“The first thing I ask of the European colleagues who are on the ground here in Ukraine, when I accompany them and ‘train’ them to carry out their work on the theater of war? To be empathetic with the victims of this tragedy. They must speak to us. , it is logical, but we are dealing with people in dramatic shock and it is essential not to worsen their situation “. To tell Adnkronos, in an interview from Kiev, is Andry Kovalenko, CEO of the Ukrainian National Press Academy, who in the newspaper deals with providing qualified training to journalists and, since the beginning of the war on a large scale, collaborates on the field by directing and helping European colleagues.
“I have to say – Kovalenko says – that there are also people who want to talk, tell what happened, because for them it is like a kind of therapy: after all, if you don’t tell the world it is as if it didn’t happen”. The journalist is now in Kiev, “but until yesterday I was in Donetsk – he explains – where the situation is very tense, active war actions are underway, continuous attacks, gunshots, the Russians are continually trying to take administrative control of the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk but for the moment they are not successful. But we are in a situation of active war “. The total difficulty, for the journalists sent to the front, “is that of security. Because being in direct proximity to the combat areas, it is necessary to calculate well the travel routes, to be continuously in contact with the military, also because the situation changes every second “.
The propaganda topic is ‘hot’, and the Ukrainian journalist replies sharply: “Propaganda exists, of course, ms solving the problem of how to give the news is simple: you have to come to Ukraine and see for yourself what is happening. colleagues who come here see directly that there are no NATO bases or chemical laboratories here “, he says. Propaganda “also exists in Ukraine, there is, it is war, but we need to differentiate. If a person thinks, he can deny everything that is conveyed by Russian propaganda by doing simple research on the net”.
Among the episodes that most impressed him during these three months of war in contact with his European colleagues, Kovalenko has no doubts: “The reaction of my colleagues when we worked close to the front line. distance from direct shooting. What impressed me is Bucha’s morgue, and the reaction of colleagues who spoke with relatives who were waiting for the bodies of their relatives. In their eyes I saw their faces, disbelief, the shock “.
Being a war correspondent is no joke. “A journalist needs accreditation from the government, because otherwise he cannot talk about what is happening in Ukraine”, says the CEO of the Press Academy, who explains: “In the field, safety is everything: among the things that at a minimum you need helmet, bulletproof vest, satellite phone because the first thing the enemy does is try to damage the connections “. The word ‘Press’ “in war zones becomes a target for the Russians, because they know they will tell their crimes,” warns Kovalenko. He concludes with a thought to his Italian colleagues: “I would like to thank all European countries for the help they are giving us in this war. Thank you for not abandoning us – he says – And finally, I would like to say to the readers of this article to continue to support us, because if Putin is not stopped, they will be next “.
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