On 31 May 2024, a military summons document was handed to journalist Yuri Stryhun from Ukraine’s state-owned news agency Ukrinform, Ukrainian media reported. The document was handed on the day after Stryhun publicly confirmed revelations by Ukrainian news outlet Ukrainska Pravda, which earlier reported on alleged mass censorship at Ukrinform under the leadership of recently dismissed director Oleksiy Matsuka. In a comment to Detector Media, a Ukrainian press freedom group, the journalist said that the handing of the summons “could [have been] a punishment for the fact that I did not stay silent, or it could have been a weird coincidence”, Stryhun said. He added: “But all my friends rather believe the first version, and say I should tie my tongue”.

In a comment on the case published on the same day, Ukrinform’s new director, Serhiy Cherevatiy, said that the process of sending military summons, which concerned Stryhun and four other male journalists at the agency, had been initiated on May 3, under Ukrinform’s previous director. Cherevatiy added that following this, military authorities sent a summons order to Ukrinform, and that as the director of the agency he was legally obliged to transfer this order to Stryhun and the four other men.