UP journalist Mykhailo Tkach released in Vienna – Foreign Ministry

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry has reported that Mykhailo Tkach, the Ukrainska Pravda journalist who was detained in Vienna on 8 October, has now been released.

Source: Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi in a comment to journalists

Quote from Tykhyi: "We have just received confirmation from the Austrian side that Mykhailo Tkach has been released."

Details: Tykhyi added that Ukrainian diplomats and consular officials at the Ukrainian Embassy in Austria had been working with their Austrian counterparts since the evening of 8 October to resolve the issue.

"We are grateful to the Austrian diplomats for their appropriate response. We are continuing to work to establish the circumstances of the detention," Tykhyi said.

He noted that cameraman Yaroslav Bondarenko had also been detained in Vienna alongside Tkach.

"Consular officials are currently establishing whether he has also been released. Protecting the rights of Ukrainian citizens is our absolute priority. The Foreign Ministry, the Consular Service Department and the embassy are keeping the situation under close watch and maintaining constant dialogue with the Austrian Foreign Ministry," the spokesperson concluded.

Later, Ukrainska Pravda Editor-in-Chief Sevğil Musaieva said that Mykhailo Tkach has been released after being detained in Vienna. However, the editorial team is still unable to contact him, whilst cameraman Yaroslav Bondarenko sustained injuries during the detention.

Background:

• On 8 October, it was reported that Mykhailo Tkach, head of Ukrainska Pravda's investigative journalism department, had been detained in Vienna while carrying out an assignment related to the search for fugitive former prosecutor general Ruslan Kravchenko.
• Tkach was in Austria with his colleague Yaroslav Bondarenko.
• The Ukrainian Embassy in Austria said it had asked the Austrian authorities to explain the circumstances surrounding Tkach's detention in Vienna.
• It later emerged that the Ukrainian consul had been granted access to Tkach and had spoken with him.

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