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.
However, a year ago in Kyiv nor the clock alarm nor the siren woke me up on February 24th. It was 4:50 am and I jumped up from bed after the sound of the grand explosion of a Russian missile. Which clearly I define as the most terrifying one, I`ve ever heard in my life. It was clear to me – that Russia started the war against Ukraine.
At the beginning of the invasion, the biggest Ukrainian TV Channels got together and created the United marathon of news content. Actually, it was forced action, because no one could fully operate in the face of continuous bombing. So it was decided to divide a 24-hour broadcast between five main national media.
Since the beginning of the war, as a journalist for the national TV Channel “Ukraine,” I have been working almost without any days off. I made reports as a correspondent, but mostly created news content as an international editor. We were forced to leave our main office in Kyiv because our TV station is a strategic object and there were intensive attacks in that area of the city. So being dislocated to a building that is not fully adapted to make news, we had to provide at first 4 hours and then 6 hours ether, at the beginning literally sitting on the floor. Nevertheless, no one ever sacrificed the content.
Every journalist and editor operatively checked the information twice more carefully than usual. It was clear to us that any superfluous word might get into trouble for our defense forces and help the enemy. We have never worked in such kind of conditions. Instead of the freedom of speech that we were used to working in, media employees had to adapt their skills to martial law.
Some of my friends decided to defend the country. They voluntarily change the microphone into the weapon, because of a sense of duty. I was trying to be in touch with them and help if they need anything, such as medication, warm clothes, etc. As a volunteer, I joined the charity foundation “HowAreUA?” which provides tactical medication for Ukrainian soldiers.
The most painful experience for me was getting a call, where I found out that my friend was killed on the front line. It was about Olexandr Makhov. He was one of the best Ukrainian journalists. He was the only media representative from Ukraine, who made reports from the Uhan at the beginning of the pandemic; he was the one, who joined scientists of the Ukrainian expedition mission to Antarctica and made excellent materials from there. He was also a war correspondent, who always informed Ukrainians about the situation on the battlefields of the Russian-Ukrainian during the past several years. He was killed on May 4th near Izum, Kharkiv region, while bravery defending his country. According to his last messages, he was surrounded by ordinary Ukrainians, who were not professional soldiers, but some farmers, professors, musicians, etc. At that time they had nothing but small arms and grenade launchers against tanks, aircraft, and artillery. His funeral was the hardest event of that war for me.
A few months after that, my employer, the TV Channel “Ukraine” announced the closure of the media holding, which for me and my colleagues was totally out of the blue. But after a while, I found an opportunity to join the team of a social platform, called Svidok.org. The main goal of it is to collect war memories of all the Ukrainians, as well as war crime testimonies of the witnesses for the ICC to bring Russians to responsibility for all the horrible things they`ve done in Ukraine. Moreover, I`ve occupied the position of regional editor on the First public broadcasting channel, which got me back to the national Ukrainian tv marathon. The work of television now is more adapted to the war times than it was at the beginning of the war. We have got a fully equipped shelter from where we can broadcast when the siren starts to warn us about the danger.
The whole year passed by struggling for my country, at least the way I can. I`m really thankful for the opportunity to be a part of the M100 Sanssouci Colloquium, where I could strengthen my skills in fact-checking during the informational war and enrich myself with the professional journalists’ network from all around Europe. It was also an amazing opportunity for me to approach my international colleagues and other intelligent audience by sharing the truth about the cruelty of the Russian war in Ukraine.
As I was saying, we`ve already got used to live in wartime. And it`s a frightening feeling. But we are trying to live in spite of what kind of terror Russia wants us to experience next. We are living is in between life and death, struggling and appreciating every new moment with our friends and family. We are making jokes about everything, we probably could not manage it without. And there are a few things that strengthen us during these dark times: it is our unity, the daily feats of Ukrainian military forces, and of course the support of our international allies. We understand that the faster we will get the weapon requested by the Ukrainian government, the faster we can defeat the biggest world terrorist county and defend world peace. Only then, we could finally get used to living a normal life again, without everyday racket attacks, suffering, and losses. I want my day to start not with the siren but with the clock alarm again. And this time I will never complain about the early hour it woke me up, but appreciate the peaceful morning whenever I would have to start a day because it would be scheduled by me.
