On 6 April 2024, the office of RIA South (RIA Melitopol), a relocated online media outlet from the city of Melitopol (currently under Russian occupation), was damaged as a result of a Russian missile attack on Zaporizhia. The office is located at a center of assistance for internally displaced persons in the city. Photos of the damage to the office were published on the RIA South (RIA Melitopol) Telegram channel.
On site, windows were shattered, the ceiling was damaged, while equipment and furniture were broken in rooms not used by the the media outlet. Some of the equipment used by the outlet was also damaged in the attack, said editor-in-chief Svitlana Zalizetska.
According to Ukrainian press freedom group Institute of Mass Information (IMI), RIA Melitopol was the most popular local news website in the city of Melitopol prior to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in terms of audience. After the start of the full-scale war and the occupation of Melitopol by the Russian army, some of RIA Melitopol’s journalists were forced to leave to territories controlled by Ukraine, while others at first continued to work undercover and published for the outlet’s Telegram channel. Those who remained were however arrested by Russian occupying authorities in August 2023.
In October, Russian authorities reported that they were holding the administrators of the Telegram channel captive for two months under charges of terrorism.