Executed Free Speech: Journalists recall the shock of invasion’s first days

At half past five in the morning on February 22, 2022, the family of journalist Iryna Sadova from Bucha woke up to terrible explosions.

“While I was walking 10 minutes from home to the center, I saw planes and helicopters,” the journalist recalls… At that time, Kharkiv student Oleksandra Borzonok planned to get up to get ready for her English class. But she had to quickly pack up and go to her native Lozova… Nataliya Svyryda, the editor of the Prydniprovska Zirka newspaper from Bilozerka, Kherson Region, did not even have time to come to her senses when her village was occupied. The trip to the free territory of Ukraine turned into some kind of terrible thriller…

The testimonies of journalists about how they reacted to the invasion, survived, endured illegal detentions, psychological pressure, and even injuries formed the basis of the Executed Free Speech project of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU). Over a hundred stories of media workers were recorded on video and presented in journalistic articles by the NUJU team with the support of the Swedish human rights organization, Civil Rights Defenders.

“We were and remain in daily contact with our colleagues and newsrooms,” says NUJU President Sergiy Tomilenko. “In the first weeks and months of the war, we enlisted the help of our international partners to solve the primary problems that journalists faced – providing them with protective equipment, emergency material assistance, and support in relocating publications.”

Sergiy Tomilenko is convinced that the stories of journalists recorded by the union members are important testimonies that the world should know.

“People in all countries should know the truth about the resilience of Ukrainian journalists who are going through the extraordinary trials of this unjust war,” says the President of the NUJU.

The absolute majority of the team that recorded the testimonies of the affected journalists are media workers who are themselves internally displaced people.

On the third anniversary of the full-scale war, we invite you to review the stories we have collected.

The full collection of materials is on the NUJU YouTube channel, and text stories are on the Union’s website in the special STORIES section.

NUJU Information Service