Russian-language Ukrainian TV channel aims to topple Putin

In a 19th-century building in the heart of Kyiv, a group of journalists were hard at work. Olga Volkona, a TV presenter, was preparing to interview a military expert. In a nearby room, reporters were posting content to Telegram, YouTube and Facebook. Others were preparing for the launch next week of an online newspaper.

The channel, February Morning, has one ambitious and seemingly impossible goal: to topple Vladimir Putin. Unlike other media outlets operating in Ukraine, it is exclusively aimed at an audience living in Russia. Its 70 staff are Ukrainian and Russian. Some of them work in provincial Russian towns, as part of an undercover network.

Ponomarev conceded it would be difficult to persuade Russians conditioned by years of state TV propaganda to turn on their government. But he said there were two groups who formed a promising constituency. One was younger urban liberals and supporters of the jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Many have recently emigrated.