Content warning: Sensitive material! This case, like many others we have documented, contains sensitive content: sexualized language and hate speech. We have to publish that to illustrate the severity of online violence faced by women in journalism every day.
Hromadske journalist Mariana Pietsukh regularly faces online attacks from YouTube users. The comments, which often contain elements of sexism, hate speech, misogyny, gendered disinformation, and defamation, frequently target her appearance and accuse her and the outlet of being “sellouts.”
Mariana Pietsukh first noticed these trends after her story “I’ll Join the Partisans — the Muscovite Will Die in Me! Is There a Reliable Pro-Ukrainian Rear in Kharkiv?” aired on February 8, 2022, shortly before the full-scale invasion.
For this report, Hromadske journalists joined the “Unity March” in Kharkiv, visited sites symbolic of the city’s pro-Ukrainian activism, and spoke with residents about whether they felt there was a strong pro-Ukrainian base of support. The video still has many comments calling the journalists “sellouts,” “pathetic,” “fake,” “clowns,” “fucking nutjob journalists,” etc.
According to Mariana Pietsukh, following the broadcast, pro-Russian blogger Anatolii Sharii devoted an entire segment to her, drawing his followers’ attention to her personally.
“Sharii mobilized his followers around my report — it was a flood of insults: cow, tramp, and so on. They were outraged by the message about the Ukrainianization of Kharkiv, and Sharii claimed that I’m from Lviv and lying to people here about Kharkiv,” the journalist recalled.
Users paid particular attention to her appearance, especially the hat she wore in the report. This same hat continued to attract criticism under her further stories.
“In general, before the full-scale invasion, hate about my appearance was constant — people would call me ugly journalist, an alcoholic, and so on, no matter the topic. They just had nothing else to do. One of the funniest examples was under a report from Horishni Plavni, where a supporter of the old name Komsolmolsk wrote that I had disrespected the city by my bad outfit. After the full-scale war started, the hate about my looks stopped for a while — but it came back about a year later, when I began covering topics like the UOC and decommunization,” Mariana Pietsukh noted.
One example is the large number of such comments under her report “You Are a Servant of the Devil: When Will the UOC MP Be Evicted from the Pochaiv Lavra?” published on April 23, 2023. For example, users wrote:
- “The host’s inner nature matches her appearance.”
- “This journalist is uglier than an ‘atomic war’; compared to her, old ladies look like real beauties — and smart ones too!”
- “This journalist has never read a book, has a crazed look in her eyes, zero knowledge of history, keeps mumbling the same nonsense. The old church ladies are saints compared to her!”
A similar wave of comments appeared under Mariana Pietsukh’s recent report “With Axes and a Grenade: How the Hutsuls of Bukovina Fight for the Church,” released on June 16, 2025. In that story, the reporter covered the conflict between supporters of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) and the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in the village of Ust-Putyla, Chernivtsi region. While filming, Mariana Pietsukh was chased off church property and cursed at.
“Most often they accuse me of being some sort of provocateur — that happens under every report about the UOC, and they promise divine retribution. For example, during the Zakarpattia report, one parishioner said she would write our names down as a memorial, meaning on a prayer list for the dead, and that afterward ‘we’d have problems,’” the reporter added.
In one comment, someone even suggested prosecuting Hromadske “under Article 161 (at a minimum),” referring to Article 161 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine on “Violation of equality of citizens depending on their race, nationality, religious beliefs, disability and other grounds,” and giving the outlet “a life sentence,” accusing it of serving the “criminal regime.”
Liza Kuzmenko, head of Women in Media, emphasizes that Mariana Pietsukh has been a target of repeated waves of online attacks for several years, many of which show clear signs of gender-based violence. She is not attacked for the substance of her reporting, but for her appearance, emotions, or place of origin — all things traditionally used to discredit women in the public space.
“We see that these attacks intensify whenever the journalist raises sensitive or contentious topics — especially the UOC, decommunization, or issues of national identity. The online comments escalate into psychological violence, public curses, calls for retribution, and sometimes direct interference in the journalist’s work during filming. We believe these incidents must not be ignored — they must be clearly recognized as online violence, not just ‘hate’ or ‘subjective criticism,’” Liza Kuzmenko underlined.
Women in Media continues to support journalists facing online attacks and calls on newsrooms, colleagues, and platforms not to stay silent. Respect for women journalists’ dignity and safe working conditions are not just ethical matters — they are fundamental to protecting freedom of speech in Ukraine.
In April 2025, the organization published the official Ukrainian translation of the key international document The Chilling: recommendations for action responding to online violence against women journalists. This translation is now available on UNESCO’s website alongside the English, French, Spanish, Arabic, and Chinese versions.
The document provides concrete recommendations for governments, digital platforms, media outlets, and civil society on how to counter online violence. Its key principles include recognizing the reality of online attacks, rejecting victim-blaming, addressing intersectional threats, and implementing systemic change.
The Ukrainian translation is a step toward strengthening protections for women in media. We urge all stakeholders — from newsrooms to state institutions — to use these recommendations in their daily work.
This case was documented under the initiative supported by the Dutch Foreign Ministry as part of the project “Strengthening the Resilience of Women Journalists in Ukraine: Combating Online Violence and Gendered Disinformation,” implemented by the Women in Media NGO.