MIP in ATO zone: Residents of the frontline villages have initiated informational pressure on the occupiers in Luhansk region

The Monitoring mission of the Ministry of information policy of Ukraine has studied the situation in the frontline city of Novotoshkivske of Popasnyanskyi district in Luhansk region.

Advisor to the Minister on broadcasting renewal in ATO zone Oleksandr Brygynets (MP of Ukraine) reports from the city that people don’t complain about the lack of Ukrainian channels here because the access to Ukrainian television channels is available due to its location on a strategic level. The residents are concerned about the presence of separatist and foreign channels, which put pressure on the local population.

"When the enemy tells about the events related to our section of the front, we see that it is a lie. When the enemy talks about the events in Luhansk, Donetsk or Mariupol it is hard to understand because separatists’ TV channels air a flow of information about wartime events, part of which coincides with that on our television", say the locals.

Advisor noticed that Ukrainian channels give information about events at the front mainly in a dry and short manner.  Sometimes it is just a roll title in the news like it's something not important. Meanwhile, the enemy, through the separatists’ channels, talks only about the war. The locals appeal to the owners of Ukrainian television companies with the request to cover the events of the confrontation in Donbas more actively. "There are complaints that the Ukrainian media do not comprehensively cover the war developments and other events in Donbas, not only in the frontal Novotoshkivske but through the entire contact line", said O. Brygynets.

The residents believe that their village can become a point of information attacks on the enemy. They have applied to MIP with some initiatives, and Advisor to the Minister referred it to the Commission on ensuring stable operation of national television and radio broadcasting for further consideration.