The General Staff dismissed Humeniuk from the position of spokeswoman of the Southern Defense Forces

Nataliia Humeniuk, photo from open sources

The head of the Strategic Communications Center of the Southern Defense Forces, Nataliia Humeniuk, was dismissed from this position.

This was reported by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

It should be noted that this decision was preceded in particular by an appeal by Ukrainian media persons to the military leadership regarding the spokeswoman's actions.

More than 100 journalists and editors signed the letter. In the statement, the journalists claim that Nataliia Humeniuk forbids the coverage of war crimes committed by Russians in the Kherson region and does not provide access to the military.

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They called the most critical case the ban on entering the flooded towns and villages in the Kherson Region on the day of the explosion of the Kakhovka HPP — then the world media were flooded with references to the testimony of Russian «military personnel», because there was almost no information from Ukrainian journalists.

«Ms. Humeniuk forbade recording the suffering of Ukrainians in the part of the villages where the water disappeared due to the blow-up of the hydroelectric power plant, and forbidding the removal of the bottom of the reservoir, which had dried up. Before that, journalists had to drive through minefields to newly liberated villages in the Kherson region and Mykolaiv region, in order to tell about the war crimes of the Russians at the moment when the world was most curious. It was impossible to obtain official permission to enter these villages legally by road through roadblocks in an adequate period of time,» the media statement said.

The General Staff reported that they are looking for a new specialist for the position of spokesperson of the OC «South».

They also noted that the Center for Strategic Communications of the Southern Defense Forces will work as usual and will organize cooperation with media representatives who have the appropriate accreditation.

The release of Nataliia Humeniuk was talked about even before that. In November 2023, Detektor Media reported that she may leave the position.

Later, Nataliia Humeniuk denied the information that she had resigned.