Ukrainian Press Union Condemns Arson Attack at Regional News Portal Newsroom

KIEV (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st October, 2020) Unknown assailants attempted to burn down the office of a regional Ukrainian news portal, Alternatyva.org, day after attacking the outlet's chief editor.

According to images published on the Alternatyva.org website, and accounts of eyewitnesses shared, two men threw Molotov cocktails through the windows of the editorial in the early hours of Wednesday.

This comes after editor-in-chief on Sunday reported that he was attacked and beaten by unidentified attackers in the outskirts of Odesa.

Head of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine, Serhiy Tomilenko, condemned the attacks and called for an investigation into the matter.

"The National Union of Journalists of Ukraine condemns the attack on the journalist, protests against the gross intimidation of the media, which the arson of the editorial office is, and calls on law enforcement officers to promptly investigate the crimes," Tomilenko wrote on Facebook.

Tomilenko stated that the attacks are linked to upcoming local elections across Ukraine and constitute as an act of intimidation of the press.

Local elections will take place across Ukraine on October 25, except for the capital region of Kiev and wantaway Donetsk and Luhansk.