Espreso TV

Espreso TV is an Internet television station in Ukraine that started to operate in November 2013. Espreso TV enabled the Euromaidan protests to be broadcast worldwide.[1][2][3][4]

Ownership

The channel is owned by the media company Goldberry LLC.[5]

Prior to August 2017 99% of Espreso TV belonged to Larysa Knyazhytska, the wife of Mykola Knyazhytsky.[5]

In August 2017 Inna Avakova (the wife of former Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov) acquired 40% of Goldberry LLC and Arseniy Yatsenyuk (former Prime Minister) acquired 30%; the remaining 30% of Goldberry LLC stayed in the possession of Larysa Knyazhytska.[5]

In December 2017 the US Atmosphere Entertainment became a major shareholder of Espreso TV by purchasing 77.5% stake in Goldberry LLC that runs Espreso TV in Ukraine. The final beneficiary of the US company is Ivan Zhevago.[6]

History

On 22 January 2014, a journalist of Espreso TV Dmytro Dvoychenkov was kidnapped, beaten, and taken to an unknown location. He was later released.[7]

Cyber attacks

On February 19, 2024, at around 7:30 p.m., unknown hackers gained access to the broadcast signal of the Espreso TV channel.

The attackers broadcast a short footage of destroyed Ukrainian cities and a video of Joe Biden falling and stumbling with a call to stop, hinting at the alleged involvement of the United States in the war in Ukraine.[8][9][10]

On December 16, 2024, at around 12:50 p.m., attackers gained unauthorized access to the TV channel’s server and tried to broadcast a video with a fake appeal from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Russian.[11][12]

External links