The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine assures that statements about the existence of any directive documents from the Commander-in-Chief that prohibit military personnel from making public appearances, interviews, or statements are not true. This is stated in a statement from the General Staff, reports UNN.
Statements about the existence of any directive documents from the Commander-in-Chief or the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine that allegedly prohibit military personnel from making public appearances, interviews, or statements are not true
The General Staff noted that the Armed Forces of Ukraine are guided by relevant regulatory legal acts in their activities. Thus, regarding issues of interaction with the media, the following main guiding documents exist:
- Order of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine dated December 20, 2023, No. 763 (as amended) "On additional measures for implementing tasks of state information policy in the defense sector during a special period and under conditions of a state of emergency or martial law";
- Order of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine dated March 3, 2022, No. 73 (as amended) "On the organization of interaction between the Armed Forces of Ukraine, other components of the defense forces, and media representatives during the period of the legal regime of martial law."
If necessary, in order to ensure proper compliance with the requirements of these orders and to clarify certain aspects of communication activities, relevant directives, instructions, etc., are sent to the troops. Thus, one of the most recent such directives concerned exclusively the dissemination of information about changes in the operational situation in combat areas in the media, on official social media pages, etc. This primarily concerns the security of the use of troops (forces) and information security. The directive did not contain any prohibitions for military personnel on interacting with the media, making public appearances, interviews, or statements
Addendum
Advisor to former Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, Serhiy Sternenko, reported that military personnel were banned from attending rallies in support of Fedorov, and also from commenting on this.
Recall
The government appointed Yevhen Khmara as acting Minister of Defense and Andrii Sybiha as acting Minister of Foreign Affairs.