‘Control and implementation of censorship’: a Ukrainian military official cited the reason for discussing the possible blocking of Telegram

Discussions about restricting the Telegram messenger are not about digital security but about the desire to control and impose censorship.

This statement was made by the Deputy Commander of the 3rd Assault Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Maxim Zhorin.

“The goal of all this is total blocking of the messenger. And I hope it remains just intentions in some sick minds,” he noted.

“There are many questions about Telegram. But there is no alternative at the moment – especially against the backdrop of Meta or Twitter’s anti-Ukrainian policies,” Zhorin said.

Recall that the day before, the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Kirill Budanov, stated that the Telegram messenger is “definitely a problem from the point of view of national security.”

And before that, a bill on Telegram control was registered in the Verkhovna Rada. It provides for the possibility of demanding blocking in Ukraine of both individual users and Telegram channels.

The issue of banning the messenger has been raised in Ukraine more than once before.