On 9 May 2023, journalist Tetyana Tsyrulnyk was physically assaulted while covering Victory Day commemorations in Poltava, Central Ukraine. Tsyrulnyk was at the Soldier’s Glory Memorial complex in the city when a man taking part in the commemorations told her not to take photos, then pushed and slapped her, according to news reports and a video of the incident.
According to IMI, a Kyiv-based press freedom group, Tsyrulnyk told a man holding a portrait of his father that he was part of a “Russian narrative”, comparing the situation to the so-called “Immortal Regiment” marches organized on Victory Day in Russia, in which participants march with portraits of their WWII veteran relatives. Another man reportedly “reacted aggressively” to this statement, initially telling Tsyrulnyk to leave in vulgar form, and later pushing her away and slapping her when she refused saying that she had the right to be in a public space.
A video of the incident was published on a Youtube channel named Svoboda Slova (“Freedom of Speech”).
Tsyrulnyk later explained the details of the incident to IMI: “On May 9, journalists go to the Eternal Flame [monument]. Every year, because this is news, and we are journalists. This year, I went there to see if the eternal fire was put out, if there were any rallies, and to write a report. Near the memorial, I saw two people: a man with a portrait in his hands and another, younger, who was taking pictures of him. I approached [them], took a photo of the extinguished eternal flame, made a video of the square. At one point, one of these men asked me what was [going on] here on May 8. I answered that I did not know, then I asked them why they came here on May 9. Yes, I asked if this is the “Immortal Regiment” and [said] that their actions are playing along with Russian propaganda. This caused negativity in my direction. The man, who was filming the person with a portrait started shouting that I was a ‘benderite’ [a follower of WWII Ukrainian nationalist leader Stepan Bandera]”.
Tsyrulnyk, who is the editor-in-chief of local private-owned news website Kolo.News, reported the incident to police and gave a statement once officials arrived. She added that the man who had attacked her threatened to hit her again, and that the group of people with him attempted to convince police that the incident did not take place, as well as to minimize what had happened.
The journalist later gave another statement at a police station, where she received a medical examination for slight injuries to the left side of her face. Police opened a criminal case for “threats or violence against a journalist,” according to a report by the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU).
UPDATE: On 8 September 2023, a court in Poltava fined the man who physically assaulted Tsyrulnyk 850 hryvnias. He was sentenced for having inflicted “voluntary light bodily harm” on the journalist. In a comment to IMI, Tsyrulnyk said she was not satisfied with the verdict, as she wanted the court to legally recognize the event as an attack against a journalist. However, she also admitted that she did not wear visible PRESS markings, and that while Ukrainian legislation does not require journalists to wear these, in case of an attack it is then difficult to prove in court that the journalist was in fact targeted due to their job.