Russia's state TV silent on Voronezh rocket strike that killed five

A rocket attack by Ukrainian armed forces on the city of Voronezh, which killed five people, was completely ignored by Russia's main television channels. Channel One, Russia 1 and NTV made no mention of the strike in their news broadcasts on 22 and 23 June. Even pro-war Russian bloggers expressed anger at the media blackout.

Russia's state television channels completely omitted Ukraine's rocket attack on Voronezh from their news broadcasts on 22 June, despite the strike killing five people and damaging a defence plant.

Channels maintained complete silence

Channel One, Russia 1 and NTV did not include the Voronezh attack in their news broadcasts on either 22 or 23 June. The strike and the local authorities' official casualty reports were not even mentioned in the news headlines, unlike previous Ukrainian drone attacks on Moscow which received fleeting coverage. On 22 June, Channel One mentioned Voronezh in its daily news only in connection with an FSB announcement stating that an alleged Ukrainian agent had been detained in the city.

Pro-war bloggers voiced outrage

Russia's pro-war Telegram bloggers expressed strong anger over the federal television channels' silence. The Telegram channel Verum Regnum, which has 68,500 subscribers, wrote: "We spent an hour watching Russia 24. Starmer's resignation, British national debt, sharks, artificial intelligence, Iran, the US, oil, state exams, milk production, harvests, rainfall in Moscow... Not a word about the Voronezh rocket attack."

Other bloggers noted that Vladimir Putin was participating on 22 June, virtually at the same time the Voronezh strike occurred, in a commemoration event in Moscow marking the 84th anniversary of the Great Patriotic War and made no comment on the incident. The Telegram channel Romanov Light, with 148,000 subscribers, noted sardonically that "the president's official reaction has yet to follow, presumably the briefing folder hasn't been delivered yet".

Rybar criticised locals

Rybar, a popular Telegram channel close to Russia's defence ministry with 1.5 million subscribers, criticised Voronezh residents for uploading videos of the attack's aftermath to social media. The channel devoted only a few lines to the attack itself and its consequences in its 22 June summary.

Ukraine's strike targeted Voronezh's defence plant. This is one of the clearest examples of how Russia's state media conceals information from the public about military strikes on Russian territory itself.