In response to the petition, which garnered more than 25,000 votes, the Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal spoke out against the reallocation of funds allocated for the telethon to purchase drones and pickup trucks for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. According to him, investments in the telethon are “critically important” for the state’s information security and countering Russian aggression.
The prime minister emphasized that the funding of the telethon is of strategic importance: “Ensuring information security is part of the state policy in the field of national security and defense, and the implementation of a unified information policy is a priority issue of national security.” He also pointed out that the government is working systematically to increase resource support for the security sector, including international assistance.
The petition that provoked the prime minister’s reaction was started by soldier Pavlo Bilous on January 17, and it quickly gained the required number of signatures. The petition refers to the high cost of the telethon, which has cost the state UAH 2.13 billion over the past two years, while these funds could have been used to purchase 21.5 thousand DJI Mavic 3 quadcopters or 4 thousand pickup trucks.
It should be noted that the Accounting Chamber intends to check the effectiveness of the use of funds for the telethon, but, of course, this initiative was not supported at the last meeting, although the proposal for control was made by MP Yaroslav Yurchyshyn.
The initiative and the Prime Minister’s response provoke a heated debate in society, where the question of the balance between the need for information counteraction and direct support for the armed forces is raised. Also, the telethon raises a lot of questions about freedom of speech in Ukraine. No opposition media outlets were included in the telethon, and the coverage was controlled by the Office of the President of Ukraine. Because of this, Ukrainians have not watched the telethon for a long time and call it a screen for total theft of funds from the budget.
The issue of closing the telethon as a very inefficient unit has been long overdue. In particular, the single telethon included all the media and journalists who, before the war, had been promoting hatred of Ukraine and broadcasting all Moscow’s narratives. Therefore, society calls this telethon a screen to cover up anti-Ukrainian forces under the direct supervision of Zelensky’s friends.
Independent media outlets have long been standing in the way of Russian information attacks not only in Ukraine but also in the world without funding.
