On 13 November 2022, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine revoked accreditation given to at least six media workers who reported from Kherson city immediately after it was liberated by Ukraine, on 11 November. The permits allowed them to work in combat areas and in territories liberated by the Ukrainian army. The passes were renewed several days later.
In a social media post, the General Staff claimed the sanctioned media workers ignored public appeals made by military representatives, who said reporting would not be possible until the army finished putting in place a set of “stabilizing measures” in Kherson. These appeals were made based on a decree adopted by the Ukrainian army’s chief of staff in March 2022, the social media post said.
Some of the journalists targeted by the measure worked for foreign TV channels CNN and Sky News, an anonymous source told Detektor Media. Journalists Anastasiya Stanko and Mykola Pastyk from Hromadske TV, photographer Dmytro Larin from news portal Ukrainska Pravda, as well as photographer Yevheniy Zavhorodniy from Telegraf UA later confirmed they too had their accreditations revoked.
On 21 November, a representative of the General Staff informed that the permits had already been returned to those journalists who applied for their renewal following the incident. The remaining journalists will also have their accreditation renewed at a later stage, said Bohdan Senyk, head of the Ukrainian Army’s civilian relations directorate. This was confirmed by Hromadske Radio, as well as by Sky News journalist Azad Safarov.