On 27 January 2023, the popular Ukrainian online media Ukrainska Pravda published an investigative video by Mykhailo Tkach, which seemed to show former prime minister Yuliya Tymoshenko on a beach in Dubai.
Following the publication, Tkach and Ukrainska Pravda editor-in-chief Sevhil Musayeva received hundreds of threats, including death threats. Ukrainska Pravda social media accounts were also targeted. Tkach and Musayeva linked the attacks to supporters of Tymoshenko and said the situation amounted to “de facto pressure from a [political] party on the press”.
The publication of the investigative video provoked a national controversy due to hardships suffered by Ukrainians following Russia’s invasion, as well as due to the ongoing ban on leaving Ukraine imposed on citizens fit for military service. Calls also appeared in Ukraine to exclude Tymoshenko from Batkivshchyna, the political party she leads and which she represents in parliament, along with other MPs.