Oleh Dereniuha

Oleh Dereniuha

Oleh Dereniuha was born on 30 April 1989 in the settlement of Chornomorske, Crimea Region, Ukrainian SSR. He has lived in Mykolaiv since the same year. He studied at Mykolaiv Gymnasium No. 3 and Mykolaiv Evening School No. 1. He received higher education at Petro Mohyla Black Sea State University: a Bachelor’s degree in History and a Master’s degree in Public Administration: Local Government. He has worked professionally in journalism since 2012, specialising in local self-government, public finance, public authorities, recovery, urban infrastructure and public accountability.

He has taken part in educational and professional programmes organised by the Council of Europe in Oxford, the Stockholm School of Economics in Stockholm, the Friedrich Naumann Foundation in Berlin, as well as the Nordic Journalist Centre and IRMI Ukraine programme in Denmark. During his student years, from 2010 to 2013, he was involved in civic activities: he helped implement a student internship programme at Mykolaiv City Council, co-founded the MuseumCamp initiative aimed at creating a city history museum in Mykolaiv, organised the Student Republic programme, and participated in student self-government bodies and municipal advisory bodies on youth policy.

Report from the destroyed Mykolaiv Airport

Since 2012, he has worked at the online media outlet NikVesti: first as a correspondent, from 2013 to 2023 as Editor-in-Chief, and since 2023 as the outlet’s director and media manager. As a journalist and editor, he has covered the work of Mykolaiv City Council, regional authorities, municipal enterprises, court and budget processes, and decisions related to the development of the city and the region for many years. In 2016, he organised NikVesti Production studio, which produced television programmes, interviews, reports, documentaries and other public-interest video formats. He has recorded more than 100 interviews with local and national politicians, officials, military representatives, experts and civil society representatives. Since 2019, he has introduced regular live broadcasts of public-interest events in Mykolaiv, including meetings of public authorities, rallies, public hearings and other public events. During the 2019 presidential election, together with the NikVesti team and the MART and NIS-TV television channels, he held the Election 2019 telethon with representatives of candidates’ headquarters, members of local councils, the mayor and regional leadership. During the 2020 local elections, he launched the political talk show Battle for the City, which became one of the main election campaign platforms for candidates for local councils and mayoral candidates in Mykolaiv, as well as for journalists and active citizens.

Oleh Dereniuha

Battle for the City talk show

Discussion during the Battle for the City programme

During the Battle for the City talk show, candidates’ programmes, Mykolaiv’s development issues, local government, municipal infrastructure, budget decisions and the city’s prospects were discussed. Within this format, Mykolaiv held its first first-round mayoral debates, where politicians answered questions from their opponents, local and national Ukrainian journalists, and residents of the city. The programmes were broadcast on MART and NIS-TV and gained more than 200,000 views on YouTube.

Online media «NikVesti, journalists during the editorial meeting

After the start of the full-scale invasion, he coordinated the relaunch of NikVesti as an independent regional media outlet working in frontline Mykolaiv and covering the consequences of the war, recovery, local self-government, critical infrastructure, public finance and community needs. As the head of the media outlet, he is responsible for the newsroom’s strategic development, partnerships, financial sustainability, the implementation of the membership model and the development of the NikVesti Readers’ Club.

He has implemented and coordinated newsroom projects with international partners, including BBC Media Action, International Media Support, the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Prague Civil Society Centre, Internews Europe, Reporters Without Borders, Fondation Hirondelle and other organisations supporting independent media in Ukraine.

In 2024, he spoke at b° future festival in Bonn during the discussion “News Deserts in Ukraine: Launching New Media Startups in De-occupied Regions of Ukraine”, focused on the work of local media in de-occupied and war-affected territories.

In 2025, he spoke at the Strong Media, Transparent Recovery event during the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Rome, and at Rebuilding Ukraine: Strong Media, Secure Investments, Transparent Recovery at the EBRD Headquarters in London. He received the Citizen of the Year 2020 award in the Media category. In 2025, NikVesti was nominated by Reporters Without Borders for the Press Freedom Award in the Editorial Independence category.

In 2026, he was selected as one of nine Ukrainian professionals to take part in the MERIT Forum 2026, a professional exchange programme run by International Media Support on media policy, regulation, European integration and democratic safeguards in the media sector. The programme brings together experts from Ukraine, Denmark, EU institutions and international partners, including through exchanges in Brussels and Copenhagen. His participation in the MERIT Forum focuses on European approaches to media regulation, self-regulation, the Digital Services Act, the European Media Freedom Act, audiovisual legislation, information integrity and the possible adaptation of these approaches to the Ukrainian context.

Contact:

Address: NikVesti editorial office, 33-A Admiralska Street, Mykolaiv, 54001, Ukraine.
Phone: +380932838912
E-mail: [email protected]