On 1 July 2024, Ukrainian authorities reported on the detention of journalist Zhanna Kyselova, the former editor of local newspaper Kakhovska Zorya, by Russian occupying authorities in Ukraine’s Kherson region.
According to Ukrainian authorities, Kyselova was detained at her apartment in the city of Kakhovka on June 27. Russian occupying authorities did not communicate on the charges formulated against her. Her current place of detention also remains unknown. Ukrainian media reported that this was not the first time Kyselova was arrested by Russians since the occupation of her hometown of Kakhovka, at the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In September 2022, the journalist spent several weeks “in a basement”, Ukrainian sources reported, using a common term for unofficial places of detention and torture. She was released in October of the same year, in unclear conditions.
The reasons which pushed Russian authorities to detain her the first time, as well as what lead to her new detention, are also unclear. Kyselova was not known to have engaged in journalistic activities since the occupation of Kakhovka, with local media pointing to the fact that the Facebook page of Kakhovska Zorya had not been updated since 18 March 2022. Local sources also reported that following the occupation of Kakhovka, Russian authorities began distributing a newspaper under the same title, translated into Russian as Kakhovskaya Zarya, which presumably published news in line with Russian propaganda narratives.
In reaction to the news on Kyselova’s detention, Ukrainian prosecutors in Kherson region opened a criminal case for “violation of laws and customs of war” by Russian forces. The regional prosecutor’s office added that the local branch of Ukraine’s State Security Service (SBU) was still investigating the journalist’s initial arrest in 2022.