First in a collection
Journalists in war-torn Ukraine are telling tales of braveness, survival and atrocities – usually on the similar time – whereas they themselves, their households and neighbors, are below siege by an invading Russian military.
They’re telling tales of a lady shopping for a used minibus to evacuate her dad and mom out of Mariupol, refugees foraging for meals amongst ruins and therapists serving to kids frightened by shattering bombs.
“We’re like a big family all working to keep local journalism alive in small cities and towns across Ukraine,” Yuliana Ohotnik stated in a Zoom name with the Herald Wednesday from Kyiv.
She’s decided to maintain writing and publishing important data because the Russian military closes in. It’s all below the umbrella of the ABO Local Media Development Agency, a collaboration between 45 newspapers and 300 journalists unfold throughout Ukraine. They are linked by a standard web site — Svoi.world — and now the Boston Herald, Lowell Sun and Fitchburg Sentinel.
“The atrocities are true! Sometimes you just can’t edit and read it. Especially the stories of the children,” she added. “But I want the world to know about Ukraine and the beautiful people here.”
A colleague, editor Valentyn Vladimirov, says the publish workplace and printing presses are again up as of early April giving his readers in rural Kaharlyk 50 miles south of Kyiv information of the invasion.
“We suffered through the pandemic and came back to work and that’s when the war started,” he stated by a translator. “Our newspaper is often the only means of communication.”
He works by “six or seven air raid alarms a day” and he worries in regards to the future. But like his president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, he’s resolute.
“All the nation is united, and you can feel the spirit,” stated Vladimirov. “It gives you hope.”
Lexington’s Yanina Kisler, who escaped the Soviet Union in 1977 along with her Ukrainian dad and mom, is the lifeline between these heroic journalists. The electrical engineer is doing all she will be able to to maintain the native journalists reporting for all of the world to learn.
“I fear they are in great danger,” she stated. “But it’s not just Ukraine that’s in danger. Ukraine is fighting a battle that is also the world’s battle.”
Ohotnik stated life in Kyiv is “OK for now.” They have meals and water. But rockets fired endlessly by Russia preserve falling on the capital. She calls her workforce a “Media Battalion” on her Facebook web page, the place posts hyperlink again to carefree days in parks and visiting Berlin.
Sitting in her kitchen Wednesday, she didn’t smile as she spoke of some journalists in occupied areas who can’t do their jobs whereas below the gun.
She even identified the map that reveals all of the ABO Agency members does, actually, embrace reporters in “New York.”
“Yes, there is New York in Ukraine. It’s a small city in Donetsk region. This is a village formerly known as Novgorodskoe, in July 2021 the Parliament of Ukraine returned its historical name – New York. That is how the village was called until 1951. And then the Soviet authorities found this name too pro-Western and ideologically incorrect,” she defined in an electronic mail.
It’s now on the entrance traces of this struggle.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com”