Valeriya Yegoshyna: Keeping Eyes on Ukraine

In the face of dire threats to their safety, Ukrainian journalists have put their lives on the line to document the atrocities of Russia's invasion of their country, and amplify the stories of those most impacted.

Among these fearless journalists is 2024 ICFJ Knight International Journalism Award winner Valeriya Yegoshyna, a reporter at Schemes, the investigative project of the Ukrainian service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

"When I joined Schemes' team, they helped me a lot to study what it means to be an investigative journalist," said Yegoshyna. "[After] we published my first investigation is when I thought 'wow, I can change the world.'"

And change the world she has - by ensuring the world's eyes stay on Ukraine, one story at a time.

Yegoshyna's reporting has revealed alleged Russian war crimes in the town of Izium and how the Russian army has used private military corporations to conscript soldiers to the frontlines under false pretenses, all while she has continued to uncover corruption in her native Ukraine.

She has suffered burnout and trauma along the way, yet remains committed to exposing the effects Russia's invasion has had on her home.

"A close friend once asked me, 'What you do is very hard, so why are you doing it?'" Yegoshyna recalled. "I answered without hesitation - because I can survive it [and] I feel strong enough to do what I do and not break down."

Devotion to storytelling
As a teenager in the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa, Yegoshyna stumbled into journalism by accident. Initially, she viewed the profession as a way to rebel against the expectations of her family of engineers.

"I decided that I wanted to study sociology and to work with people. Journalism was looking like a good way to do it, but then my family said to me, 'it's not the best for [your] life,'" she said.

In 2016, Yegoshyna took an internship at Schemes, where she would discover her passion for journalism. In the eight years since, she has made it her mission to hold those in power to account. Prior to the outbreak of the full-scale war, her coverage disclosed misconduct among law enforcement and exposed government officials' wrongdoing, among other investigations.

Her reporting has led to prestigious awards such as the Mezhyhirya Festival's national prize for journalistic investigations in 2018, and a year later she was included in the Kyiv Post's Top 30 Under 30.

Importantly for Yegoshyna, her once apprehensive family would become a pillar of support. "[After] my investigations began to make an impact, [my parents] understood everything," she said. "I am very grateful to my family, and most importantly to my mother, for supporting me because my profession imposes restrictions on my loved ones and they accept it."

Documenting the toll of the Russian invasion
Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine has resulted in immense loss of life, the destruction of entire towns and cities, and mass displacement.

Roughly 1 million people have been killed or wounded since February 2022, and over 3 million Ukrainians have been displaced from their homes. More than 100 media workers have been killed, 18 of whom while carrying out their reporting.

Quickly shifting the focus of her work to cover the conflict, Yegoshyna remembers the war's initial months as a flurry of activity and stress. "In the first three months or so of the full-scale war [...] I didn't want to take days off. My team and I just worked almost 24/7 with breaks for a short nap, without any joy. I even lost a lot of weight," she said.

Yegoshyna and her colleagues have reported on the violence experienced by Ukrainian women, Russian soldiers' war crimes, and the impact the war is having on the price of food supplies for the Ukrainian army.

The work has often come at the expense of her mental health, Yegoshyna said. "After the full-scale invasion began, I almost lost all emotionality; it was a defensive reaction in order to continue my work," she said.

In September 2022, Yegoshyna and her colleague heard stories that people in Balakliya, a formerly occupied town in the Kharkiv region of eastern Ukraine, had been tortured. Following its liberation, they met two men who had been tortured. "These men were holding up so well," Yegoshyna said. "I was crying behind the scenes and one of them started apologizing for saying terrible things [he had endured]. I decided, no matter what, to find their offenders."

Months later, she and her colleague published a story revealing the perpetrators' identities.

More recently, Yegoshyna and fellow Schemes reporters have come under fire for their reporting. Just last month, bomb threats were emailed to hundreds of Ukrainian media outlets, schools, businesses and embassies by an individual who described himself as a representative of a terrorist group. Yegoshyna and two of her colleagues were mentioned by name in the emails, in which they were blamed for prompting the threats - which followed a few days after they published an investigation into how Russian intelligence services are recruiting teenagers to carry out arson attacks on Ukrainian military vehicles.

"I can assume that the investigation has probably struck a nerve with Russian intelligence officials," she said. "Our newsroom also received bomb threats on that day."

To cope with the stresses, Yegoshyna takes a step back to enjoy the little things that bring her joy.

"My colleagues and I began to take a day off periodically. It's only once every one or two weeks. And I started listening to music again," she said. "I allow myself to experience some joys, because I need resources to continue. I don't think it's a shame, because we are not robots and the human body and mind has capabilities and reserves that need to be renewed."

Keeping eyes on Ukraine
As the full-scale invasion approaches the three-year mark - and as global interest in Ukraine has decreased, even as Russian attacks continue unabated - the support of journalists abroad is needed now more than ever, urged Yegoshyna.

"Our foreign colleagues [still] come to Ukraine and search for stories to show the horror of the war, but the attention at the end of 2024 is much smaller than in 2022," said Yegoshyna. "But war crimes, shelling of civilian infrastructure, killings of civilians and executions of Ukrainian prisoners by the Russian army only intensified."

Lack of coverage of the war in other countries has the potential to lead to more conflicts, Yegoshyna fears. "Insufficient attention and support to Ukraine may encourage other autocratic regimes to start a new war somewhere else. It's only an illusion that the war in Ukraine is something far away. In 2022, it was an illusion that we [would] not witness a bloody attritional war in Europe," she said.

For Yegoshyna, receiving the Knight International Journalism Award is proof that her work and the work of other Ukrainian journalists to keep eyes on Ukraine remains important.

"[Winning this award] means that what we do, here in Ukraine, still matters," she said. "It means that human stories, as horrific as they may be, are worth telling."

Photos courtesy of Valeriya Yegoshyna.