German ZDF channel films story from occupied Mariupol: Ukraine's Foreign Ministry demands explanations

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has called on the German TV channel ZDF to explain the trip of its journalist to occupied Mariupol without Ukraine’s approval of this.

Oleh Nikolenko, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, stressed that "distortion of reality" cannot be considered journalistic work and that the head of the Moscow bureau of ZDF did not receive consent from Kyiv to travel to Mariupol, which is a violation of Ukrainian law.

"We call on ZDF to provide official explanations. Violation of Ukrainian legislation may affect the further activities of this TV channel in Ukraine," Nikolenko added. 

Armin Coerper, a ZDF journalist, who heads the channel's Moscow bureau, filmed a story with a distorted picture of life in Russian-occupied Mariupol.

Before that, Ukraine's Ambassador to Germany Oleksii Makeiev reacted to the story, adding that it had caused a sharply negative reaction among many German experts and journalists he knew, including Coerper's colleagues at ZDF.

Makeiev added that the Ukrainian embassy immediately contacted the editorial office. ZDF acknowledged the mistake and assured the embassy of respect for Ukraine's territorial integrity.