Ukrainian journalist Vladyslav Dunaienko was one of 21 young reporters who participated in the AIPS Young Reporters Programme held in Lausanne last November. He was on his morning run in Cordoba, Spain, when news of Russia’s invasion of his country broke on Thursday, 24 February. He spoke with us to express his feelings about what has happened in these past days and his journey back home.
The Ukraine national basketball team walked into Cordoba’s Vista Alegre Municipal Sports Palace that Thursday night for their FIBA World Cup qualifying match against Spain, but sports mattered less.
NO WAR The emotional night saw Ukraine lose to Spain (88-74) just hours after Russian forces had launched a major assault on Ukraine from three fronts, firing missiles on cities including the capital, Kyiv, by order of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Captain of the Ukrainian team, Artem Pustovyi, whose tears blurred the “No War” written on his cheeks said the team wanted to be “strong like the whole country” in the match. A minute’s silence took place before and after the match, which also saw the sold-out crowd give the Ukrainian team a standing ovation as some players burst into tears. “People need to know about this even in sports news, because now sports is not the most important thing,” Dunaienko, who is back in his country and determined to “defend our territory”, explained to AIPS Media on Sunday.
Dunaienko was part of the Ukrainian delegation that arrived in Spain on Tuesday (22 February) ahead of Thursday’s match. Angered by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s distortion of Ukraine’s history and the senseless attack of the Russians, the 23-year-old felt even more troubled that he was thousands of miles away from home at such a critical time in his country. He received countless messages and calls that Thursday morning.
FAMILY FIRST While he could not wait to return home to help protect his country, Dunaienko’s first priority was making sure his father, mother and brother were safe. Then he began writing to different European media outlets, connecting international journalists with colleagues in Ukraine, granting interviews as well as posting on his social media pages and groups, urging colleagues around the world to report on the enormous injustice his country is facing.
The national team’s training for that morning was cancelled and journalists were at their hotel in Cordoba. Dunaienko had hoped the match scheduled for that night would not take place as well.
MINDS WITH UKRAINE “When we were going by bus to the hotel to the basketball arena, everyone on the team were calling their families and asking about the situation. Their minds were not on the game; their minds were with Ukraine and I think that the result of this game doesn’t matter. I think the game was to show their character and their position,” Dunaienko said, making reference to the words emblazoned on Pustovyi’s face: “No War”
RETURNING HOME Following the match, Dunaienko travelled with the team by train to Madrid on Friday before embarking on a solo journey home. From Madrid, he took a flight to Budapest, Hungary, then on Saturday morning a train from Budapest to Zahony, the city near the border with Ukraine, before walking to the border.
Near the border he met some Voice of America reporters who were surprised that he was entering Ukraine when many were trying to flee amid crisis, especially as men aged 18-60 are not allowed to leave the country. He spoke to the VOA team before crossing the border to take a bus to Uzhorod, from where he hopes to find his way to the capital Kyiv, one of the worst-hit cities alongside Kharkiv, Kherson and Sumy, where residents are sheltering underground.
BUYING COMBAT GEAR Dunaienko spent the most part of Sunday in Uzhorod buying combat uniforms, boots, helmets, gloves and other equipment in preparation to join the territorial defence force. He was yet to find body armour at the time of this interview as combat items are becoming scarce.
“Today I went to different shops, malls to buy different stuff for war. But they are now in short supply because everyone is buying. Everyone wants to help our army and many volunteers are working in every city and trying to also help women and children.”
Dunaienko’s father is expecting him in Kyiv. The 55-year-old, who used to be in the army, had initially said he would wait for his son to return so they could go to the battlefield together, but could no longer stand watching the situation unfold on TV. “When I called them in the morning (on Thursday), my father, mother and brother were together and my father said to me ‘I’m waiting for you and we will go together’ but in the evening when I called my mum she said that my father had gone to join the territorial defence force.”
READY SINCE 2014 Dunaienko said thousands of Ukrainians have joined the territorial defence forces in different cities. He explained that although 18-60 men are forbidden from leaving the country, they are not forced to enlist in the army. Dunaienko’s 18-year-old brother is at home, in a small town near Kyiv, with their mother, who is feeling so nervous as a result of everything that is happening.
For Dunaienko, this is a fight they must win and he wants to play his part in making sure that is the case. He said he is not scared because Ukrainians have been “ready for this” since 2014. Russian-backed separatists and Ukraine’s armed forces have been fighting a war in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in which more than 14,000 people have died.
“When in 2014 it started in Donbas, we understood that maybe soon Russia would want to occupy Ukraine as a whole and all people all these years were like ready for this. I have always had the idea that we are a strong nation, now the entire world knows about our strong character. I can’t describe this feeling. It’s inside you. If you are ready you will go (to battle), and it was more difficult staying in Spain. I felt bad that I couldn’t help and I tried to return home as fast as I could. So I can’t describe this feeling inside me – why I have decided to go and fight. But it’s like it’s my task for today. I love my country and my people.”
It would be a completely new experience for Dunaienko, even though he and his friends, back in 2014, had a foretaste of what the territorial defence force entails, when they were taught how to use guns at the local level.
In the last four days Dunaienko said he has only managed to sleep for around ten hours but this might only get worse as he plans to swap his laptop for a gun soon. The BBC and Reuters are among the many media outlets that have contacted him for reports in these days and he has also been of great help to some colleague he met during the AIPS e-College and the AIPS Young Reporters Programme, which was held in Lausanne in November 2021.
Sports has taken the back seat in Ukraine but Dunaienko is appreciative of the “fantastic support” Ukrainian players like Manchester City’s Oleksandr Zinchenko and Everton’s Vitaly Mykolenko are getting abroad. Some international sports federations have also taken punitive measures against Russia, however Dunaienko has emphasised that Ukraine needs more than just words at this time. “We don’t need only words. We need real help.”
Credit: AIPS
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