During the night of 17–18 November 2025, the Russian Federation carried out another deliberate attack on civilian objects in Ukraine. Shahed-type attack UAVs struck the Suspilne Broadcasting branch in Dnipro, which housed the newsrooms of Suspilne Dnipro and Suspilne Donbas, as well as the nearby television tower. The attack resulted in at least ten explosions; a breach in the building, blown-out doors, significant fire outbreaks, and extensive infrastructure damage were recorded. The apartment of a Suspilne journalist living nearby was also affected. Television and radio broadcasting transmitted via the TV tower has been suspended.

We strongly condemn this attack as yet another deliberate strike against freedom of expression, citizens’ access to information, and the work of independent media that document and report on Russia’s war crimes every day.

The Russian Federation, which systematically violates international humanitarian law and the rules and customs of war, is increasingly sliding into methods of unconventional warfare and the practices of terrorist groups. The strike on Suspilne’s facilities is yet another manifestation of the terrorist nature of the so-called “Russian world” and “great Russian culture,” which masquerade as civilization while serving as instruments of destruction. Russia deliberately targets journalists and media. Since the beginning of the war in 2014, Russia has killed 119 journalists, according to the Institute of Mass Information. Several journalists and citizen journalists are held in inhumane conditions in Russian detention facilities and are denied proper assistance.

Terrorism, deliberate strikes on civilian cities, ecocide, genocide, the destruction of cultural heritage, attacks on critical infrastructure, and attempts to silence media that reveal the truth about the crimes of Russia’s state terrorist structures — all of this forms the true portrait of today’s Russian Federation. Russia has fully transformed into the European ISIS, a threat to peace, stability, and the democratic world.

Any political attempts to “negotiate” with the Russian Federation are nothing more than attempts to negotiate with terrorists. Terror cannot be stopped through appeasement.

We call on the international community to:

• firmly condemn the shelling of Suspilne and yet another attack on media infrastructure;
• strengthen sanctions pressure on Russia as a terrorist state;
• provide Ukraine with the necessary air-defense systems capable of repelling massive attacks on cities and critical infrastructure;
• continue supporting independent Ukrainian media and the Public Service Broadcaster Suspilne, which operates under constant danger and performs the vital function of informing the public.
  

The world must recognize: the only language the Russian Federation understands is the language of measures applied to Osama bin Laden and other international terrorists. Any other strategy merely encourages the aggressor to commit new crimes.

Ukrainian media civil society organizations will continue to support Suspilne and all journalists who, despite the danger, carry out their work — defending the public’s right to the truth.

Centre for Democracy and Rule of Law

Ukrainian Institute of Media and Communication

Suspilnist Foundation

Internews Ukraine

Institute for Regional Media Development

Human Rights Platform

Pylyp Orlyk Institute for Democracy

Institute of Mass Information

Detector media