Gathering At W&L Gets Personal View Of Ongoing War
A Ukrainian journalist said her country is tired of war, “but will fight to the end” during her lecture at Washington and Lee University Tuesday night of last week.
Tetiana Sylina, a Kyiv-based journalist and editor in the international politics department at ZN.UA, gave her lecture titled “Challenges Facing Ukrainian Journalism in the Russian Ukrainian War” to a crowd of about 50 students and community members.
The event, held in W&L’s Northen Auditorium, was sponsored by the Class of 1963 Scholars in Residence Program and W&L’s Eastern European and Russian Studies program.
In her talk, translated by the head of Eastern European and Russian Studies at W&L, Anna Brodsky, she said she is exhausted by the challenges she faces as a journalist during the over 12-year war.
“I am tired of fear, sleep deprivation, danger, and the cold,” Sylina said.
The Russo-Ukrainian War began in 2014 but escalated in 2022 when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Residents of Kyiv now live under constant threat.
“We live under daily bombardment. We have bomb shelters that protect from radiation, children have school underground, and we sleep with additional wall protection,” she said.
According to Sylina, Ukrainian journalists have one goal: to report the truth and keep their communities informed.
“We are all tired of bad news, but we need to stay informed,” she told her audience.
One of Sylina’s colleagues, Viktoriia Roshchyna, was kidnapped and taken on the territory of the Russian Federation. Sylina said Roshchyna died in Russian custody after being detained while reporting.
“She died just because she was doing her job as a journalist,” Sylina said.
Despite the challenges she faces as a journalist, Sylina said she cannot complain about her hardships because nothing compares to what people on the front lines face. One young soldier was left in the trenches for 11 days without aid because it was too dangerous for first responders to get to him.
“I have a son and cannot imagine how that mom felt for 11 days without hearing any news about her son,” Sylina said.
She said many Ukrainians live without heat or electricity, sometimes resorting to alternatives like kitty litter when sewer systems fail. However, she notes that community and helping each other is imperative to their survival.
“We keep ourselves warm by dancing and drinking wine,” Sylina said.
During the question-and-answer portion of the lecture, an audience member asked Sylina how many people have died in the war. She said there is no way of knowing a true number.
Ukrainians want the war and their suffering to end. However, they will not surrender what the Russians want. Sylina said Russia wants to destroy Ukraine and its people.
“No one wants the war to end more than Ukrainians”, Sylina said. “But we cannot surrender.”
