SOTA journalist Viktoria Arefieva and her colleague Konstantin Lenkov were allegedly assaulted by a lieutenant-colonel while covering a protest by activist Lina Barabash, who was standing in front of a military hospital while displaying Ukrainian national symbols. The soldier reportedly approached the journalists and pushed both to the ground, confiscating their equipment and refusing to return it until Lenkov called the police. Arefieva’s glasses and phone were broken during the altercation. On June 27, a court in St. Petersburg refused to pursue criminal charges against the lieutenant-colonel, deeming his actions lawful, while also claiming that the filming of military hospitals is illegal. The court stated that the actions of the lieutenant-colonel were done in the interests of “international peace”.