Kyiv Post Suspends Operations: Owner Says Temporary, Newsroom Says Permanent

Details of the scandal surrounding the legendary publication.

Adnan Kivan, owner of the English-language Ukrainian independent publication Kyiv Post, announced a temporary suspension of the newsroom's work for a reboot.

For their part, staff said the publication was closed completely due to the "owner's revenge against employees." They said they were all fired at once.

Owner's statement

According to Kivan, the plan is to someday "reopen the newspaper bigger and better."

Adnan Kivan
owner of Kyiv Post

We hope someday to reopen the newspaper bigger and better. I thank the entire Kyiv Post team and Brian Bonner for his service to Ukraine and independent journalism over the past 25 years.

In a statement it is noted that Kyiv Post editor-in-chief Brian Bonner is resigning after the publication's closure.

Newsroom response

Kyiv Post staff said that on the morning of November 8, the entire team was told of the immediate closure of the newspaper and access to the website was cut off.

Staff editor Anna Myroniuk said that the publication's attempt to保持 independence met resistance from Kivan, and therefore the closure of the publication and the dismissal of the staff became "Kivan's retribution."

Anna Myroniuk
editor of Kyiv Post

Just three weeks ago, Kyiv Post owner Adnan Kivan, an Odesa developer, said he had other plans: to expand Kyiv Post and launch a Ukrainian-language media outlet under the publication's brand. At the time, this news, as well as the appointment to a leadership post of a person linked to the owner, came as a surprise to the newsroom.

She said that staff saw risks in the format Kivan chose for expanding the publication and viewed it as interference in editorial policy.

"We believe that in this way the owner is getting rid of inconvenient, honest and principled journalists," the journalist said.

Myroniuk also noted that the staff offered the owner to sell the newspaper or transfer the Kyiv Post trademark to the newsroom, but he refused.

The weekly was founded in 1995 to cover events in Ukraine for foreigners.

Until now, Kyiv Post has been the main source of information about Ukraine for most diplomats, foreigners and staff of many international organizations.