Slobidskyi Kray resumes delivery of special issues to frontline communities

The newspaper Slobodskyi Kray will resume the delivery of special issues to frontline communities for the first time in 2025 after winning a competition organized by the Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications (MCSC), chief editor Larysa Hnatchenko announced in a Facebook post.

In a comment to the Institute of Mass Information's regional representative Yulia Napolska, Larysa Hnatchenko said that the special issue for frontline communities had gone out of print in early 2025 due to the USAID funding cuts. However, thanks to the competition by the MCSC, the printing was resumed. Besides Kharkiv oblast, the newspaper will also be available in Kherson, Mykolaiv, and Sumy oblasts. The first issue for Kharkiv oblast will be received by 20 thousand people in 26 communities free of charge, with eight more issues coming throughout this year. Vairous means of delivery will be used: Nova Poshta, where possible, and some readers will be able to pick the newspaper up from humanitarian aid hubs.

Slobidskyi Kray chief editor Larysa Hnatchenko. Photo by Larysa Hnatchenko on Facebook

Especially for the mostly elderly residents of frontline communities, the issue contains helpful information such as:

• where to apply for aid;
• what documents you will need;
• stories about how one should keep on living despite everything.

The newspaper also contains the latest news from Ukraine and Kharkiv oblast.

Larysa Hnatchenko says that people in frontline communities have been in a news desert since January, especially the Lypetsk and Kupyansk communities. The locals had to listen to Russian radio, since there is no alternative in some communities.

Earlier, IMI reported that the signal of the Kharkiv-based radio station Nakypilo was recorded in the South of Finland.