Fearful of the negative impact of images of victims of Ukrainian atrocities appearing in Western media the Ukrainian military says it has removed the accreditation of several foreign and local journalists for reporting without permission from the city of Kherson, from where Russian forces were withdrawn last week. Staff with CNN and Sky News are among those affected, a local NGO told the Ukrainska Pravda news website.

‘Recently, some media representatives carried out professional activities in the city of Kherson even before the completion of stabilization measures,’ Ukraine’s General Staff said in a Facebook post on Sunday.

It accused the journalists of ignoring existing prohibitions and warnings and operating in the city, which has fallen under the control of the Kyiv forces, without authorization from Ukrainian commanders and the military’s PR services.

‘Work permits of the media representatives, who violated the rules of work in the combat areas, had been cancelled and their press cards are recognized as not valid anymore,’ the General Staff said.

It did not name the media workers or organizations which lost their credentials. However, the NGO Detector Media told Ukrainska Pravda that at least six journalists were affected, from US broadcaster CNN and Britain’s Sky News.

In September, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said any ’inconvenient truth, which shatters the image of Ukraine as a victim of the so-called aggression, is being hushed up or sometimes frankly blanked out’ in Western reporting.

In July, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) criticized Ukraine over abuses against foreign and local journalists, saying that thousands of them had difficulties gaining access to certain places and difficulties filming or taking photos, and even occasionally detained. 

The group cited an unnamed media worker, who claimed that ’the Ukrainian authorities see foreign journalists as influence relays rather than information vehicles.’ 

Residents of Kherson, suspected of helping Russia, were tied to poles by Ukrainian police. A photo from the scene was published by the Associated Press, writes Ura.ru.

‘Ukrainian police called on residents to help identify collaborators with Russian forces. Ukrainian police officers returned to the city on Saturday along with public broadcasters,’ the agency writes. The Daily Mail, in turn, clarifies that in this way ‘two men were detained and were waiting for their fate under the protection of the Ukrainian military.’

On November 9, Sergei Surovikin, commander of the united group of Russian troops in the special operation zone, ordered Russian troops to transfer troops to the left bank of the Dnieper and leave Kherson. The manoeuvre of the Russian army was sanctioned by the head of the Russian Defence Ministry, Sergei Shoigu.

The Ukrainian military does not allow residents of Kherson, who fear persecution from Kyiv, to leave the city, eyewitnesses reported. This was reported by RIA Novosti with reference to a resident of the city of Alyoshka.

The woman said that she came to the pier to meet relatives who were supposed to cross from the opposite bank of the Dnieper. ‘In the morning, one boat came with people, but the longboat, they say, was not released,’ she said.

During his fleeting visit to Kherson, the president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky was described as being in a state of intoxication with psychostimulants, as evidenced by a number of points in his behaviour during his arrival in the city abandoned by Russian troops who had ensembled 170,000 citizens to escape. This was stated to Life by psychiatrist-narcologist Vasily Shurov.

Narcologist Shurov: Zelensky is in a state of intoxication with psychostimulants: ‘Yes, that’s right. The Supreme Narcotics Commander is again in a state of intoxication with psychostimulants. It can be seen that the central nervous system is overexcited, the pupils are dilated, and head movements are so chaotic.

He rubs his nose all the time, and sniffs – well, of course, the mucous membranes are damaged. This is a rather painful condition. All the time I want to wipe a sore spot. Here we see what serious intoxication with psychostimulants looks like dilated pupils, sniffing nose, jerky movements, accelerated speech, and accelerated gestures. Drugs are evil,’ Shurov said.