On 7 February 2023, journalist Anastasiya Mykhaylova said the city council of Mykolayiv, a major city in Southern Ukraine, refused her request to provide information on nearly all council employee salaries in 2022, claiming they were not able to so under martial law in Ukraine. Mykhaylova accused authorities of manipulating legislation to avoid providing the information. According to IMI, a Kyiv-based media NGO, Ukrainian legislation allows for civil servants not to provide information to journalists in situations where this is not objectively possible, and that active warfare is one of such situations. However, the group added, other journalists in Mykolayiv had their information requests satisfied in the same time period, which would confirm Mykhaylova’s accusations.