Sonia Koshkina - attack 06.03.2026

On March 6, 2026, Yurii Smirnov posted on Threads a fragment of an interview in which editor-in-chief of LB.ua Sonia Koshkina speaks with Yulia Tymoshenko, leader of the Batkivshchyna Party. In the clip, they discuss $40,000 that National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine seized from Tymoshenko during a search the previous year. The money had reportedly been stored in a Nova Poshta parcel bag. During the exchange, Koshkina remarks that she would never put such an amount of money in a parcel bag, to which Tymoshenko responds that she did.

Following the publication of the clip, numerous hostile comments appeared under the post and across other platforms where the video was reposted, including Telegram and X (Twitter). Many comments contained signs of technology-facilitated gender-based violence, including gendered disinformation, sexism, and online defamation targeting Sonia Koshkina.

Users posted derogatory remarks suggesting the journalist was corrupt, financially motivated, or working for political actors, and used insults such as “media prostitute,” “moral monster,” and “stupid host,” along with mocking comments about her appearance. In some posts, the feminized form of the word “journalist” was deliberately distorted in a dismissive way, which may signal contempt toward women journalists.

The spread of the clip across multiple platforms and the accumulation of such comments illustrate a reputational online attack aimed at undermining trust in the journalist and discrediting her professional role.