The risky task of investigating corruption in wartime Ukraine

The Ukrainian branch of the NGO Transparency International issued a statement on January 17 warning that ‘attacks on journalists are becoming systematic’

Ilia Vitiuk was an affable and charismatic man when he spoke to EL PAÍS in Kyiv on February 7. Vitiuk was the head of cybersecurity at the Security Services of Ukraine (SSU). He spoke to this newspaper about Russian cyberattacks during the invasion of his country, a subject he has mastered and was comfortable with. He was less friendly with Yevhen Shulhat, a journalist from the Slidstvo Info media outlet, who on April 4 revealed alleged irregular real estate operations within Vitiuk’s family. Three days earlier, while Shulhat was investigating the case, he was harassed by two soldiers and an SSU agent: they identified him while he was visiting a shopping mall and urged him to enlist in the army. Through a store’s security cameras, Slidstvo Infowas able to uncover the identity of the SSU officer who led the operation, a man close to Vitiuk. He was dismissed from his post on May 1 by the president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Investigative journalism has been a risky profession in Ukraine for decades. The death of the founder of the Pravda newspaper, Gueorgui Gongadze, in 2000 caused a national scandal that put the government of former president Leonid Kuchma on the ropes. Gongadze was investigating government corruption and was killed by four policemen. His newspaper is today a benchmark for the media in Ukraine, and in the supervision of power, and Gongadze is an icon of the efforts of Ukrainian society to democratize the system. The media and non-governmental organizations now warn that impunity has increased during the war against Russia.