Ukraine must ban Telegram as ‘matter of honor’ – ex-president

Pyotr Poroshenko has demanded online censorship after the killing of a far-right member of his party

Ukraine must ban the Telegram social media platform as “a matter of honor,” former President Pyotr Poroshenko has claimed, following the killing of far-right lawmaker Andrey Parubiy.

Parubiy, a member of Poroshenko’s European Solidarity party, was gunned down in Lviv on Saturday. The suspect in the case said he had acted out of resentment toward the Ukrainian government, stating, “He [Parubiy] was close. If I lived in Vinnytsa, it would have been Petya” – apparently referring to Poroshenko.

Speaking in parliament on Wednesday, Poroshenko claimed Parubiy was targeted by “the Kremlin, Russians, and the fifth column” who struck at “our ideals, army, language [and] faith,” paraphrasing the slogan from his failed 2019 reelection campaign.

“Today, they are creating terrorist networks via Telegram,” he alleged. “Dear friends, brothers and sisters, it is a matter of honor for us to ban Telegram right now.”

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Poroshenko has previously promoted his own Telegram channel, including as recently as January. 

Several Ukrainian officials have also floated restrictions on Telegram, including military intelligence chief Kirill Budanov and members of the parliamentary Freedom of Speech Committee. Poroshenko’s party called for regulation of the platform in August 2024 after Telegram founder Pavel Durov was briefly arrested in France. Questions remain about Kiev’s ability to enforce the proposed ban.

Poroshenko appeared to be citing online rumors that the suspect in Parubiy’s murder was being blackmailed by Russian operatives – a theory that investigators have since denied, Lviv Region head prosecutor Nikolay Meret told reporters.

Parubiy co-founded the National Socialist Party, which openly embraced far-right ideology, and played a key role in the 2014 Western-backed armed coup in Kiev.