Two media outlets, Volyn online and Konkurent, located in the area of Volyn in Ukraine received threats from Russia via email. The threats were sent via mail.ru, which is banned in Ukraine. The emails, which came from unknown individuals, threatened the staff with criminal liability and accused its journalists of disseminating lies and “fakes” about the Russian military. The letter was condemned as an act of intimidation. Volyn online has since received nine threatening messages more.
UPDATE: Konkurent and Konkurent TV also received email threats from Russia on 25 April. As of 28 April, Volyn Online had received threats from unknown pro-Russian forces at least ten times since the beginning of the large-scale invasion. On 30 April, an unknown Russian source again threatened to “bring down” the websites of Racurs.ua, Volyn online and Konkurent. On 9 May, Volyn online and Konkurent received new emails with threats from Russia, which said journalists would “respond” for supposed “Russophobic fake [news]”.