Kyiv Post Cartoons, issue 26

NEWS ITEM: Volodymyr Makeienko, owner of the Pryamiy TV channel, on June 24 met with the channel’s employees to assure them that, despite rumors, the channel isn’t being sold to pro-Russian oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk. Ex-President Petro Poroshenko was at the meeting. Makeienko said that Poroshenko, who already owns Channel 5, would have the primary right to buy Priamiy if it was for sale. But media and political experts have been attributing Pryamiy to Poroshenko since its launch in 2017, due to the channel’s heavy bias toward him and the fact that Makeienko wasn’t able to explain how he could afford launching and sponsoring a TV station. Makeienko denied being a proxy owner for anyone.