Ukraine e horror


trumpeted counteroffensive which had stalled and would later run out of steam. “We need fighter jets, more ammo, shells,


tanks,” Evgeny said – a common refrain I heard from Ukrainian troops when asked about what they need from the West to win the war. In May 2024, I returned again. Kyiv was still on


the back foot, with Russia continuing to make slow but steady gains in the east. It came as US aid had stalled for months in Congress. I didn’t have the stomach to visit troops again to hear them say they needed more weapons from the West; I focused on when the conflict would one day end. I spent a day with a landmine-clearing brigade


working to clear vast areas around Chernihiv Oblast, some 150km north east of Kyiv. Here, Russia had littered fields with explosive devices


before Ukraine pushed back Russian troops. I joined sappers of the 756 brigade in a field as they scanned for mines or other unexploded ordnance with metal detectors. “Children bring devices home and they explode,” said Brigade member Yevgeniy, adding that people could die or lose arms and legs. The bid to get my latest round of stories published in May 2024 was a challenge. Media interest had naturally dipped after time. My then employer, the Irish Daily Star, feared it would have a ‘duty of care’ to me should I get into danger and declined my war copy, even though I was filing after I had left Ukraine. I moved on and Byline Times ran several stories. Roll on to February 24 2025, and the war will have been raging for more than 1,000 days. US


president Donald Trump had claimed he could pull off an agreement between Kyiv and Moscow in just 24 hours. Now his team has estimated 100 days. In an interview with US podcaster Lex Fridman in January this year, Zelenskyy said


that he “will come to an agreement” with


the ‘strong’ president who, he said, will be able to force Russia into peace talks. A key proposal by Trump’s team, media reports say, would be to postpone Ukraine’s admission to NATO for 20 years. Moscow, in December, dismissed the reported plan. It hit home while reporting war that life is short.


So, in November I quit my job as a newspaper journalist after 20 years to pursue new goals, including book writing and long-form reportage through podcasts. I had long held a goal to report on a war, though, and, now that I have, I am ending my newspaper career literally with a bang.


Jeff Farrell’s first podcast, The Fighting Irish in Ukraine: from the Frontline to Funerals, is available online: jefffarrellonline.com


Clockwise from left: Kristina and Alina, daughters of Ura and Svetlana Albeshenko, in the bunker below a garage where the family sleeps


Hollowed out apartment blocks in Borodyanka


Newly married couple Andriy and Solomia


theJournalist | 17


PHIL WILSON


JEFF FARRELL


PHIL WILSON


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