The head of the Strategic Communications Center of the Southern Defense Forces Natalia Humenyuk was dismissed from this position. On the eve of this, Ukrainian media persons requested this.
This was reported by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
In the press service of the Defense Forces of the South, rotational events were held — a new specialist is being sought for the position of spokesman.
The General Staff noted that the Strategic Communications Center of the Southern Defense Forces will work as usual and organize cooperation with media representatives who have the appropriate accreditation.
On April 16, Ukrainian media persons asked the military leadership to replace the head of the press center of the Southern Defense Forces Natalia Humenyuk with a "more competent" one and to prevent her from communicating.
More than 70 journalists, publications and organizations signed up to these demands. In the statement, they claim that Humenyuk forbids the coverage of Russian war crimes in the Kherson region and does not provide access to the military. The most egregious case in the statement was the ban on entering the flooded towns and villages in the Kherson region on the day of the explosion of the Kakhovka HPP — then the world media were flooded with references to the testimony of Russian "military personnel", because there was almost no information from Ukrainian journalists.
Humeniuk said that she considers the criticism unjustified. She stated that the journalists allegedly did not provide any evidence of obstruction of their work, and the press center of the Southern Defense Forces did not violate any command orders.