Kateryna Lisunova - attack 14.05.2025

On May 14, 2025, blogger Myroslav Oleshko published a post on social media targeting Ukrainian Voice of America journalist Kateryna Lisunova. The post stated in particular:

“Let me remind you, Kateryna Lisunova from Voice of America, who has been living in the United States for more than five years (and therefore cannot be intimidated by the authorities), ignored several of my comments and hundreds of comments from other Ukrainians on her page, asking why she remains silent about the persecution of the opposition, illegal arrests and abductions, torture, and the busing of people in Ukraine. She stayed silent about all the lawlessness of Zelenskyy’s regime, even though in 2019 she became the first UN resident journalist. Her boyfriend is American and will never be ‘bused.’ A typical USAID-Soros grant-eater.”

This post was shared on Oleshko’s X page as well as on his Telegram channel. Comments left under these posts by users contained clear signs of sexism, gender disinformation, and sexualized harassment. For example:

• “She’s a sellout whore, not a journalist, just put her ass next to the grant trough and dances to their tune. That’s not journalism.”
• “Jewish-moscovite.”
• “Dream job! To be a propagandist working for Soros, staying silent about corruption in Ukraine, staying silent about human rights violations! And to get $100,000 for it.”
• “And someone still wonders why all propagandists keep silent about this? They earn salaries of $100–200k.”
• “Cock-sucker.”
• “Stinking feminist.”
• “Another grant-sucker.”
• And other

This is not the first online attack by Myroslav Oleshko against Ukrainian female journalists. For example, Women in Media previously recorded cases of online harassment by the blogger targeting Bihus Info journalists Oleksandra Fedorko and Svitlana Stetsenko.