“Journalist’s Happiness”: How British Volunteers and a Ukrainian Priest Helped the Editor of Vorskla Deliver the Newspaper to Readers

“An unpleasant occasion turned out to be a lifesaver,” — today, the editor-in-chief of Sumy’s Vorskla newspaper, Oleksii Pasiuha, philosophically summarizes the delivery of the latest issue of the newspaper to its readers from the border region the day before. But when drones appeared above the road, he says he started to pray.

Despite constant threats from the sky, journalists continue to deliver the newspaper to subscribers. After all, they know that people are eagerly waiting for it, and not so much because of the news and articles. Readers cling to this connection with peaceful life in order to survive the difficulties of the military present – with its attacks, destruction and deaths.

“From the very morning the car “didn’t want to go” on the route. But it did start. And on the territory of the Velyka Pysarivka Community, we punctured the tire. The problem was further complicated by the fact that the bolts were so tightened that the tire could not be removed. And then the car stops: “Borysovych, don’t go, there is a drone danger there!”, – says Oleksii Pasiuha in the NUJU commentary.

The rescuers turned out to be priest Andrii Brinchak, dean of the Okhtyrska deanery of the OCU, and his volunteer friends from England Simon Nottingham and Phil Ryan, who were transporting humanitarian aid from the UK to Velyka Pysarivka for Ukrainian border guards. They helped solve the problem with the tire – and the newspaper went to the readers.

According to Oleksii Pasiuha, attacks by enemy UAVs have intensified in the Okhtyrka region. In Kyrykivka and Riabyn, where, in fact, the editor-in-chief was taking the newspaper, on May 21, russian drones caused trouble — they attacked a social bus, destroyed mobile phone towers, and chased peaceful people…

“Kyrykivka is quite remote — 35 km from the border. But we see that the enemy has taken to destroying even the distant border region,” the journalist states.

“We were not directly attacked by a drone. Is this prayer or journalistic luck? I don’t know what would have happened if we had reached the community earlier. The unpleasant incident with the wheel turned out to be a saving grace. The task of delivering newspapers was completed, but we returned from the route squeezed like lemons…”.

NUJU Information Service