“We are waiting for liberation! We are confident that the residents of Svatove are tired of living under occupation, listening to Russian lies, and would love to read our newspaper, which they knew and loved,” with these words, the founder of Svativski Vidomosti, Andrii Kriukov, begins his story about the newspaper he created, nurtured, and hopes to revive after the liberation of his hometown.
“The newspaper had been published since 2005. It was one of the first private publications in Luhansk region, the first in Svatove district,” says Andrii Kriukov. “Before that, my colleagues and I worked for the communal media. However, with the wave of the Orange Revolution, the freedom of speech that suddenly appeared in Ukraine, we decided to open our own publication.”
It was difficult to work independently: the newspaper has always been in opposition to the local authorities. Andrii believes that this is how every journalist should work. The newspaper has been through more than 30 courts: local officials, including the police chief, sued it one after another.
“We wrote about people’s pain, regardless of how it could end up for us,” the newspaperman recalls. “We were at the epicenter of the most resonant events in our district and the entire Luhansk region. We defended the pro-Ukrainian position, which, given the specifics of our region, was very important, and became especially relevant after 2014. We have never been members of any party, have never represented anyone’s interests, and have no financial obligations to anyone. We have always proved to be an independent publication and have always remained so, protecting our reputation as the apple of our eye.”
According to Andrii Kriukov, it was interesting to work – independent journalism made it possible to conduct important investigations, expose corruption schemes of local authorities and local ‘oligarchs’, farmers…
“All of this remained in the binders of our newspaper,” says Andrii sadly.
In 2006, the editorial office organized a public action – a hunger strike against the increase in heating tariffs. This action caused an all-Ukrainian resonance at the time. “The day before, the journalists of Svativski Vidomosti asked their fellow journalists to provide information support for their indefinite hunger strike under the slogan ‘It is better to die of hunger than to pay for the cold’,” UNIAN wrote at the time. “A 71-year-old resident of the town, Lyudmyla Svylohuzova, has already joined the action.”
“Journalists from many national TV channels visited us. In the end, we managed to get the townspeople to receive free loans to install autonomous heating, and thus, in a few months, the issue of heating in Svatove was resolved,” says Andrii Kriukov.
Svativski Vidomosti has always been a traditional paper publication. For some time, they had a website, but when it turned out that it was ‘taking away’ readers from the paper edition, the site was closed.
“We lived only on the paper newspaper, and I am convinced that an independent publication should finance itself by producing products that it can sell to consumers,” says the newspaperman. “But on the Internet, paid services were not developed, and it was unprofitable to maintain a website.”
The newspaper started with a circulation of a few hundred copies, and in the best of times, the circulation increased to 5,000 copies, which was a record in Svatove area. It was distributed both by subscription and by retail. From the fall of 2005 to February 24, 2023, the editorial staff did not miss a single issue – all of them were delivered to readers in a timely manner.
It was not easy. After all, even before the war, our editorial office had experienced two major tragedies. There were three of us working at the newspaper… However, because of the COVID-19 epidemic, two of my colleagues, Olena Rahra, who worked as an editor, and Leonid Falko, died. So I published alone the newspaper for almost a year.
In February 2022, Andrii Kriukov was in Irpin, Kyiv region… and he never came back to Svatove.
“We immediately stopped publishing the newspaper because the post office stopped working, and even our last issue did not reach the readers,” the newspaper’s founder recalls. “In early March, our district was occupied…”
Andrii Kriukov is convinced that Svatove will be liberated, and the newspaper will come back to the readers.
“Of course, it is difficult to predict what will happen in Svatove after the de-occupation. I think, despite our independent status, we will have to cooperate with the local authorities, because the whole point of life today is to rely on mutual support. The first issues should be free. Information will need to be delivered to the villages destroyed by the war, and a newspaper is indispensable. In the villages near Svatove, where the front line is, it’s hell now. Currently, these villages almost do not exist. Many people have left. So we can’t plan our work now,” says Andrii Kriukov. “But Balakliya, where the printing house we published is located, is fortunately liberated. Our paper for printing newspaper is still there. Printing houses are offering their services… So we have everything we need to resume our work!”
September 2021. The NUJU President Sergiy Tomilenko and editor-in-chief of the Svativski Vidomosti newspaper Andrii Kriukov at the awarding ceremony for the best journalists and winners of the creative competition
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This story about the media was created by the NUJU in the frame of the project «Improving Ukrainian Media Resilience in Ukraine», financed by Swiss Solidarity and implemented with the support of the Swiss non-profit organization Fondation Hirondelle and the Institute for Regional Media and Information (IRMI, Ukraine). Fondation Hirondelle and IRMI implement a project of institutional support for Ukrainian media editorial offices in the east, north and south of our country, with an emphasis on the local press. They also launched a 10-month support program for 18 media.
Distribution area: Svatove district of Luhansk region Editor: Andrii Kriukov
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Before the war, the newspaper was published weekly on 8 pages. In February 2022, its circulation was 3,000 copies .
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It was distributed through subscriptions (55%) and retail (40%). These sales channels were also the main contributors to the editorial budget.
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The newspaper has not been published since the beginning of the war until now.
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The editorial office has been completely relocated.
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The media outlet is not represented on digital platforms and does not have pages on social media.
Svativski Vidomosti was established as an independent socio-political publication that responsibly and professionally defended and ensured the right of citizens to free expression and worked on the principles of freedom of speech and equal access to information. .
THE NATIONAL UNION OF
JOURNALISTS OF UKRAINE
According to Andrii Kriukov, it was interesting to work – independent journalism made it possible to conduct important investigations, expose corruption schemes of local authorities and local ‘oligarchs’, farmers…
“All of this remained in the binders of our newspaper,” says Andrii sadly.
In 2006, the editorial office organized a public action – a hunger strike against the increase in heating tariffs. This action caused an all-Ukrainian resonance at the time. “The day before, the journalists of Svativski Vidomosti asked their fellow journalists to provide information support for their indefinite hunger strike under the slogan ‘It is better to die of hunger than to pay for the cold’,” UNIAN wrote at the time. “A 71-year-old resident of the town, Lyudmyla Svylohuzova, has already joined the action.”
“Journalists from many national TV channels visited us. In the end, we managed to get the townspeople to receive free loans to install autonomous heating, and thus, in a few months, the issue of heating in Svatove was resolved,” says Andrii Kriukov.
Svativski Vidomosti has always been a traditional paper publication. For some time, they had a website, but when it turned out that it was ‘taking away’ readers from the paper edition, the site was closed.
“We lived only on the paper newspaper, and I am convinced that an independent publication should finance itself by producing products that it can sell to consumers,” says the newspaperman. “But on the Internet, paid services were not developed, and it was unprofitable to maintain a website.”
The newspaper started with a circulation of a few hundred copies, and in the best of times, the circulation increased to 5,000 copies, which was a record in Svatove area. It was distributed both by subscription and by retail. From the fall of 2005 to February 24, 2023, the editorial staff did not miss a single issue – all of them were delivered to readers in a timely manner.
It was not easy. After all, even before the war, our editorial office had experienced two major tragedies. There were three of us working at the newspaper… However, because of the COVID-19 epidemic, two of my colleagues, Olena Rahra, who worked as an editor, and Leonid Falko, died. So I published alone the newspaper for almost a year.
In February 2022, Andrii Kriukov was in Irpin, Kyiv region… and he never came back to Svatove.
“We immediately stopped publishing the newspaper because the post office stopped working, and even our last issue did not reach the readers,” the newspaper’s founder recalls. “In early March, our district was occupied…”
Andrii Kriukov is convinced that Svatove will be liberated, and the newspaper will come back to the readers.
“Of course, it is difficult to predict what will happen in Svatove after the de-occupation. I think, despite our independent status, we will have to cooperate with the local authorities, because the whole point of life today is to rely on mutual support. The first issues should be free. Information will need to be delivered to the villages destroyed by the war, and a newspaper is indispensable. In the villages near Svatove, where the front line is, it’s hell now. Currently, these villages almost do not exist. Many people have left. So we can’t plan our work now,” says Andrii Kriukov. “But Balakliya, where the printing house we published is located, is fortunately liberated. Our paper for printing newspaper is still there. Printing houses are offering their services… So we have everything we need to resume our work!”
According to Andrii Kriukov, it was interesting to work – independent journalism made it possible to conduct important investigations, expose corruption schemes of local authorities and local ‘oligarchs’, farmers…
“All of this remained in the binders of our newspaper,” says Andrii sadly.
In 2006, the editorial office organized a public action – a hunger strike against the increase in heating tariffs. This action caused an all-Ukrainian resonance at the time. “The day before, the journalists of Svativski Vidomosti asked their fellow journalists to provide information support for their indefinite hunger strike under the slogan ‘It is better to die of hunger than to pay for the cold’,” UNIAN wrote at the time. “A 71-year-old resident of the town, Lyudmyla Svylohuzova, has already joined the action.”
“Journalists from many national TV channels visited us. In the end, we managed to get the townspeople to receive free loans to install autonomous heating, and thus, in a few months, the issue of heating in Svatove was resolved,” says Andrii Kriukov.
Svativski Vidomosti has always been a traditional paper publication. For some time, they had a website, but when it turned out that it was ‘taking away’ readers from the paper edition, the site was closed.
“We lived only on the paper newspaper, and I am convinced that an independent publication should finance itself by producing products that it can sell to consumers,” says the newspaperman. “But on the Internet, paid services were not developed, and it was unprofitable to maintain a website.”
The newspaper started with a circulation of a few hundred copies, and in the best of times, the circulation increased to 5,000 copies, which was a record in Svatove area. It was distributed both by subscription and by retail. From the fall of 2005 to February 24, 2023, the editorial staff did not miss a single issue – all of them were delivered to readers in a timely manner.
It was not easy. After all, even before the war, our editorial office had experienced two major tragedies. There were three of us working at the newspaper… However, because of the COVID-19 epidemic, two of my colleagues, Olena Rahra, who worked as an editor, and Leonid Falko, died. So I published alone the newspaper for almost a year.
In February 2022, Andrii Kriukov was in Irpin, Kyiv region… and he never came back to Svatove.
“We immediately stopped publishing the newspaper because the post office stopped working, and even our last issue did not reach the readers,” the newspaper’s founder recalls. “In early March, our district was occupied…”
Andrii Kriukov is convinced that Svatove will be liberated, and the newspaper will come back to the readers.
“Of course, it is difficult to predict what will happen in Svatove after the de-occupation. I think, despite our independent status, we will have to cooperate with the local authorities, because the whole point of life today is to rely on mutual support. The first issues should be free. Information will need to be delivered to the villages destroyed by the war, and a newspaper is indispensable. In the villages near Svatove, where the front line is, it’s hell now. Currently, these villages almost do not exist. Many people have left. So we can’t plan our work now,” says Andrii Kriukov. “But Balakliya, where the printing house we published is located, is fortunately liberated. Our paper for printing newspaper is still there. Printing houses are offering their services… So we have everything we need to resume our work!”
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