POLITICS From Belfield to Bakhmut: The UCD Student reporting from the Ukrainian Frontlines

“You either hear the sound of war, or the deathly silence.” That is how UCD student, Daria Tarasova-Markina, described the atmosphere in the Ukrainian town of Bakhmut. The town itself is located deep in the East of the country, and has become an apocalyptic wilderness in which Ukrainian and Russian forces engage in brutal trench warfare, as they seek to gain control of the strategically located town.

Designated as the “fixer” for CNN’s senior international correspondent, Ben Wedeman, Daria described her role within the reporting team as “acting as a local Ukrainian producer, where I am both a journalist and interpreter. I’m working with the CNN team, going everywhere with them and helping them to understand what’s happening on the ground, to communicate with local people and to find those who are willing to be interviewed”.

After spending a week reporting from the capital city of Kyiv, Daria and the CNN team headed to the East of the country, where the fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces is at its most intense. Based in Kramatorsk, the team was tasked with highlighting the true destruction caused to urban centres within the Donetsk region and to also convey the impact of the incessant fighting upon the few remaining residents.

Just an hour drive away from Kramatorsk, is the town of Bakhmut. It is here that Daria witnessed the true destruction which Russia’s intervention within Ukraine has caused.

for months” she said, and as generators cannot be used 24/7, they are often left “with little communication, no electricity, no water, no internet, no heating, nothing at all – just people living in the basement.” But, that was not what she found most difficult about their living conditions.

Instead, it was the lack of opportunities to go outside and experience fresh air and sunlight. “The strongest image for me was when we came back at 11 in morning to this basement, it was total darkness due to the lack of power. Can you imagine people just sitting in the dark at 11 in the morning? They can’t go outside often because it’s too dangerous due to constant shelling and it’s also minus 16°, so you’ve nothing to do, just sitting under the ground. I think that emotionally, it’s crazy.” tain any sense of normalcy possible. One such example is Daria’s struggle to complete end-of-semester assignments, which she reflected on. “A challenge for me whilst in Kyiv was that we often have no electricity. We have blackouts almost every day and the internet for maybe a few hours if we are lucky, so it was a little bit challenging sitting in total darkness but I had candles so managed to finish, just about!”. different and has alternative views, it’s very cool.”

With the spring semester fast approaching, Daria will be making the long journey back to Ireland next week, a journey which takes almost 24 hours now – owing to the necessity of travelling to Poland for a direct flight. This transition from air raid sirens and no running water to the affluence of South Dublin can be stark, and was one which the journalism student found difficult to navigate initially last September.

Although she is looking forward to catching up with classmates and beginning her thesis research, Daria does still hold some reservations about leaving her homeland for such a prolonged period. “Of course when there is a war at home, you want to be in your country, it’s more comfortable for you. It might sound weird because it’s dangerous, but still, when you are Ukrainian and your country is at war, you want to feel your country and you want to feel its people. So that’s why it is not easy to leave.”

Daria, who is studying Journalism and International Affairs at UCD’s Clinton Institute, returned home to Ukraine in early December. After spending a week or so reuniting with friends and family in Kyiv, she had the opportunity to cover the war and work for one of the world’s most recognised news brands: CNN International.

Many of the world’s most influential politicians and CEO’s gathered this week in the Swiss town of Davos for the annual World Economic Forum. Returning for the first time since the outbreak of COVID-19, this year’s forum will centre around the theme of “Cooperation in a fragmented world”.

“Honestly, it’s even worse than [what you] see on TV,” remarked the UCD student. The team’s trip to Bakhmut coincided with the Orthodox Christmas period, creating a more poignant reality of how the town’s 10,000 remaining locals are enduring the depths of winter, coupled with the onslaught of Russian shelling.

Whilst there, the CNN team decided to spend the night and Daria arranged accommodation with a local doctor and his family in an underground bunker. “They’ve been living in the basement

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When asked what she found to be the biggest challenge when reporting from the frontlines of war, Daria said that it was trying to be conscious of the emotions of locals and stressed that whilst it is an important job to highlight the human impacts of military conflict, it can sometimes be challenging trying to talk to these people who have been through so much.

“You want to show these people to the world and are trying to do a good job, but these people are just so tired because of everything that has happened. They’re scared, and many are not ready to talk to you, and personally for me, when you see people who are so hungry and tired and you have to go to them asking them to be interviewed, it’s not very easy.”

Despite the dire situation, the Ukrainian populous marches on, trying to main-

The UK government has vetoed a bill passed by the Scottish parliament, which aimed to make it easier for people to change their gender. The bill, which proposed removing the requirement of medically diagnosed gender dysphoria, is now set to become a legal dispute between Edinburgh and London.

However, Daria has now immersed herself in the college experience and is looking forward to returning to the UCD campus, saying that “It will be easier than it was in September when I first went to Dublin and knew nobody, not knowing what to expect. But now, it’s much easier from the emotional side because I have friends who I miss and want to see and talk to.”

Another aspect to life at UCD which Daria has enjoyed has been the diversity on campus, “There are people from all around the world and I find it very interesting how we can discuss a topic like the war in Ukraine, where I think there is only one way to look at the situation. However, when we start to discuss it in class together with people from Italy, Pakistan, Ireland or Colombia, I am able to understand that everyone is so

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Daria is just one of over 70,000 Ukrainian citizens who have found a second home here in Ireland since the outbreak of the conflict last February. Despite recent criticisms of Ireland’s response to the influx of refugees – most notably the Ukrainian Ambassador to Ireland – the UCD student was keen to highlight her gratitude when saying “It was so surprising because we are living very far away from each other. We have pretty different cultures, pretty different histories, pretty different traditions, but you guys [Ireland] were still the first to open your borders for us and now you have over 70,000 Ukrainian refugees, it’s an amazing amount.”

Concluding the interview, Daria describes the “addictive” nature of war reporting, adding that upon completing her Masters degree, she aims to return to Ukraine, “to put into practice” what she has learned at UCD with the hope of continuing to highlight the plight of those subjected to Russia’s aggression within Ukraine.

A mere 1% of Irish society now controls 25% of its overall wealth, a new report from Oxfam shows. Moreover, Ireland’s two richest individuals now amass over €15 billion worth of wealth, a greater sum than the bottom 50% of the population’s earners combined. The report has stoked fresh calls for the increased taxation of Ireland’s highest earners.