German hosting provider Hetzner Online GmbH has completely removed the website and server infrastructure of Ukrainian media outlet Zaborona Media due to an overdue bill of €173.89.
As a result, the archive of over seven years of editorial work disappeared — including thousands of materials, investigations, photos, and multimedia content.
German hosting provider Hetzner Online GmbH has completely removed the website and server infrastructure of Ukrainian media outlet Zaborona Media due to an overdue bill of €173.89.
As a result, the archive of over seven years of editorial work disappeared — including thousands of materials, investigations, photos, and multimedia content.
The incident occurred in November 2025. The cause was non-payment of a bill that was overdue by about two months.
As the editorial office explained, payment reminders were sent automatically, but did not reach the responsible employee due to mail filters.
After the problem was discovered, the bill was paid immediately. However, this did not help: the provider performed a complete and irreversible deletion of the servers.
Hetzner Online GmbH confirmed that the process was automatic and triggered by non-payment. They also noted that they do not check customer content and were not aware that an archive of Ukrainian media was stored on the servers.
According to Zaborona Media, the deletion resulted in the disappearance of over 7 years of journalistic materials and investigations, thousands of articles and images, multimedia content, and an archive used by journalists, researchers, and public organizations.
The editorial office emphasizes: this is not a technical failure, but the complete destruction of the archive of a socially important media outlet during the war.
The main reason is technical: an unpaid bill and the hosting provider’s automatic procedures.
At the same time, media co-founder Kateryna Sergatskova explained that the team did not see the emails due to spam filters, and automatic payments are regularly disrupted due to restrictions on international transactions for Ukrainian organizations during the war.
According to her, financial transactions abroad often have low limits, which creates additional risks even for small payments.
Before removing the servers, Hetzner Online GmbH sent the editorial office letters from Roskomnadzor with demands to remove certain materials.
It was about, in particular, the texts:
about making «Molotov cocktails» at the beginning of a full-scale invasion
about evidence of torture of Ukrainians in the occupied territories
The Russian side referred to the decisions of its courts.
Zaborona Media stated that they have repeatedly explained to the provider that they are Ukrainian media and do not fall under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation, and that they regard such demands as pressure.
After the incident, the editorial team contacted the provider, paid the debt, asked to restore or transfer the data, engaged lawyers in Germany, and contacted freedom of speech organizations. As of now, Hetzner Online GmbH has not offered any method of restoration.
If access to the data cannot be restored, the editorial team plans to restore the archive manually — through web archives. This could take months, and there is no guarantee that everything will be restored.
