In Ukraine, a magazine publisher was fined for violating the language law
Olena Ivanovska, the Commissioner for the Protection of the State Language, fined a business entity 11,900 UAH for a repeat violation of language legislation within a year. The inspection was prompted by a complaint from a citizen who provided photographic evidence showing that while the cover of a printed publication was in Ukrainian, some of the interior content—specifically crossword puzzles and answer keys—was in a non-state language.
A violation of Article 25 of the Law of Ukraine “On Ensuring the Functioning of the Ukrainian Language as the State Language” was established based on the results of a government inspection. The inspection was conducted by Polina Tretyak, a representative of the Commissioner.
According to her, the complaint included photos showing that the magazine’s cover was in Ukrainian, but the inside pages and game components were printed in another language.
In accordance with Part 1 of Article 25 of the language law, print media in Ukraine must be published in the state language.
Publications may also be issued in other languages, but a Ukrainian-language edition must be published simultaneously with the corresponding foreign-language edition.
Furthermore, all language versions must:
- have the same title;
- correspond to one another in terms of content, volume, and printing method;
- have the same numbering;
- be published on the same day.
The magazine’s editorial board acknowledged the violation of language legislation.
The publishing house explained that the violation was due to production circumstances—a temporary lack of technical capabilities to fully translate the materials into Ukrainian, as well as an insufficient number of staff members capable of preparing Ukrainian-language content within the specified deadlines.
The publishing house emphasized that the violation was not intentional and that it had been rectified before the next issue was published.
To confirm this, a copy of the electronic version of the magazine, fully prepared in Ukrainian for printing, was submitted to the case file.
During the state inspection, the Commissioner’s Secretariat received another complaint regarding the same business entity.
It was added to the case file. Following the review, a report and a protocol on the administrative offense were drawn up.
Since the requirements of Article 25 of the Language Law had been repeatedly violated over the course of the year, Olena Ivanovska imposed a fine of 11,900 UAH on the business entity.
At the same time, in 2025, this same business entity had already been subject to administrative penalties twice for violating language legislation—fines of 8,500 and 11,900 hryvnias.
As a reminder, law enforcement identified nine female victims in the case involving the director of one of the language centers in Khmelnytskyi. The man is charged with 14 crimes, which, according to the investigation, were committed between 2004 and 2025.
The director of the language center in the Khmelnytskyi region has been taken into custody.
Law enforcement is investigating possible losses totaling 129 million hryvnias during tenders in the energy sector. According to the investigation, company officials may have helped a specific private company win procurement contracts, after which the work was carried out at inflated prices.
The State Bureau of Investigation (DBR) has exposed a military officer for the clandestine sale of assault rifles, grenades, and a military drone.
