When Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, every journalist in Ukraine was forced to become a war reporter against their will.

“We had to rethink our role and our work as journalists. Because in the occupied territory, journalists are being kidnapped, they are being threatened and forced to change their reporting to make it (sound) loyal to Russia.”

“A lot of people are now looking at Ukraine with admiration about how the Ukrainians are determined to protect, not only their freedom and democracy, but also the freedom and democracy of Europe. I’m afraid that many people in Europe are still taking these things for granted. The integration of the Ukrainian experience in building a civil society, in standing up for the values of peace and freedom, could offer a huge added value and would help the European Union to reinvent itself. The stability that we are feeling being here in Austria, in Vienna…well, it feels like nothing can shake it, but unfortunately Russia’s war on Ukraine demonstrates that it can be shaken. It can just go away in the blink of an eye. So we as Europeans should really be putting all our resources together to think how to protect ourselves, how to integrate Ukraine and use the Ukrainian experience as something that would help us to develop a vision for the democratic world of the future.”

Jovana Trifunovic in conversation with Olga Tokariuk, independent journalist and reporter based in Kyiv, Ukraine.

This text and video is published under the Creative Commons License: CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. The name of the author/rights holder should be mentioned as followed. Author: Jovana Trifunović and Igor Bararon / tippingpoint.net. Cover picture: film still, illustration: Norma Nardi

Talk Europe!

Insight and commentary on contemporary European issues. Catalonia to Russia, politics to art: on relevant topics with the right people. New perspectives and new space for public debate.