Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has signed a law restricting the dissemination of military information during the current state of emergency, with violators facing up to 12 years in prison.

According to the document, filming the movements of Ukrainian military personnel, sites of shelling, street names, transport stops, shops, factories, and other civilian and military facilities is now prohibited.

The law, signed by the president over the weekend, also forbids the publication of data on the movement of foreign military aid received by Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy (file photo)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy

The ban on the dissemination of information does not apply to the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff.

The move reportedly was sparked in part by concerns that people were posting sensitive information on Ukraine’s army online.

On March 21, Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) detained a person who it says posted a video on TikTok with the positions of the armed forces in Kyiv. Soon afterward, Russia launched a missile attack on a site nearby, killing eight people.

The SBU is investigating whether the person, who remains in detention, was purposely trying to reveal classified information to Russia.