Hromadske journalist detained in Kyiv, taken to military recruitment center

According to the report, the officers stopped a taxi Shulhat was riding in and claimed he violated military registration regulations.

“Police officers stopped the taxi he was travelling in and put him in handcuffs,” Hromadske said in a statement.

“According to the officers, the reason for stopping him was an alleged violation of military registration rules. However, documents available to our editorial team show that the journalist has not violated any military registration rules.”

It is unclear how the police patrol team could have known which specific vehicle Shulhat was in. Yaroslava Volvach, head of Hromadske’s investigations desk, added that the officers “showed no interest in the driver’s documents, which suggests the detention was targeted.”

Kyiv police confirmed Shulhat’s detention, claiming that he “refused to present identity documents and military registration documents.” Officers then “offered” to take him to a military recruitment support center to verify his registration data, the police statement said. When he allegedly declined to comply with lawful orders, police detained him and took him to a nearby recruitment center for the necessary procedures and data verification.

Military recruitment officials later confirmed that Shulhat was brought to one of Kyiv district recruitment centers, Hromadske reported. By 11:48 p.m., the journalist was released, with orders to report for a military-medical examination at a later date.

Hromadske said Shulhat has worked on several investigations, including pieces about alleged corruption among law enforcement officials. In 2024, while he worked at the investigative outlet Slidstvo.Info, he was preparing a report about luxury property linked to Illia Vityuk, head of the SBU cybersecurity department; after the investigation was published, someone attempted to hand Shulhat a draft summons. Sources for Slidstvo.Info said Oleksii Bilenko, a man the outlet linked to Vityuk, was then directing the draft officers to target Shulhat.