Our reporters have told stories of hard fighting, of destroyed towns, of uncovered atrocities, of hiding in cellars and in metro stations, of finding dead loved ones, of being separated at the border, of fleeing to unknown futures in other countries. And we’ve covered the efforts to stop the war, through diplomacy, through sanctions, and through demonstrations. We have reported on the many ways the war is affecting other global regions too. This is more than just a European war and our comprehensive coverage would not have been possible without preparation behind the scenes.
Working together well ahead of time
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Newsgathering and many other DW departments had been preparing since November 2021 to provide special coverage in the event of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. That meant already producing content including maps and background pieces. DW set up workflows to make it easier for the Russian and Ukrainian desks in Bonn, the news department in Berlin and other key locations to work together. These key locations included especially the foreign bureaus in Washington and Brussels.
When the invasion began, the DW bureau in Kyiv saw Ukrainian journalists, producers and cameramen, as well as reporters from Berlin and other European bases in place to provide material for television, online and social media in several languages.
Prevented, but never stopped
A few weeks before President Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine on February 24, DW had been ordered by Russian authorities to close its news bureau in Moscow. DW journalists’ credentials were then all cancelled. The news desk quickly devised ways to compensate for the lack of on-site coverage from Russia and ensure that we could continue reporting the full picture.
As such, from the early morning hours of February 24 on, DW has produced continuous coverage across all platforms around the clock: The English language TV channel went into a live “rolling news mode” for ten days. DW’s other TV channels and online coverage including social media in 32 languages provided up-tothe-minute information and context for our users around the globe.
Correspondents, producers and crews remain in Ukraine to continue covering breaking news and providing local insights and analyses.
We’ve had to manage a lot, covering the news since the beginning of the year and especially since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. But our audiences are right to expect a lot from us. Thanks to excellent teamwork by our departments and dedicated contributions from our correspondents, DW has risen to the challenge.
Manuela Kasper-Claridge editor-in-chief
We met Vadim and his family at the border crossing. He took two days off from his unit at the front to get his family to safety. Their last embrace almost broke my heart. Vadim’s daughter couldn’t let him go. His son cried silently, trying to stay brave. Vadim’s wife smiled at me softly through her tears. ’When you’re with your family, you feel better,’ Vadim said. ’Now, I’ll be alone, but I know they will be safe.’
Alexandra von Nahmen correspondent
2014. Even then, there were many deaths among soldiers and civilians. But I had not seen as many dead bodies, despair, tears, destroyed houses, cars, and technology as I have in these last months. The most terrible thing is when mothers see their dead children. It’s very difficult to film that. You have to live with everything you see — human memory cannot be formatted like a memory card in a camera.
Yevhen Shylko cameraman
Waking up to the sound of explosions in our hotel in Kyiv caused a mix of shock and disbelief. Your body wants to run, especially when you see others hastily packing their equipment. But everyone on the DW team stayed and kept working as war became a fact. It wasn’t until later that night in a bunker that I had time to reflect. Our decision to stay and to keep reporting, especially in such a situation, is pivotal.
Fanny Facsar correspondent
With the outbreak of war, I had to leave my house and all my belongings — except for my work laptop and a few small items that fit in my hand luggage. I took refuge in a safer region of the country – in as far as one can speak of safety in this war. You learn to deal with the emotional roller coaster moving between ’we are all going to die’ and ’life will go on’, when you alternate between writing about the death of a pregnant woman in Mariupol, the Twitter dispute between Elon Musk and Ramzan Kadyrov, Pink Floyd reuniting to record a Ukrainian song, and then to people raped and tortured to death in Bucha.
Violetta Chaikovska news editor
Covering a war is never easy, but these are extraordinary circumstances. Some of our newsroom staff have lost relatives in Ukraine. Our Russian and Ukrainian teams work in one department, producing content with strong impact and solid analysis because they tell a complete story. We are frustrating Putin’s propaganda every day with the very effective work our entire department is doing.
Christian Trippe director of Russia, Ukraine and Eastern Europe
This is the most challenging time of my career. The fear and shock around us, the uncertain future of a country I had just moved to and that was supposed to be my home for the next few years. It felt surreal to see the city that had just been the lively capital of an emerging economy transform into a wartime capital. News was coming in by the second and at the same time we were constantly evaluating how to stay safe and be able to report the news.
Mathias Bölinger correspondent
Working around Kyiv in areas that were heavily destroyed in fighting and had been under occupation for more than a month, I was shocked by the Russians’ cruelty to civilians: corpses in the streets, mass graves, destroyed homes and civilian infrastructure. Before, I imagined war as a military confrontation between armies. But what I saw in Bucha and Borodianka showed that Russian troops in the Kyiv region had fought mainly against peaceful civilians.
Kostiantyn Honcharov correspondent
I have reported on wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. But when the same thing happens in your own country, it hurts humanly; journalistically it’s easier, because you know exactly what the story is. I did daily live broadcasts on the war for our Russian viewers as well as for the international program and reported about the human tragedies in occupied parts of the country.
