On 18 September 2023, investigative outlet NGL.Media said it received emailed threats following the publication of an article on schemes used by Ukrainian men to leave the country, despite a ban on male citizens traveling abroad due to Russia’s full-scale invasion and martial law in Ukraine.
NGL.Media’s executive director Oleksandra Gubytska posted a screenshot of the threats on her Facebook account. The message was signed as sent by “football”, pointing to an undetermined group of football fans. In the email, the sender called NGL.Media journalists “sick creatures”, threatened to physically attack them and added that they “knew where [they] all live”.
Gubytska said that the media outlet had not yet filed a complaint with police following the threat. She said the email was sent to NGL.Media soon after the publication of an investigation which identified over 2000 men who did not come back to Ukraine after obtaining exit permits, as well as over 300 companies which helped the men receive the permits.