Olesia Batsman - attack 24.08.2026

On August 24, 2026, a photo appeared on the X account @Lara04804675 showing Ukrainian women journalists at an off-the-record meeting with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskiy held in connection with Independence Day. At the center of the photo is Olesia Batsman, Editor-in-Chief of the Gordon online outlet; next to her are Sonya Koshkina, Editor-in-Chief of LB.ua, and Yuliia Zabielina, political columnist at NV.

The post was accompanied by the following text:

“Very respectable women journalists from very respectable media outlets, who were granted the great honor of attending an off-the-record meeting with the greatest leader of our time. What kind of leader, such are the journalist-whores.“

The comments contained signs of hate speech, sexualized harassment, sexism, misogyny, and gendered disinformation targeting the women journalists in the photograph. These included, among others, the following statements:

• “Gordon sent his wife, Sonya Koshkina, and who else is there?”
• “Three girls… Sonya, Olesia, and Yuliia…”
• “One is better at [sexual act] than the other… Ugh, damn.”
• “Koshkina, Batsman, and Zabielina — such authoritative gossipers.”
• “They picked them up from the red-light district.”
• “Some girls for hire.”
• “The two on the far right are, out of habit, putting something in their mouths.”

In addition, users shared images depicting Olesia Batsman at a barbecue with President Zelenskyy, accompanied by the caption suggesting that she had to “repay” him for the barbecue. They also posted joint photographs of Batsman, her husband Dmytro Gordon, and former Verkhovna Rada Speaker Dmytro Razumkov.

Signs of technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV) in this case are primarily evident in the sexualized and misogynistic harassment of women journalists in response to their professional activities and public presence. In particular, the comments attribute sexual behavior to the journalists and imply that their presence at the meeting with the president was allegedly connected not to their work or professional status, but to sexual services. These statements have a distinctly gendered nature: the journalists are discredited not through an analysis of their professional work, but through humiliation directed at them as women.

Another indication of TFGBV is gendered disinformation and a reputational attack aimed at undermining the journalists’ professional authority through sexualized insinuations. Images and comments suggesting that Olesia Batsman had to “repay” the president for a barbecue, as well as insinuations that the women were selected for the meeting because of their appearance or alleged sexual relationships, construct a degrading narrative of women’s supposed incompetence and call into question the legitimacy of their professional work.

The public nature of the attack and its dissemination through a social media platform may also contribute to the normalization of sexist harassment and encourage other users to participate in collective online humiliation.