Vlasta Lazur - attack 27.05.2026

May 27, 2026, the X account of Radio Svoboda published a post featuring a clip from an interview between host Vlasta Lazur and Mykyta Poturaiev, a member of Ukraine’s Servant of the People party. The interview focused on the meeting between the President and members of the Servant of the People parliamentary faction, as well as the leaders of parliamentary factions, which had taken place the previous day.

The comments under the post contained signs of technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV) targeting TV host Vlasta Lazur. In particular, she was described as “stupid,” a “media slut,” and “so strange that she looks unprofessional.”

The comments also included statements that can be interpreted as threats of physical violence, for example:

“Vlasta, if I ever meet you, I’ll definitely spit in your Poroshenko-loving face.”

This case demonstrates several forms of technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV), including hate speech, online defamation, reputational attacks, and threats of physical violence. In the comments, journalist Vlasta Lazur is discredited through gendered insults such as “media slut” as well as derogatory remarks about her professional competence and mental state (e.g., describing her as “strange” or “crazy”). These comments are aimed not at providing legitimate criticism of her journalistic work but at degrading and discrediting her as both a woman and a media professional.

The comment containing an explicit threat of physical aggression contributes to an atmosphere of intimidation and may have a chilling effect on the journalist’s participation in public discourse. Taken together, the misogynistic abuse, attacks on her professional reputation, and threats of physical violence constitute a clear pattern of TFGBV intended to discredit, psychologically intimidate, and silence a woman journalist in the public sphere.