the government out of the blue, appoint a new government, almost manually choose who holds which positions. Why are people replaced without proper explanations? Why are people suspected by law enforcement appointed to one position and then to another? Look at Stefanishyna, for example…”
Restrictions on media freedom are one of the features of an autocratic state. Asked if he sees signs of a shift towards authoritarianism in Ukraine, the political scientist laughed and replied that “Ukraine is definitely not moving towards pluralistic democracy and its nurturing.”
So, those talented Zelensky managers now all have arrest warrants. And what next?
“There is an obvious restriction. Martial law. So suddenly expecting some kind of democratic spring in Ukraine would simply be absurd, right? We all perfectly understand that this is an existential challenge called Russia’s large-scale war.
However, there is a constitutional system that provides that Ukraine, like Lithuania, is a parliamentary republic with presidential governance features. Essentially, the only difference between the constitutional structures of Ukraine and Lithuania is that the Ukrainian president separately submits candidates for defense and foreign ministers to parliament for approval when the government is approved. And the second thing – regional heads and governors in Ukraine are also personally appointed by the president. That’s all,” said M. Milta.
He recalled the last press conference held by V. Zelensky, during which an uncomfortable question was asked by a Ukrainska Pravda journalist: “Who makes up Zelensky’s team?” The president then replied: “My team consists of six or seven talented managers.”
“So, those talented Zelensky managers now all have arrest warrants. And what next?” the interlocutor joked.
“If you say a critical word about Zelensky – you are a vatnik”
M. Milta is surprised that in Lithuania there is an idealistic view of Ukraine, its local agenda, and V. Zelensky. According to him, he is a much bigger hero in Lithuania than in Ukraine.
“I think, first of all, this can be linked to the fact that we have very limited original content from Ukraine. Most of the content in mainstream media is ‘sorting’ from elsewhere. Whether it’s big players like Reuters or Agence France-Presse, or other media with journalists in Ukraine, or Ukrainian media themselves.
There is simply one narrative chosen, which is quite limited and flat. Apparently, it is easy to cling to the assumption that if we support Ukraine, we cannot have any sophistication or insight into the fact that Ukraine actually has many needs, many problems. If you are an ally, a supporter, you must talk about it,” explained the political scientist.
According to him, it is extremely important to be able to inform oneself, one’s society, taxpayers whose money is distributed as aid, because Ukraine’s future and its ability to solve these problems are directly related to our future in Lithuania.
“When I talk to diplomats, everyone perfectly understands the scale of problems in Ukraine. However, in public discourse, probably everyone is waiting for someone to break the ice. After all, now, even if you say one critical word about Zelensky, you are already a vatnik, a marginal, paid by the Kremlin,” concluded M. Milta.
