Ukrainian PM deems redirecting funds from newscast to Ukrainian Armed Forces impractical

Denys Shmyhal. Photo: Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine (the government)

Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal has responded to the petition regarding the redirection of funds allocated for Yedyni Novyny [United News, national joint 24/7 newscast] and FreeDom TV channels to finance the purchase of drones and pickups for the needs of the Armed Forces, stating that it is impractical.

Source: Shmyhal’s response to the petition 

Quote: “Since ensuring information security is part of state policy in the sphere of national security and defence and the implementation of a unified information policy is a priority issue of national security, funding for relevant measures is a significant component of countering the Russian Federation’s military aggression against Ukraine, particularly in the information space. 

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Accordingly, reallocating the funds specified in the petition by directing them to the needs of other security and defence sector components is not expedient.”

Details: The prime minister noted that concurrently, the government is “systematically” engaged in ongoing efforts to attract and direct financial, material-technical, and other resources, including international assistance, to meet the needs and enhance the capabilities of the Armed Forces and other components of the security and defence sector.

Background:

• The December 2023 survey results by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology indicate that trust in the Yedyni Novyny newscast continues to decline, having dropped by 26 percentage points since May 2022.
• Rostyslav Karandieiev, Ukraine’s Acting Minister of Culture, stated that the newscast may change its format. Karandieiev emphasised the importance of television channels in introducing new forms and formats because “life goes on, our perceptions change, and formats change; the economy is functioning, advertisers appear”.
• In early January 2024, one of the most popular publications in the USA, The New York Times, published an article about Ukrainians’ fatigue from the Yedyni Novyny newscast.

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