MOSCOW, August 22. /TASS/. Ukraine’s authorities are denying access to the combat engagement line not only to foreign but also Ukrainian journalists, Strana, a Ukrainian mass media outlet, said on Tuesday, citing a source in law enforcement.
Switzerland’s Le Temps reported earlier that Kiev had banned foreign journalists from visiting frontline positions without written permission from Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief Valery Zaluzhny. A Ukrainian military spokesman, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the newspaper that this move could be explained either by the fact that Ukraine’s military command "is seeking to hide its problems and losses" or by preparations for a large-scale operation.
"There has not been an official ban but it does exist unofficially. But it applies not only to foreign journalists, but to Ukrainian journalists as well," Strana quoted him as saying.
The source explained the ban by the fact that reporters working along the combat engagement line are difficult to monitor. "Stage one of restricting journalists’ work was the division of the front into zones: red, yellow, and green. This scheme proved to be ineffective, so they decided to ban access," the source said.
Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Anna Malyar lamented on Monday that media reports about the movements of the 82nd airborne brigade of the Ukrainian army had led to strikes on its positions. She warned that such reports other than those released by Ukraine’s General Staff of defense ministry are punishable by a prison term of from five to eight years.