By Max Hunder
(Reuters) – A prominent Ukrainian investigative journalist who has frequently criticised senior government officials said on Monday that his home was visited by unidentified men who tried to break down his door and demand that he join the army.
The journalist, Yuriy Nikolov, said he did not know who was responsible and that only his mother had been at home during the incident in Kyiv on Sunday as he had been at a friend’s home watching the final of the snooker Masters tournament.
“Therefore, these freaks only frightened my elderly mother, who is living with me after (cancer treatment),” he wrote on Telegram messenger.
The police said they were ascertaining the details of the incident.
Speaking on national television, Nikolov highlighted a post by a popular anonymous pro-government blogger who suggested the incident was linked to disparaging comments he made about Ukraine’s president.
Two weeks ago, Nikolov accused President Volodymyr Zelenskiy of avoiding “his duties to lead a country at war” by failing to take responsibility for communicating bad news, comparing him to a draft-dodger.
According to public polls, Zelenskiy still enjoys the support of a large majority of Ukrainians, but public criticism of his leadership has become more common during the second year of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
A spokesperson said the presidential office would not comment on the incident until the police had made conclusions from the evidence.
Nikolov said a group of men tried to break down the door of his home and began demanding that he join the army.
“Some guys were breaking down the door, shouting for me to go serve, sticking papers onto the door,” he wrote on Facebook.
A Telegram post by an anonymous pro-Zelenskiy Telegram channel called “Cardboard Office” said the intrusion had been conducted by soldiers who had come back from the front lines.
The post heavily criticised Nikolov. The channel had no immediately identifiable management.
It also uploaded a video of at least two men banging on a door, shouting “provocateur” and “traitor”, and pinning up abusive messages on sheets of paper.
Two other popular anonymous pro-Zelenskiy Telegram channels also put out posts attacking Nikolov on Monday, including the one he pointed to in his broadcast account of the incident.
Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, an opposition lawmaker who heads Ukraine’s parliamentary committee on freedom of speech, said he considered the incident met the legal definition for hindering the work of a journalist.
(Reporting by Max Hunder; Editing by Alison Williams)
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