Journalist Iryna Voronkina: “The editorial office doors were never closed. People kept coming and coming.”

Iryna Voronkina, the editor of the newspaper New Life, refused evacuation in order to work on the information front line. In the early days of the war, she set up the website’s operations and, after a three-month break, resumed printing the newspaper, bringing her team to tears.

“Morning briefings – important information for people.”

Located on the border of three regions – Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, and Kharkiv, the town of Blyzniuky has been very close to the war since 2014.

– As they say in some villages, our rooster crows in three regions. In 2014, tanks passed through Blyzniuky, and in the village of Alisivka, there was a tank division. We helped our military. But what happened on February 24th, no one could believe, – says Iryna Voronkina.

Just like millions of Ukrainians, Iryna was peacefully sleeping on the morning of February 24th when a call from the accountant, Alla Zhurba, woke her up with the news, “Iryna, the war has started!” Iryna jumped out of bed immediately. Within minutes, she and her husband dressed and quickly drove to the town council. Along the way, they saw many people strolling through the town, completely calm, smiling, and carefree, coming from neighboring villages for shopping, unaware of the impending disaster.

– Fortunately, Blyzniuky was not bombed; we had this relatively quiet island. But nearby, just 18 kilometers away in Lozova, there was a major disaster, – Iryna recalls.

Iryna found the head of the community, Hennadiy Korol, at his workplace. They decided to urgently record a video message to the community to prevent panic.

– Perhaps professional leadership worked, maybe people had already been trained for eight years of war that was happening so close, but there was no panic or chaos in the town, – Iryna asserts.

On the same day, a session was convened in Blyzniuky. The head of the community decided to go to the Armed Forces, leaving his deputy, 33-year-old Serhii Volodchenko, in charge.

– In the first interview I conducted with Serhii Serhiyovych during the war, he said, ‘I remember with horror what happened then because there’s experience working in local self-government, but there’s no experience working during a war.’ But no one had that experience, – Ms. Voronkina says.

She herself, an experienced editor, along with her entire team, had to learn to work differently. They had to make decisions more quickly, present information differently, and clearly understand what was genuinely important at that moment and what could be postponed. This led to the idea of writing morning addresses and publishing news, addressing the needs of the people. At that time, everyone wanted to know where there were groceries, where water would be delivered, which pharmacy had medicine, and so on.

— Even before the war, we were developing the website nove.in.ua. It was during the war that its true potential became evident. Due to understandable reasons, transportation became problematic, and Ukrposhta (Ukraine’s postal service) stopped functioning. That’s when all our information started flowing through the website and social media. People eagerly awaited our morning briefings, which we have been practicing even to this day (and will continue to do so). In these briefings, we informed people about the working hours and locations of various organizations, where they could withdraw cash because cash availability was an issue at the time, and whether there was bread in the stores as there were shortages. Our editorial team tried to be everywhere because people turned to us. I worked from 6 a.m. until 6 a.m. of the next day. People perhaps found in our publication not just information but also a guide and a friend. This brings positive emotions and the desire to keep working even when you’re exhausted. People trust us, and isn’t that the most important aspect of our work?

During that time, the newspaper became an essential aid center, assisting organizations that had ceased operations and parents evacuating children from Kharkiv. Vitalii Sokol, an entrepreneur, provided medicines during shortages. The editorial office coordinated information, and local leaders compiled lists of those in urgent need of medication.

— Local leaders… I salute these individuals who managed to organize work at the grassroots level. They compiled lists, collected money, and went to the pharmacy. We tried to ensure they were served first because in the Blyzniuky area, there are 96 populated places, and some of them are located 35 kilometers away from the district center, — the editor shares.

There was so much work during that time that it never occurred to Iryna to evacuate: How could she leave her community when everyone was awaiting her help?!

— We understood that the editorial office had to keep working. We understood it precisely because people came to us. The doors were practically never closed. There were freezing temperatures; it was cold, but people kept coming. Some came just to see that we were there, and others came to get answers to their questions, Iryna continues. — But the scariest part was when, at the beginning of March, mothers of soldiers who hadn’t responded for a long time started coming. They asked us to utilize all our journalistic connections and help them find their sons.

“Where there’s life, there’s ‘New Life’!”

Despite the effectiveness of social media and the website, Iryna was determined to revive the printed newspaper. She believed that a physical newspaper had a unique impact on shaping public opinion.

— We thought for a long time about how to do it. Printing is expensive, and we used to print in Kharkiv. The printing house, which had been closed for a while, resumed its work, but there were delays because of Ukrposhta (Ukraine’s postal service). We were informed that mobile postal offices would only visit each populated place once a month when delivering pensions, — the editor explains.

The editorial team was resolute about resuming the print newspaper. Iryna, freelancing, contributed articles and funds, leading to the newspaper’s first issue in July after a three-month break.

— Seeing the 12-page black-and-white issue brought tears to our female team members. The newspaper now comes out monthly, also on 12 pages. We focus on content that captures historical events, recognizing the significance of printed publications in preserving history — adds the editor.

Iryna hesitated about launching a subscription campaign due to unstable mail services and constant Kharkiv shelling. However, her team insisted, united as like-minded colleagues, they pushed forward.

— I started talking to the head of the community. I turned to local leaders with a request to support, work, and help conduct a subscription for the newspaper in 2023. By the way, the annual subscription price (if you subscribe for the whole year) is only UAH 360 (about USD 13). We will work! Where there’s life, there’s ‘New Life,’ — the journalist asserts. — Nelia Ivanivna, our typesetter, creates the newspaper like no one else. She ‘sees’ it. Serhii Viacheslavovych works on social media, promotes the website, and handles technical matters there. When there was no internet anywhere, and there were power outages, everything in the editorial office always worked – thanks only to him. Accountant Alla Ivanivna also takes care of advertising and subscriptions. All of this allows me to write and gather the necessary information. I am very grateful to my team for always being by my side and supporting my decisions.

Months of war transformed our publication, bringing forth many life stories about internally displaced people and our military personnel – our defenders.

— Soldiers are the kind of people you can write about endlessly; their stories are always captivating. We also began to cover the lives of local leaders. In short, our content now aligns with the events in our town and district. Everything is documented on our websites and shared on social media, — explained Iryna Voronkina.

Towards the end of our conversation, Iryna added that thanks to the management of “Kolos” LLC, she started writing a series of articles titled “Through the Paths of War.” She traveled to Cherkasy and Zaporizhzhia with the company’s employees for this purpose.

This series, titled Executed Free Speech, is created as part of a project Drawing Ukrainian And International Audience’s Attention To Serious Violations Of Human Rights And Crimes Against Journalists And Mass Media By The Russian Federation,  which is performed by the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine, with support from the Swedish non-profit organization Civil Rights Defenders.

JOURNALISTS ARE IMPORTANT. Stories of Life and Work in Conditions of War is a cycle of materials prepared by the team of the NUJU with the support of the Swedish human rights organization Civil Rights Defenders.

#CRD