Ukrainian public broadcaster Hromadske says police detained its reporter

Ukrainian public broadcaster Hromadske says its journalist Yevhenii Shulhat was detained by police over an alleged violation of military registration rules while travelling in a taxi in Kyiv.

Source: Hromadske

Quote: "On 27 July, police in Kyiv detained Hromadske journalist Yevhenii Shulhat. Police officers stopped the taxi he was travelling in and put him in handcuffs. According to the officers, the reason for stopping him was an alleged violation of military registration rules. However, documents available to our editorial team show that the journalist has not violated any military registration rules."

Details: Shulhat said police used physical force during the detention.

Yaroslava Volvach, head of Hromadske's investigations desk, suggested the detention may have been targeted.

"It is unclear how police officers could have known that a taxi passenger had supposedly violated military registration rules. Meanwhile, they showed no interest in checking the driver's documents, which gives grounds to believe that the detention was targeted," she said.

Hromadske noted that Shulhat worked on investigations into alleged corruption involving law enforcement officials.

Ukrainska Pravda requested a comment from the police. Officers said they had checked the documents of both the driver and the passenger after stopping the vehicle. They said the passenger had not undergone the mandatory military medical examination and was therefore taken to a military enlistment office.

A police spokesperson was unable to answer further questions, saying that "the details are being clarified".

Background:

• In 2024, while working as a journalist for Slidstvo.Info, an independent team of investigative journalists, Yevhenii Shulhat uncovered luxury property belonging to the wife of Illia Vitiuk, then head of the Cyber Security Department of the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU).
• Afterwards, military enlistment office officers attempted to serve Shulhat with an enlistment notice at a shopping centre. Slidstvo.Info reported that Oleksii Bilenko, who worked in the SSU's Cyber Security Department and was considered close to Vitiuk, was likely present together with the military enlistment office officers.
• The SSU, the Ministry of Defence and the General Staff later announced a joint review into the information published by Slidstvo.Info regarding attempts to serve an enlistment notice on its journalist following his investigation into an SSU officer.
• Later, then SSU chief Vasyl Maliuk suspended Vitiuk from his duties and reassigned him to the front line.

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