THE NATIONAL UNION OF
JOURNALISTS OF UKRAINE
Stacks of files of the Krasnopillia-based newspaper Peremoha are piled up in the premises of the Sumy Press Club non-governmental organization. It was to Sumy that editor-in-chief Oleksandr Motsnyi took them for temporary storage under enemy fire when the newsroom was hastily evacuated from Krasnopillia. Human life there has become silent because of the war; only explosions continue their destruction like crazy, and the newsroom building has also suffered from it.
In the Sumy Press Center, media workers from the Krasnopillia-based newsroom have also set up their workplaces next to the newspaper files – deputy editor Olha Kyslenko and correspondent Inna Zahorulko.
“The two of us now make up the editorial team of the Krasnopillia-based newspaper Peremoha; together with Inna, we also rent a one-room apartment in Sumy,” says Olha. “Editor-in-chief Oleksandr Motsnyi has joined the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), but we keep in touch with him. Accountant Oksana Shevel found another job in Sumy. We have shelter in the premises of the Sumy Press Center non-governmental organization. We are very grateful for the help of the head of the NGO, Alla Fedoryna. Mutual aid is very important these days. It is good that this is widespread in the journalistic community. At one time, when there were constant power outages, the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) helped us a lot by providing a generator. Before that, we had to stay late at work due to power outages in order to publish the newspaper. It was very difficult. And when we received the generator, we got rid of the problem. That is why I say that journalistic solidarity is extremely important. In the Sumy Press Center, we also allocated a place for the editorial archive; there is enough internal space.”
There are more than a hundred binders in storage. They contain the archives for the period of 1945 to 2024. The Krasnopillia printed publication was founded in 1932. Until 1945 was called Kolhospnyk Krasnopilshchyny, and then it was renamed, and the newspaper was called Peremoha. The ninetieth anniversary fell on February 23, 2022. The anniversary was going to be celebrated on the 25th, but on that day, everyone was not in the mood for celebrations.
“For eighty years, the publication has been published under the name Peremoha; we hope that the newspaper will continue to live. That is what Peremoha is for! The whole life of the Krasnopillia region is on the pages of the newspaper. These binders preserve the events of the community, as well as the creative work of several generations of Krasnopillia media workers. Our newsroom took great care in archiving the issues. We understood that in each newspaper, children’s joy, respect for elders, and sadness for those who have passed away were intertwined. The ordinary life of the community as a large family, which in a matter of days was distorted beyond recognition by the Shahed drones and guided bombs,” sighs Olha.
“When we approach the binders, we feel as if warmth and some invisible support, which gives us the strength to work,” continues Inna. “The pain, which had frozen like a lump in our hearts from what we had experienced and the losses, is gradually letting go…”
Until March 19, the people of Krasnopillia had a glimmer of hope that the village would survive. For more than three years, even though they had to endure shelling, they held on. The newsroom worked without leaving anywhere. The newspaper went to the readers every week to support, to assure that the media workers were with the people, adding a touch of stability to the gloomy everyday life of the border region.
On graduation day, March 18, the newsroom continued its usual work. But anxious forebodings seemed to hang like a heavy strand in the air… Oleksandr Motsnyi asked everyone to hurry up, to send the newspaper files to the Vinnytsia printing house as soon as possible. On the night of March 19, the russian aggressor began to wipe Krasnopillia off the face of the earth… The editor-in-chief already understood that it was impossible to delay the departure. Having sent his family to his relatives in Sumy, he set about transporting, no, not family belongings, as one might think, but those hundred binders of the Peremoha newspaper. The editorial car, as they say, was bursting at the seams, from the newspapers and office equipment of the newsroom stuffed to the very top. The editor-in-chief could not allow the editorial archive to suffer in a fiery hyena or from an explosion. What was he guided by? Whatever you say – a sense of duty, the dictates of the heart, or the dictates of conscience – it will be pathetic, but it will be the truth. Because for newspapermen, every file is like a child. And how can you leave your beloved child to the enemy?
During the difficult time of evacuation, Sumy journalists lent a helping hand to the Krasnopillia residents, offering them several options for accommodation. The head of the Sumy Press Center non-governmental organization, Alla Fedoryna, commented on her offer for the NUJU.
“Oleksandr Motsnyi and I are well acquainted, and when Krasnopillia began to suffer from shelling, we were constantly in touch with him,” said Alla. “Having learned that the newsroom was relocating to Sumy, I offered our premises for work. We have a good location, cozy and warm, and have a separate entrance. I am glad that we managed to help. You wouldn’t wish such a situation on anyone. And speaking about Oleksandr Motsnyi, I can say that it is simply heroism on his part to save the archive like this! It is good that Olha and Inna are determined to work. I gave them the keys, and they adjust their work schedule as they see fit.
“We had no time to adapt to the new place; we just moved into the premises of the Sumy Press Club and immediately started preparing for the printing of the Spilnopillia newspaper,” emphasizes Olha Kyslenko.
Liudmyla Maznova, NUJU Information Service
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