“Canon R10 has become indispensable for shooting video in combat conditions,” press officer Iryna Rybakova

Iryna Rybakova, a press officer of the 93^rd Separate Mechanized Brigade, Kholodnyi Yar, has received a new mirrorless camera for her work last year from the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) with the assistance of the Academy of the Ukrainian Press and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany.

“At that time, my camera for photography was the Nikon D3, a legendary full-frame mirrorless camera, which, despite all its virtues, had its own nuances in operation. It is very heavy. Very much so. It worked too loudly and, most importantly, did not shoot videos at all,” the media woman recalls. She talked about one of her best shoots – documenting the heroic defense of Bakhmut.

Then, in March 2023, her brigade fought in Bakhmut. Historical events took place, battles took place, the city was on fire, and just taking pictures without shooting a video during such difficult races would simply be a sin…

“And so, the camera received from the NUJU is received at the due moment. I started taking it with me to record videos. It shot fairly stably, was light, focused very well (you can direct the focus point by directly clicking on the picture on the display), did not overheat and held a charge for a long time. Video could be shot in both Full HD and 4K. I attached an external RØDE microphone to it for better sound and started taking it with me all the time,” says Iryna Rybakova.

The first camera footage is about the stabilization point and the evacuation from Bakhmut. The press officer recorded the wounded and then left with the Chasiv Yar evacuation team. The wounded from Bakhmut were brought there in an armored personnel carrier and transferred to the ambulance. During that trip, the medics also took out a closed cellophane bag from it – it was a killed Ukrainian fighter…

“Medics are entrusted not only with the task of rescuing the wounded but also of evacuating fallen soldiers. And, unfortunately, that time, it was filming not about rescue, but about death,” says Iryna.

In March, in Bakhmut, the last bridge through which the film crew could enter the city by car through the village of Khromove was blown up, and getting there became as difficult as possible. The logistics of filming were complicated: one unit could bring it there, another could organize the work inside, the third would hide in the basement from shelling, and the fourth would take it out. Sometimes, in order to take pictures, it was necessary to drive in at night and wait until morning. And the pictures shot in the city were all the more valuable, the journalist notes.

“On this camera (along with a GoPro camera and provided drone video), we shot a great report about the downing of a plane from the window of a high-rise building. On it, I filmed the provision of medical aid right on the ground in the courtyard of a five-story building several hundred meters from the contact line, the work of mortars nearby near the entrances, as well as my last report from the city on April 26 – from the neighborhood, when the brigade left,” explains Iryna Rybakova.

According to her, it was a difficult but fruitful period. Iryna came and gave gigabytes of “raw footage” to her colleagues and then sat down to edit and posted everything on the YouTube channel of the 93^rd brigade. Thanks to live videos, it was possible to “boost” the channel to almost a hundred thousand subscribers, which significantly strengthened the informational presence in the network of our defenders.

Valeriya Muskharina

NUJU Information Service