THE NATIONAL UNION OF
JOURNALISTS OF UKRAINE
“We are going to Sviatohirsk. We are trying to maintain maximum speed… This section of the road, as the head of the military administration told us, is the most dangerous and is subject to shooting,” says Suspilne Donbas correspondent Anastasiya Dashko at the beginning of the story. In the frame, the journalist is working with the Chuika anti-drone device turned on, which helps monitor the airspace and warns of danger in time.
A few years ago, a journalist’s protective kit consisted mainly of a bulletproof vest, helmet and first aid kit. But today, when russian FPV drones have become one of the main threats to media workers in frontline regions, this is no longer enough. Now a drone detector is increasingly being added to the mandatory equipment.
It is this portable device – the drone detector Chuika 3.0 – that the Dnipro Journalists’ Solidarity Center (JSC) of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) provided to the Suspilne Donbas film crew for a recent trip to the frontline city of Sviatohirsk in the Donetsk Region.
“Journalists are increasingly working in conditions where an air threat can appear literally in a few minutes. Therefore, it is important not only to have traditional means of protection, but also to understand how to act in the event of a drone and how to recognize the danger in time. To do this, we conduct practical safety trainings,” noted the coordinator of the Dnipro JSC of the NUJU, Nataliya Nazarova. “As the instructor of unmanned systems said: Chuika is not protection against drones. These are those few seconds that can save lives.”
During the field meeting of the parliamentary Interim Investigation Commission (IIC) on the Protection of Journalists’ Rights in Dnipro, the topic of the safety of media workers in frontline regions was also among the key ones.
In the JSC office, the council members delegation was shown a portable drone detector that journalists use during trips. The head of the IIC, Yevheniya Kravchuk, emphasized at the time that in the current working conditions of journalists, such devices are not a luxury, but a vital necessity. This is a matter of safety for people working on the information front.
As earlier reported, the NUJU transferred the Chuika drone detector to the Dnipro JSC of the NUJU to support the work of media workers in high-risk areas. The device is available at the JSC‘s free rental point along with bulletproof vests, helmets, and first-aid kits.
With AFU accreditation, regional journalists, as well as representatives of national and international media, can take the detector for temporary use to work in frontline areas.
The network of Journalists’ Solidarity Centers is an initiative of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine, implemented in collaboration with the International and European Federations of Journalists and UNESCO, and with the support of the People of Japan. Our primary goal is to assist media professionals working in Ukraine during the war. The Centers are active in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, Lviv, and Ivano-Frankivsk. The project is part of UNESCO’s broader efforts to support the Safety of Journalists and Freedom of Expression in Ukraine.
Contact the Dnipro JSC at 050 919 8479 (Nataliya Nazarova, the coordinator of the Dnipro JSC).
Dnipro JSC
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