“We Must Be Everywhere, on All Platforms, Be a Global Player” — Yulia Bin at DMF-2026

14.10.2026, 12:45 uatv.ua

Yulia Bin, General Director of SE “International Broadcasting Multimedia Platform of Ukraine,” became a speaker at DMF-2026. She shared her experience of Ukrainian international broadcasting working in different languages with different audiences abroad.

October 8–10 in Kyiv hosted the 11th Donbas Media Forum 2026 – the largest media event of the year in Ukraine. This year’s theme “I_MEDIA: person – for a person – about a person. How in a world of wars, geopolitics, ubiquitous AI and broken connections to return a person, security, rights and dignity to focus” brought together many important discussions – from ethical standards in journalism to war coverage, from media professionals’ psychological health to financial support for newsrooms, from a culture of respect to the use of technology. DMF 2026 gathered 1,397 participants from different parts of Ukraine and abroad, and within the Forum’s program 82 events took place – public discussions, workshops, research presentations, public interviews and debates.

Yulia Bin, General Director of SE “IBMPU,” participated in a panel discussion “How Media That Speak in Different Languages Help Ukraine Stay on the World Agenda”, where they discussed the experience of media creating content about Ukraine in different languages for audiences abroad. The discussion was also attended by Deputy Editor-in-Chief at UNITED24 Media Oleksandr Moiseenko; Brazilian journalist, graduate student at Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) Fabricio Vitorino; and head of eQtv television channel Oleksandr Glushchenko. The conversation was moderated by Marharyta Sytnyk, co-founder of the public initiative “Holka” and journalist. Discussion participants in particular spoke about how to reach different audiences outside Ukraine, what role the presence of Ukrainian media in the global media space plays in countering Russian narratives, explaining Ukraine to the world and supporting Ukrainians abroad.

“We must be everywhere. Whenever someone in the world wants to learn something about Ukraine, wherever a person goes, there must always be information about us. On all platforms and in different ways. We need to diversify formats, create unique content for different languages and attract different audiences. It is important to give not only what foreigners themselves want to know about us and what already interests them. Ukraine has layers of information that may not concern them much, that are not related to the war, but we strategically want them to know about it. For this, we need to systematically aim at one point to force the world to look at Ukraine from a different angle than war. We cannot achieve this with short videos about shelling alone. We won’t maintain long-term interest from foreign audiences that way and won’t form a deep connection with them. We need to systematically invest time and resources in this, to be players in the global media space to hold the world’s attention and remain important to it,” – Yulia Bin noted.

During the discussion, participants discussed work with English-speaking audiences and audiences of the Global South. The head of SE “IBMPU” in particular spoke about the UATV platforms in Spanish and Portuguese (Brazilian) languages. Separately, she highlighted content specifically addressed to these audiences, including stories of Latin American volunteers fighting for Ukraine in the Foreign Legion. Her view was supported by Brazilian journalist Fabricio Vitorino

“Russia has a century of propaganda experience and works very intensively in Latin America, where they have historically learned to skillfully promote their content through traditional media. To counter this huge machine, Ukraine cannot simply translate its materials — we need to deeply understand the local audience. We need to balance international broadcasting and offer foreigners different topics: not just about war or corruption, but about your democratic choice, about shared values, justice and unique lifestyle,” – he emphasized.

Deputy Editor-in-Chief of UNITED24 Media Oleksandr Moiseenko discussed the peculiarities of working with sensitive military content, in particular how to avoid “suppression” of such content by platform algorithms. The speaker also specifically noted the high adaptability of Russian propaganda to Western audiences.

“Russian propaganda has quickly adapted to the modern fragmented media space. They actively use many influencers on YouTube who manipulate conspiracy theories. But we cannot act by their methods — we are like in the Harry Potter universe, where black and white magic oppose each other. Black magic is more aggressive and seems “cooler” at first glance, but white magic will still win, even if right now it seems quite passive,” – Oleksandr Moiseenko noted.

A separate part of the discussion concerned work with audiences within Russia. The General Director of SE “IBMPU” discussed the weaknesses and vulnerabilities of the aggressor country’s information space, noting that the Russian audience responds most to content that strikes at Russia’s internal contradictions: inequality of peoples; mobilization; lies of state propaganda; the real price of war; system degradation.

“The audience within Russia itself is quite segmented. Different groups are offered topics that highlight the real vulnerabilities of the regime. Yes, the focus is on everyday problems, impoverishment, natural disasters that official Russian media are silent about and which interests practically all Russians. We see this by digital metrics because no matter what they’re told from screens, when they open their refrigerator or go to a store, they somehow feel that something is not right in the country. On the other hand, a separate and extremely important focus of international broadcasting is the subjugated peoples of the RF, whose history the Kremlin has completely distorted. For them we created unique platforms, such as the FREEДOM.КАВКАЗ channel. That is, our task – to understand these different groups and talk to them about what really concerns them,” – Yulia Bin emphasized.

In turn, head of eQtv television channel Oleksandr Glushchenko discussed effective and safe ways to obtain information under censorship conditions, including the decentralized Ceno browser, which allows bypassing blocking without using VPN.

Participants also discussed the effectiveness of creative and low-budget tools that allow Ukrainian media to win the battle for attention abroad without the billions of resources that Russia invests in its own disinformation network and cultural influence, and also outlined the main challenges in delivering domestic narratives to foreigners – from lack of funding and distrust to technical limitations and blockages.

“Despite Russia pouring crazy money into cognitive warfare, we still find ways to be creative and deliver our truth to foreigners. I believe that people in the world choose justice, so victory in this cognitive battle will definitely be ours,” – Oleksandr Glushchenko noted.

DMF 2026 was organized by the public organization “DII-Ukraine” and the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine. The event took place on October 8–10 and was held at the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in World War II.

Donbas Media Forum – is an annual conference that brings together journalists and media managers from Ukraine and the world, provides an opportunity to discuss current professional issues and establish communication. Founded by media organization DII-Ukraine in 2015.

SE “IBMPU” is a long-standing information partner of the Forum.

Photo: Roman Chornyi, DMF

Read also: Ukrainian International Broadcasting’s Film “Science Warriors” Presented at the Arctic Circle Assembly in Iceland