News – Page 9 – M100 SANSSOUCI COLLOQUIUM

Olesya Bida: As if each day could be the last

Olesya Bida was an editor at the independent Ukrainian medium hromadske.ua, founded in 2014 during the Maidan Revolution. She was a participant of M100YEJ in 2016.
Twitter: @OlesyaBida

That night I couldn’t get sleep. It was nearly 5 a.m. when I heard strange and very loud sounds. Now when the war has been going on for almost a year, it’s a normal thing to wake up not from the alarm clock but from the sounds of the missile attack.

That night was different and I really couldn’t realize what had happened. In a minute my husband Dmytro switched on a video with Putin’s speech. We’ve understood that the full-scale war has started.

Anastasiia Ivantsova: Fight against Russian propaganda

Anastasiia Ivantsova is a fact checker at VoxCheck, which is part of the independent analytical platform VoxUkraine. VoxCheck checks whether politicians use correct facts and context, exposes lies and manipulation, and debunks Russian propaganda, especially the most common misinformation about Russia’s war in Ukraine. She participated in the M100YEJ in 2016 and the M100 Colloquium in 2022.
Twitter: @tsovkan

This year has changed a lot for us. Of course, Russia’s war against Ukraine began back in 2014. But this tragedy was invisible for many – including foreigners – until February 24, 2022. We understood what real fear for one’s life is. When, for example, artillery shells your city, or you hear the whistling of a rocket over your own house.

The only thing that hasn’t changed during this year is the Russian propaganda, which we are bombarded with as often as with the rockets. And, as a fact-checking organization, our team had to deal not only with threats to their lives but also with informational threats. I won’t be able to tell you how the entire country lived during this period, but I will tell you about my three main memories of this war as Kyivan and fact-checker.

Olha Konsevych: I believe in the future

Olha Konsevych was editor-in-chief of the Ukrainian news platform Channel 24. She participated in the M100YEJ for the first time in 2014 and has been a regular participant in the M100 Colloquium ever since. In 2019, she became part of the German Marshall Fund of the United States and its innovative Transatlantic Inclusion Leaders Network (TILN). In 2021, she became the first Ukrainian to join the Vital Voices Global Partnership’s VVEngage cohort. She currently works for the Tagesspiegel, among other publications.
Twitter: @Liza22Frank

Ukraine is now at the most difficult stage of its history. Journalists are being physically killed by Kremlin’s rockets and Russian soldiers. Many of my colleagues are working from basements and shelters only while there is electricity and mobile network. I personally went to the border with Poland, Moldova, and visited Kyiv. But I did not see any fear in the eyes of my colleagues.

Olena Kuk: We have got used to living in times of war

Olena Kuk is an editor at the Public Broadcasting Service of Ukraine. Previously, she was a television editor at the now-closed News Group Ukraine. Before that she worked as a foreign news editor and special correspondent for the national TV channel “Ukraine”/”Ukraine24”. In this capacity, she became part of the national Ukrainian news telethon “United News” after the escalation of the Russian war against Ukraine. In this project, seven of the largest Ukrainian television stations have joined forces to broadcast news around the clock since 24 February 2022. It participated in the M100YEJ in 2022.
Twitter: @KukOlena

Usually, my day starts after the alarm clock, but today, as often this year, it was strengthened by the siren of the air alarm. Sometimes, those sounds rang in a different order, which might wake me up late at night because of the mass racket attack Russia prepared for us, Ukrainians, at night. It makes me really angry, mostly because of sleep deprivation, not a danger. It sounds horrible, but we got used to living with a constant sense of danger during this year of full-scale Russian war against Ukraine.

Roman Melnyk: Against fake news, corruption, and power abuse

Roman Melnyk is a citizen activist, political scientist, data journalist and co-founder of the Ukrainian NGO Wikipatrol, among others. He was able to bring his family, who are from Kyiv and Russia, to safety in the EU. He participated in the M100YEJ in 2014.
Twitter: @Rom_Melnyk

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, my life has changed. Before that, I worked in consulting, supporting Ukrainian politicians and international companies. I also founded a citizens’ initiative called “Wikipatrol”, which aims to fight Russian propaganda and Russian neo-imperial narratives on Wikipedia. Thanks to my experience as an editor and my years of working in the public sphere, in 2020 I founded a volunteer team with my friends to write articles about Ukraine in different languages on Wikipedia, exposing and correcting manipulations and inaccuracies.

Olha Novikova: The war, seen backwards

Olha Novikova is from Dnipro, where she worked for a major Ukrainian newspaper. In 2015, she was a participant of the M100YEJ. Today she lives in Munich and works as an SAP security consultant for a large company.

January 2023. For several seconds I stop existing when I read the name of my hometown. A nine-storey block of flats hit by a Russian missile. We don´t have an air defense for this missile type yet. Instead of those nine storeys I see a big hole and a pile of rubble. I am petrified. It looks like any other house in my neighborhood. Those typical Soviet-era buildings, you know. We are in the East close to the frontline: there is an air raid alarm day and night for hours, constant blackouts make it impossible to use elevators, often missiles hit before the siren starts, nobody is hiding in the bomb shelter anymore. There must be people under the rubble: children, whole families. I read the name of the street and breathe out: NOT MINE.

Anna Romandash: I hope that empathy has no expiry date

Anna Romandash is an award-winning journalist who works for CNN, Radio Free Europe, Open Government Partnership, Freedom House and Deutsche Welle, among others. She normally works as a reporter and digital policy expert focusing on sustainable media development, human rights and access to information.Now she covers the war. She participated in the M100YEJ in 2015.
Twitter: @annaromandash

I am anxious what the anniversary brings. On February 24, 2023, it will be one year since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The war, however, started a very long time ago. There was a war in Donbas and annexation of Crimea since 2014. There was hybrid warfare and propaganda campaigns. There were history manipulations and normalization of Russian imperialism, offensive language toward Ukraine and Ukrainians, and attempts to break the state from within.

Olesia Tytarenko: Fear that one day my contacts will no longer be online

Olesia Tytarenko is Deputy Editor-in-Chief of News at the National Public Broadcaster of Ukraine (Suspilne) and former Special Correspondent of Radio France Internationale in Kiev. She participated in the M100YEJ in 2017 and the M100Colloquium in 2022.
Twitter: @OlesiaTytarenko

This war is online. Since 24 February, I’ve learned a lot about missiles, drones, and electricity cuts. The high society of Patriots, Leopards, and F-16 replaced the previously desired world of Eighth Avenue, le quai d’Orsay, and Boston, MA. During these 12 months, I’ve been rediscovering journalism, getting used to the breaking news regime, and coping with my own war experiences. I stayed home and traveled within the country a lot. As if I was afraid of never seeing the fields, the boundless steppes, the Dnieper’s plunging shore again. Like never before, I enjoyed the family weekends, my mom’s welcome dinner, my brother’s giggles, and my father’s “see you soon” while boarding the train back to Kyiv. As if I was…

Sara Cincurova: My heart stays with the Babushkas who live on the frontlines

Sara Cincurova is a Slovak human rights journalist focusing on migration, human rights, humanitarian issues and women’s rights. Her work has been published in The Guardian, BBC, Al Jazeera, HuffPost and The New Humanitarian, among others. She participated in the M100YEJ in 2021.
Twitter: Sara_Cincurova

Although I am not based in Ukraine full-time, I have been covering the war regularly since 2014, and covered February 24 events from Kharkiv. Being a freelancer, my life has been at risk on several occasions, especially while I was travelling alone. I deeply honour and value the work of my Ukrainian colleagues who report tirelessly and don’t always have the opportunity to take time to rest.
Since February 24, a lot has changed: in one year, I have documented the lives of those who fled, those who became IDPs, those who suffered war crimes, but also those who ended up being exploited in the EU.

Sergej Sumlenny: Power Stations for Ukraine

Sergei Sumlenny holds a PhD in political science and is the founder of the European Resilience Initiative Center. ER is an expert on Central and Eastern Europe and was Head of the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Kyiv from 2015-2021.

In January 2023, I brought eight power stations and other relief supplies to Ukraine. This, only possible thanks to massive donations, made the lives of dozens of Ukrainians easier. Starting the fundraising campaign was a spontaneous but very clear decision. Shortly before Christmas, my former Ukrainian colleague Viktoriia Solohub sent me a photo. On it is a small power station, i.e. a rather large modern battery with computer control, standing in the hallway of a housing silo. A poinsettia is plugged into the station. “We had another Russian missile attack,” she wrote me. “As usual, we hid from shrapnel in the stairwell where there are no windows. The neighbours’ children were afraid of the dark, so their parents lit a Christmas star for them.”