“When your child is next to you during shelling, it’s much scarier,” – front-line Kherson journalist Valentyna Pestushko

Member of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) Valentyna Pestushko has been in journalism for almost five years. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, she has been in temporarily occupied Kherson and, despite the risk, continued to work on the Ukrainian television channel Channel 5. With an open face, she went on live broadcasts every day, telling the truth about what was happening in the occupied city. When it became extremely dangerous to stay in the occupation any longer, she and her cameraman and husband, Vladyslavyslav Radkovskyi, moved to Ivano-Frankivsk. Here, they found temporary shelter and work, as well as support from the regional Journalists’ Solidarity Center (JSC) of the NUJU.

For over a year, Valentyna and Vladyslav have been living and working in Kherson. By the way, they have bulletproof vests and helmets for work, which they received for free rent from the Ivano-Frankivsk JSC. They still maintain close ties with the Center: they participate in various online events and share some episodes of journalistic work in the front-line city.

During another online conversation with Viktoriya Plakhta, coordinator of the Ivano-Frankivsk JSC, Valentyna Pestushko told about such an incident.

“Recently, while filming a video about the work of the football school of the Youth and Sports School Krystal, where our daughter is engaged, we came under attack by a russian drone. It was very scary because there were many children on the football field, and the drone with the explosive was right above us. It dropped the explosive about seventy meters from the frightened children who were hiding under the trees.

After the explosion, the children and I ran to the street bomb shelter. They cried, one girl told her mother through tears: “I will never leave the house again. I promise you, never!”

Our Kateryna also received considerable stress. My husband and I used to get into different situations. We often worked under fire, but when your child is next to you, it’s much scarier because you think first of all about how to protect her.

Call the Ivano-Frankivsk JSC at 066 677 0726 (Viktoriya Plakhta, the coordinator of the Ivano-Frankivsk Center). The Center’s address is 25 Sichovykh Striltsiv Street.

About JSC

The Journalists’ Solidarity Centers are an initiative of the NUJU implemented with the support of the International and European Federations of Journalists, as well as UNESCO. The initiative is designed to help media representatives working in Ukraine during the war. The JSCs operate in Kyiv, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernivtsi, Zaporizhzhia, and Dnipro and provide journalists with organizational, technical, legal, psychological, and other types of assistance.

About UNESCO

UNESCO is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. It contributes to peace and security by promoting international cooperation in education, sciences, culture, communication, and information. UNESCO promotes knowledge sharing and the free flow of ideas to accelerate mutual understanding. It is the coordinator of the UN Action Plan on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity, which aims to create a free and safe environment for journalists and media workers, thus strengthening peace, democracy, and sustainable development worldwide. UNESCO is working closely with its partner organizations in Ukraine to provide support to journalists on the ground.

The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout this digest do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNESCO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city, or area or its authorities or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

The authors are responsible for the choice and the presentation of the facts contained in this digest and for the opinions expressed therein, which are not necessarily those of UNESCO and do not commit the Organization.

Ivano-Frankivsk JSC information service