A foreign journalist could have staged a provocation in Odesa to discredit Ukraine and once again raise the issue of its non-accession in the EU.

Robert Dulmers is a journalist of the Dutch newspaper Nederlands Dagblad, who came to Ukraine allegedly to highlight the war.

According to the spokesman of the Mykolaiv regional military administration Dmitry Pletenchuk, the rules of work in Ukraine were explained to the journalist Dulmers. He knew about the ban on publishing information about the shelling until the end of the strikes. This information can only be disclosed after a period of time. This gap is needed to evacuate people or move positions. The premature publication can lead to a re-attack, being corrected by the enemy. There are no obstacles to the work of journalists in Ukraine.

However, during his stay in Odesa, on the morning of the 3rd of April, Dulmers, despite the ban, posted on his personal pages on social networks videos of blown-up critical infrastructure facilities.

Odesa journalists who had contact with him told Dulmers that it"s not allowed, but in response, a colleague was only rude and lied about the ignorance of the rules.

He also said that he would speak on television, telling about the incident — it shows that the foreigner was trying to arrange a scandal.

Dulmers threatened to initiate the issue of Ukraine"s non-accession to NATO and the EU in the Netherlands.
He also stated that all foreign journalists will leave and will not highlight  the war. Besides, he declared that he is allegedly friends with the head of the Nikolaev RGA — Regional Government Administration Vitaly Kim and he worked in the city and had the permission to publish such information.

As a Dutch journalist, Robert Dulmers is linked to Russia.

As it turned out on social media, the journalist had a relationship with Dutch politician Thierry Bode. We managed to find Odessans who talked to Robert Dulmers in one of the cafes.

They said that Dulmers offered one of the residents of Odesa — Alexander — to drink vodka.

We managed to contact the Nikolaev journalists. "He also stood out in a negative way here. We asked him not to take selfies against the background of corpses, but he still took them", said Danilo. These actions contradict the journalist"s code of ethics.

However the spokesman of the Nikolaev RGA Dmitry Pletenchuk denied it. He also added that he called Dulmers on the morning of the 3rd of April and reminded him of the rules and the law. But the journalist did not listen to him.

SSU — Security Service of Ukraine officers in the Odesa region detained the violator. According to the SSU spokeswoman in the region Hanna Shevchuk, they took measures to deprive the foreigner of his journalistic accreditation. As a result of the conversation, Dulmers agreed to leave the territory of Ukraine voluntarily through an international checkpoint in the direction of the Republic of Moldova.

However, despite Dulmers" assurances that he understood remarks that were made to him, he tried to return to Ukraine within a few days. Employees of the Belgorod-Dniester Border Detachment decided to ban a foreigner from entering Ukraine for 10 years.

Dulmers colleague Hedro Mulsterman said Robert was unaware of the ban on vodka, but denied it on Twitter.

Robert Dulmers called the total ban on alcohol "nonsense". And his colleague said that Durmers bought vodka in some regions despite the ban, for example, on March, 23 in Uman. This proves once again that the Dutchman knew about prohibition but did not obey the law.

But most importantly, according to residents of Odesa, who were in contact with Dulmers, he boasted of a joint photo with Dutch politician Thierry Bode, who was his boyfriend.

In order to put you in context, you have to begin from afar. Thierry Bode is a Dutch politician and leader of the conservative Eurosceptic Forum for Democracy. He has repeatedly publicly opposed the association between Ukraine and the European Union. Just like Dulmers in a conversation with Odessa journalists.

According to the politician, this agreement would lead to a conflict between Europe and Russia. He also publicly accuses Zelensky and the West of the ongoing war in Ukraine. The politician said that Russia could become a "good partner for Europe".

In February 2022, after Russia officially recognized the so-called DNR (Donetsk People"s Republic) and LNR (Lugansk People"s Republic) as independent states and sent troops to the Donbas, Bode supported Vladimir Putin"s actions during a broadcast on a local TV channel. On the 5th of March, he reaffirmed Putin"s actions, this time on Twitter.

"Putin is right. The West is behaving like a bandit — and continues to do so after the 1999 illegal war in Serbia. NATO / EU / US must STOP this senseless escalation, accept Ukraine"s neutrality and build a bridge with Russia, our common European neighbor in the East. "

As we have noted, the Dutch journalist Robert Dulmers, with whom Thierry is associated, spoke similarly. Already abroad, Dulmers threatened in personal correspondence to "turn the Dutch parliament against Ukraine"s accession to the EU." The Zembla investigative television program claimed that parliamentarian Bode had received money from the Kremlin.

In Russia"s war against Ukraine, Bode is on the side of the aggressor. In particular, he indirectly accuses the Ukrainian army of shooting civilians in Bucha.

Thierry Bode"s Twitter posts are pro-Russian and anti-Ukrainian.

He supports the allegations that the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky is hiding the truth. And questions his allegations of Russian war crimes in Ukraine.

Given the fact that he has a close relationship with Thierry Bode, which is apparently funded by Russia, it is possible to assume that the journalist Dulmers, under the guise of violent professional activity, carried out the instructions of pro-Russian politicians. Namely, he deliberately provoked against Ukraine in order to discredit it as a state governed by the rule of law.

Note that Thierry Bode retweeted Dulmers" posts about the incident in Odessa.

And now the media is trying to discredit Ukraine with publications in which Dulmers claims that he did not know about the law, a ban on the disclosure of certain information, saying he was allegedly deported by security guards of Mayor Gennady Trukhanov. The Dutch media did not comment on the SSU, the city administration or the Ministry of Defense.

Interestingly, it was not possible to find Robert Dulmers" journalistic materials before the war in Ukraine. He only started writing on Twitter when he arrived in Ukraine.

"Eeeeeh, the end of these wonderful honeymoon weeks of the war," he wrote, commenting on an article temporarily banning the pro-Russian Shariy and Opposition Party "For Living"" parties.

Who is behind Nederlands Dagblad

It is noteworthy that the publication began writing about the war in Ukraine only in March. Despite the neutrality, some materials veiledly support Russia. For example, "Putin was allegedly misled by his own advisers about the war." Or the material that the Russian-speaking population in Odessa is sitting quietly, but means just that they didn"t want to speak with journalist. 

In addition, journalists write about the crimes of the Ukrainian military but completely ignored the genocide of Ukrainians committed by Russia. There are no reports of Bucha, Irpen, or other cities in the Kyiv region alleging torture and brutal killings of civilians by the Russian military. There is only an article on this topic entitled "The conquered part of Ukraine is full of corpses and mines" as if the conquest led to a tragedy.

Probably because the newspaper"s patrons accuse Ukraine of these murders. There is no material on the abduction and murder of foreign and Ukrainian journalists by the Russian occupiers.

The newspaper quotes only a few statements by Dutch politicians and "by coincidence", all of them from parties that oppose Ukraine"s accession to the EU. Which once again makes you think about who is behind the provocation and the work of this publication.