Bypassing blocking: how to read NikVesti in the temporarily occupied territories

After the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Russian authorities significantly limited access to the Ukrainian information field in the temporarily occupied territories. These restrictions apply both to access to official websites of Ukrainian state bodies and to websites of Ukrainian media.

The NikVesti website can now be read safely in the temporarily occupied territories, we explain how.

There are two ways to bypass the Russian blocking:

• VPN

• Ceno Browser (Android only)

How VPN works

By installing a VPN on your computer or mobile device, you create a secure and anonymous channel for connecting to the Internet. A VPN hides your real IP address by replacing it with the IP address of the VPN service, which allows you to bypass regional restrictions and access blocked sites such as NikVesti.

A reliable VPN helps secure your connection, but some VPN services may be blocked by Russian authorities. It is worth choosing those services that remain available. Free VPNs are often dangerous because they can collect and sell your data. It is recommended to use paid VPNs, which often offer a free trial. For example, ClearVPN and VPN Unlimited provide free access to Ukrainians after confirming their citizenship through «Diia.Pidpys».

Ceno browser for Android

The Ceno (Censorship.No!) browser is developed by the Canadian company eQualitie. It is a mobile browser that uses a peer-to-peer (p2p) network to share data between users, allowing you to bypass censorship and blocking.

This browser caches the content of sites that are banned in countries with authoritarian regimes and delivers this cache to users inside such countries. This means that users can access mirrors of sites such as NikVesti without using a VPN, registering or providing personal data, even in the event of Russia being cut off from global internet channels.

If you are using Android devices, you can download Ceno via Google PlayMarket or F-droid.

It should be noted that at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the Russian military partially occupied the Bashtanka and Mykolaiv districts. The Russians also tried to capture the city of Voznesensk.

In the fall of 2022, during the counteroffensive, the Ukrainian military managed to liberate most of the occupied territories. Until now, part of the Mykolayiv region, namely the Kinburn spit, has been under occupation for more than two years. According to the calculations of the local authorities, as of November 2023 , about 200 civilians remained on the Kinburn spit, contact with whom was lost after the occupation.