Lana Shevchuk is a former host of pro-Russian channels that were banned in Ukraine. Who is she? And who is she talking to at the new “Lana Tut” site?

Lana Shevchuk is a Ukrainian presenter. Most of the channels on which she worked since 2018 were banned as pro-Russian — NSDC imposed sanctions on the TV channels NewsOne, "Nash", "The First Independent", YouTube closed the "Da, Eto Tak" and "Vyshka" channels. In August 2024, Shevchuk launched a new project — the “Lana Tut” channel, to which she invites many "experts of a wide profile." They criticize the government of President Zelensky, speculate on the topic of mobilization and report that the West and the Russian Federation will hold negotiations without Ukraine. Before the full-scale invasion, in 2021, Shevchuk shared several conspiracy theories, which are consonant with Russian propaganda, on the streams of the host of the ZIK TV channel Vasyl Apasov. For example, she talked about the US biolaboratories in Ukraine. Babel journalist Sofia Korotunenko researched the presenterʼs biography, watched many of her broadcasts and tells who Lana Shevchuk is, who her guests are and what they talk about.

Who is Lana Shevchuk?

She is a Ukrainian journalist. Since 2005, she has been introduced as Svitlana Uminska, in 2017 — as Svitlana Shevchuk, and since 2018 — as Lana Shevchuk.

Since 2005, Uminska worked on the "First National" TV channel — she was the host of the program "Beauty Formula", the talk show "Health" and the social program "We will find a way out". In 2007, she graduated from the Faculty of Cinema and Television of KNUKiM, where she studied to become an announcer and TV presenter.

From 2011 to 2012, she was the editor-in-chief of the reality show "City Blog" on the Kyiv TV channel "City", which was part of Ihor Kolomoiskyiʼs media holding 1+1 Media. The show promised to glorify the participants by showing their metropolitan lifestyle.

In 2012, she started working on the "Tonis" TV channel, where she hosted the program "Hello, Doctor!". In 2017, the "Pryamyi" TV channel was launched on the basis of "Tonis". It nominally belonged to politician Volodymyr Makeyenko, but the real owner was considered to be Petro Poroshenko, who bought the TV channel in 2021. On "Pryamyi" Uminska became the host of the "Health Policy" project and was already introduced on the air by Svitlana Shevchuk.

Work on TV channels that have been sanctioned

Shevchuk says that she resigned from "Pryamyi" because she did not agree on "political and creative views". In 2018, she got a job as a presenter on Viktor Medvedchukʼs “NewsOne” channel, in her words, "[a place] that is closer, more familiar and warmer, there is more understanding."

On “NewsOne”, she introduced herself as Lana Shevchuk and hosted the talk show "Health Policy". On it, the invited experts usually did not give medical advice to viewers, as in the presenterʼs previous projects, but criticized the current government and argued about topics related to the field of health care. For example, they discussed "who destroyed the sanitation service of Ukraine" and "the shocking consequences of the lockdown".

Shevchuk also hosted many programs on “NewsOne”, such as "Live with Lana Shevchuk", "Big Evening" and the talk show "Svoi". In October 2020, together with Dmytro Spivak, she became the host of the new socio-political talk show "60 Minutes".

Spivak is a former deputy of the Odesa City Council, in 2012 and 2014 he unsuccessfully ran for the Verkhovna Rada. Since 2016, he regularly appeared on “NewsOne” as a political analyst, in 2020 he became a host. On the air, he promoted Medvedchuk and the OPZZh party, justified the aggression of the Russian Federation in the east, and spread the theses of Russian propaganda. In February 2019, the National Council fined “NewsOne” almost 100 000 hryvnias due to calls for enmity and war by presenters and guests. The singer is one of them.

Since 2020, Shevchuk often appeared on the YouTube channel of the host of the ZIK TV channel Vasyl Apasov. On the air, she commented on events in Ukraine and spread conspiracy theories consistent with Russian propaganda. For example, she talked about 15 US biolaboratories in Ukraine, which are financed by the Pentagon. Also, "according to her information", many people in the Ministry of Health received kickbacks, carrying out "orders of strategic partners through the former head of the Ministry of Health Ulyana Suprun".

At the beginning of 2021, Shevchuk said on air that Russian-controlled militants from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions do not consider Zelenskyʼs team to be worthy participants in the negotiations. The channel did not voice the Ukrainian position. Medvedchukʼs publicists spread similar theses. For example, they said that the Ukrainian authorities are sabotaging the exchange of prisoners, and Medvedchuk is the only one "who wants peace."

In 2021, when NSDC imposed sanctions on “NewsOne”, Shevchuk switched to Yevhen Muraevʼs "Nash" TV channel. On it, she hosted the talk show "Friday. Evening", "90 minutes with Lana Shevchuk" and broadcasts with Maks Nazarov, a pro-Russian journalist who justified the aggression of the Russian Federation in the east and said that Ukraine was provoking Russia to a full-scale invasion. In February 2021, NSDC imposed sanctions on "Nash", Shevchuk called it "murder of freedom of speech".

After that, Shevchuk joined the team of "First Independent", which was launched by former employees of Medvedchukʼs channels. In the first and only broadcast on February 26, 2021, she did not appear — the channel worked for an hour and a half and disappeared from the air, the next day NSDC imposed sanctions on it. The "First Independent" YouTube channel was blocked several times, but it survived until February 2022. It is not known whether Shevchuk hosted the broadcasts, but her photo was on a collage that was used to promote the channel on YouTube.

Broadcasts with "experts of a wide profile" on YouTube channels

In 2022, Shevchuk conducted several streams with Vasyl Apasov, to some of which they invited "experts of a broad profile". For example, Mykhailo Chaplyha says in one of the videos that Ukraine is a colony on which the West and the USA are waging war.

In 2023, Shevchuk regularly hosted broadcasts on the YouTube channels "Novyny.Live", "Apasov" and "Da, Eto Tak" — she mainly communicated with pro-Russian politicians and "polite experts". For example, she took a complimentary interview with Andriy Palchevsky, who even then called the war a "special military operation" and blamed the "Anglo-Saxons" for it.

In January 2024, Shevchuk left “Novyny.Live”. As "Detektor Media" writes, after her dismissal, there were fewer pro-Russian speakers on the channel. Mykhailo Chaplyha, Dmytro Spivak, Ruslan Bortnyk and Kostya Bondarenko, together with Shevchuk, switched to "Vyshka" — Max Nazarovʼs YouTube channel.

In fact, "Vyshka" is a renamed channel, its previous names were "Da, Eto Tak" (since 2023) and "Nash" (since 2018). In April 2024, YouTube blocked Vyshka as a propaganda channel. Shevchuk did not react publicly, and Nazarov devoted several emotional posts to this — he called the employees of the Center for Combating Disinformation, who cooperated with YouTube, idiots and promised reprisals.

New site — "Lana Tut"

In August 2024, a new channel "Lana Tut" appeared on YouTube, its only host is Lana Shevchuk. She records videos in the same studio and mostly with the same "experts" who were at "Vyshka" and "Yes, itʼs true". Although current MPs, public figures and military personnel also appear on her channel.

The channel quickly became popular. In three months, he gained 19.3 thousand followers and more than 3.6 million views in total. According to the analytical website Social Blade, on average, almost 1.5 thousand users subscribe to the channel every week, and the videos collect more than 400 thousand views.

Shevchuk does not voice pro-Russian narratives and forecasts, but allows his speakers to do so and often agrees with them. For example, the "political scientist" Vadym Karasyov tells her that the USA "engaged Ukraine in a war with the Russian Federation" in order to weaken Russia. He believes that the West and the Russian Federation can "come to an agreement or figure it out further", without taking into account the position of Ukraine.

In an interview, Andriy Palchevskyi speculates on the topic of mobilization — he says that "only the second class of people" die at the front in Ukraine, and the children of high-ranking officials only take "photos against the background of cannons and heavy drones", because none of them were injured and died (actually, many MPs and their children serve in the Armed Forces, several of them died). Palchevskyi also believes that Russian missiles cannot destroy power plants. And corrupt people deliberately "turn peopleʼs lights on and off when itʼs convenient for them" in order to convince international partners to provide funds "for repairs".

Sometimes Shevchuk probably expresses his position in questions. For example, he asks the "military expert" Oleh Starikov to "find critical remarks about the main diplomats" — President Volodymyr Zelensky and the head of the Presidentʼs Office Andriy Yermak.

Without naming names, Shevchuk said on Apasovʼs stream that she "really wants to offend some guests and say something harsh to them." But she does not do this so that they come to her again on the air and cover "another point of view". Babel has already analyzed the false forecasts and statements of some of Shevchukʼs guests — Oleh Zhdanov, Mykhailo Chaplyha, Roman Svitan, Rostyslav Kravets and Fikret Shabanov.

Babel asked Shevchuk for a comment

She says that she does not participate in content "that produces conjecture, slander, unproven accusations of pro-Russianness" — "because they worked for Medvedchuk". Shevchuk advises "to filter [for pro-Russian] half of the telethon and the TV channel "Pryamyi".

"I think itʼs enough to look back and blame each other. In my broadcasts, I talk about the respect and importance of every opinion. This is what should distinguish us from the scum produced by Kremlin propaganda and the Kremlinʼs aggressive policy," she adds.