On 29 May 2025, Ukrainian journalist Serhiy Horbatenko reported that dozens of anonymous Telegram users had recently published threats and insults targeting him, in response to a video that he had earlier published in which he spoke of the history of Bakhmut, a city in Ukraine’s Donetsk region which is currently occupied by Russia. The video was published by Donbas.Realii, the regional service for the Donbas region of media outlet RFE/RL.
Horbatenko provided screenshots of a post from a “pro-Russian Telegram channel from Donetsk region” in which the publication he authored is ridiculed. Numerous comments published below the post contain insults and threats directed at the journalist, as well as reflexions about his origins and claims that Horbatenko does not have deep roots in Bakhmut, where he was born and raised.
The journalist said that he would not file a complaint with police in relation to the incident.