Editor’s note: This story is being updated. Ukrainian investigative journalist Mykhailo Tkach said on October 9 that Austrian police had brutally detained him and his colleague the previous day and treated them “like terrorists.” He maintained that there was no evidence of the accusation they face: spying for Ukrainian military intelligence. The Kyiv Independent has requested comment from the Austrian Ministry of the Interior and will publish its response once it receives it. The two Ukrainian journalists detained in Austria on October 8 are suspected of espionage, Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said at a press conference on October 9. Tkach, head of the investigative team at the media outlet Ukrainska Pravda, has been released, while cameraman Yaroslav Bondarenko remains detained, Karner said, quoted by the Australian newspaper Kleine Zeitung. Austrian newspaper Der Standard reported that two alleged employees of Ukrainian military intelligence had also been detained in Austria. After being released, Tkach said on October 9 that “suddenly, out of nowhere, about seven armed men in masks appeared and immediately smashed the windows of our car.” As a result of the gunmen’s actions, Bondarenko was injured when broken glass from the car hit him in the face, he added. “They pointed their guns at us and started shouting something in German,” he said. “I immediately raised my hands and told them that we were journalists. They quickly took Yaroslav and me out of the car and threw us face down on the road.” He said he kept repeating that he was a journalist, but one of the armed men put his knee on his neck and yelled at him to shut up. “Then they dragged me to a nearby archway, pushed me against a wall with my face towards it and told me to shut up,” Tkach said. “For the first 30 minutes I had no idea who these people were. My first thought was that someone could have ordered our kidnapping.” He added that “no one had shown us any identification, asked us questions or offered any explanation, and I had not noticed any police markings.” “It seemed like they were arresting us as terrorists,” Tkach said. “They didn’t talk to us at all. They just kept yelling at us, pointing their guns at us. There was absolutely no communication.” “At 4 a.m. on October 9, Mykhailo Tkach was released after being detained for more than 12 hours in Vienna,” Sevhil Musayeva, editor-in-chief of Ukrainska Pravda, wrote on Facebook on October 9. “However, his communication devices have not yet been returned, so the editorial team cannot currently. Our colleague Yaroslav Bondarenko was injured during the arrest and was hospitalized. The police did not start interrogating him until the early hours of the morning.” He added that the legal situation of both journalists is not clear. “The allegations made against our colleagues while they were detained are unlike anything our editorial team has encountered before and raise serious questions,” Musayeva added. “We hope that the Austrian police authorities will explain the circumstances surrounding the arrest of our colleagues, Yaroslav’s injury and the reasons why they were both detained for so long. We also hope that their legal situation and the return of their communication devices will be clarified.” “The length of his detention, the nature of the accusations made against our colleagues, Yaroslav’s injury and our inability to contact Mykhailo directly are causes for serious concern.” Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi said on October 9 that “Ukrainian diplomats and consular officials at the Embassy of Ukraine in Austria have been working with their Austrian counterparts to resolve the situation.” He said Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry is investigating the circumstances of Tkach’s detention. detention and trying to establish whether Bondarenko has also been released. Ukrainska Pravda criticized Tkach’s arrest the previous day. “The editorial office considers this detention illegal and demands his immediate release and an official explanation of the actions of Austrian law enforcement officers,” Musayeva wrote in a statement. The acclaimed journalist was reportedly on an editorial mission in Vienna to track down fugitive Ukrainian Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko when he was detained by Austrian authorities. Ukrainska Pravda reported on September 23 that Kravchenko had moved to Austria. Kravchenko was fired by parliament on September 15 amid a major corruption investigation. He left Ukraine on September 14, under the pretext of an official trip to a conference in Paris. But organizers told the Kyiv Independent that they did not expect him to attend, strengthening suspicions that the trip was a fig leaf to flee Ukraine and avoid possible charges. When Kravchenko left Ukraine, he simultaneously approved charges against the head of the anti-corruption agency investigating him. The charges were later dropped as unfounded. As one of Ukraine’s most prominent investigative journalists, Tkach has helped expose corruption and money laundering within President Volodymyr Zelensky’s inner circle. On September 29, Tkach received a Free Media Award 2026 in Oslo “for her fearless and consistent investigative journalism in wartime.” while reporting on the transit of goods between Poland, Russia and Belarus in February 2024.
