On 29 July 2026, LB.ua journalist and Health Editor Iryna Andreitsiv published a post on her Facebook page about the killing of a doctor serving on a Military Medical Commission (MMC) in Kyiv.
The journalist opened her post with the following words: “Terrible news. During a Military Medical Commission (MMC) examination, a 31-year-old man fatally wounded a 65-year-old female doctor. She died. Judging by statements from the Territorial Recruitment and Social Support Centre (TRC), he was a draft evader. Evil that goes unpunished only grows.”
The post sparked a strong reaction among social media users. For example, the journalist was accused of using the term “draft evader” without sufficient grounds to describe the man suspected of committing the crime and of making claims without evidence. She also received comments that could be interpreted as attempts to justify the actions of the suspect.
In a subsequent Facebook post, Iryna Andreitsiv said that after publishing the story, she noticed what she described as an attack by so-called “bots” on her page:
The journalist wrote: “The post about the killing of the doctor who served on a Military Medical Commission (MMC) shows that a lot of bots are showing up in the comments. That means many of you must have added them as friends at some point, thinking they were real people. I suspect I may also have had some of these accounts left over from my student years without ever cleaning up my friends list.”
In a comment to Women in Media, Iryna Andreitsiv said that various bot accounts under her post had been spreading similar talking points, “about ‘whore-journalists,’ ‘frontline women,’ and so on.” The journalist deleted those comments and blocked the accounts that had posted them. Asked about her attitude toward such comments and their impact on her, she responded: “I’ve long since come to treat it as white noise. I simply delete the comments, block the accounts, and move on.”
At the same time, criticism of journalistic work is a legitimate part of public debate. However, it should be distinguished from online abuse.
“People may disagree with a journalist’s wording or assessments—that is a legitimate part of public debate. However, when discussion of the reporting is replaced by insults such as ‘whore-journalist,’ sexist remarks, or coordinated attacks by bot accounts, this goes beyond the bounds of legitimate professional criticism.”
“Particularly telling is the fact that these attacks rely on gender-based insults and degrading language directed specifically at a woman journalist. This is one of the hallmarks of technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV). At the same time, it is important to note that the journalist herself does not feel the need to dramatize the situation and has developed her own way of responding. However, the fact that someone has learned to ignore such attacks does not mean the problem has disappeared. On the contrary, it demonstrates how normalized these attacks have become for many women journalists,” said Liza Kuzmenko, Head of the NGO Women in Media.
Iryna Andreitsiv also said that this was not the first time she had faced online attacks. She recalled that in 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, while pregnant with her daughter, she received the Pfizer vaccine and shared the news in a Facebook post.
“I got vaccinated because it was the best way to protect my baby. That’s when hell broke loose. There were countless comments saying that my child would be born with Down syndrome, ‘crippled,’ or ‘disabled for life’ because of me. People wished me dead. They accused me of killing and permanently harming children who would be vaccinated after my post because, they claimed, mothers would follow my example. They took screenshots of my post and twisted them however they wanted—I was visibly pregnant in the photo. At a time when your hormones are already overwhelming you and pregnancy makes you especially vulnerable, it was incredibly difficult to go through,” Iryna Andreitsiv said.
The NGO Women in Media documents cases of online violence against Ukrainian women media professionals on its online monitoring map. If you have experienced online attacks, you can report them by emailing ngo.womeninmedia@gmail.com.