Ukraine shuts TV channels owned by Russia-friendly tycoon

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine has shut several television channels owned by a Russia-linked magnate in what the nation's president described Wednesday as a necessary move to fight Kremlin propaganda.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said cutting broadcasting by the channels and blocking their assets was a “difficult” but necessary decision.

“Ukraine strongly supports freedom of speech,” he tweeted. “Not propaganda financed by the aggressor country that undermines Ukraine on its way to the EU and EuroAtlantic integration. Fight for independence is fight in the information war for truth and European values.”

Ukraine has been locked in a tug of war with Russia, which annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and cast its support behind pro-Moscow insurgents in eastern Ukraine. The conflict, now in its seventh year, has killed more than 14,000 people and devastated Ukraine's industrial heartland.

The now-blocked 112 Ukraine, NewsOne and ZIK channels belong to Viktor Medvedchuk, a businessman who has friendly personal ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is the godfather of Medvedchuk's daughter. Medvedchuk supports the Opposition Platform for Life, a political party that is popular in Ukraine's southeast and holds a minority in the Ukrainian parliament.

Zelenskiy's spokeswoman Iuliia Mendel said that Medvedchuk's media assets have been blocked for reasons of national security because they have served as “one of the instruments of war against Ukraine.” She added on Facebook that the authorities have confirmed they were bankrolled by Russia.

The three blocked TV channels issued a statement denouncing the ban as “political repression.”

Medvedchuk called the presidential order illegal and said he would appeal.

“With one stroke of a pen,...