The police of Podlaskie Voivodeship in Poland published a brief note on the evening of 27 February that it “did not detain a journalist from Ukraine”. It happened after Mykhailo Tkach, journalist from Ukrainska Pravda, reported his detention.

Source: European Pravda, the Podlaskie Voivodeship (Province) police on X (Twitter)

Quote: “Attention, fake news! The Podlaskie police did not detain a journalist from Ukraine. This information is false.”

Details: A verified account of the Polish police also shared this statement.

Ukraine’s ambassador in Poland Vasyl Zvarych confirmed in a commentary for the Wirtualna Polska media outlet that he had intervened in the case of the detained journalist: “They were filming train traffic and launched a drone. The police decided to check who it was, thinking it may have been saboteurs. The issue was solved quickly.”

Even though Polish law enforcement does not mention the identity of the journalist they were talking about, Mykhailo Tkach, journalist of Ukrainska Pravda, reported the incident with detention earlier on 27 February. Some Polish media outlets also point to the connection between these two events.

Mykhailo Tkach was working near the Polish-Belarusian border (the Podlaskie Voivodeship borders with the Belorussian territory) together with an operator, shooting footage about the transit of production between Poland, Russia and Belarus.

After that the policemen approached him, showed him their documents, took him to the police department, searched his car and equipment, and finally released him – after four hours of interrogation upon participation of special services.

Sevhil Musaieva, Editor-in-Chief of Ukrainska Pravda, noted that the issue was only solved after news about it spread and the Ukrainian embassy in Poland was involved.

Support UP or become our patron!