A damaged vehicle in Irpin, Ukraine. Photo / Olena Kalashnikova
A damaged vehicle in Irpin, Ukraine. Photo / Olena Kalashnikova
A New Zealand journalist says Ukrainians may be exhausted but their resolve to fight remains intact.
"Among the people I spoke to, there is still a real determination to keep resisting and keep fighting but also huge exhaustion after months and months of conflict," NZ Herald investigative reporter Nicholas Jones tells the Front Page podcast off the back of his recent trip to Ukraine.
"They really don't make plans. They just live day to day because they don't know what's around the corner. No one I spoke to expects peace any time soon. People think this is going to be part of their lives for a long time."
Jones visited the cities of Kyiv and Lviv, both of which are relatively peaceful compared to other parts of the country.
"Life can seem quite normal, but it's anything but normal," he says.
"One of the more surreal things as a visitor is to go into those cities in the west, and you see those signs of everyday life, like cafes and restaurants. You have lycra-clad cyclists cycling through parks and getting coffee and people shopping, but life isn't normal. You still have military checkpoints, sandbags over windows and air raid sirens going off."
During his trip, Jones visited a hospital in Prague where he spent time with a number of children who had been collateral damage in the fighting between Ukraine and Russia.
"That was difficult, to be honest," he says stumbling over his words a little.
"I spent some time in Prague where [not-for-profit organisation] Smart Medical Aid has helped evacuate some young children who were badly injured … One of the boys was in a playground when a missile hit nearby, leading to terrible injuries. Another boy was in a car with his family, when it was shot up by Russians. He ended up with shrapnel through his brain.
"Those kids are completely innocent and their lives have been totally turned upside down. They face a long recovery … That's really the face of the war."
Most buildings in the city of Irpin, Ukraine, were damaged or destroyed. Photo / Olena Kalashnikova
As the war rages on into its sixth month, Ukrainians have started to notice that the level of interest from the international community is starting to wane.
"I did get the sense there that the strong international support is starting to waver a little bit. The head of one hospital said that they did have such great support, but it did seem to be dropping a little bit lately. Many everyday people I spoke to were desperate for the world not to look away and to keep their attention on what's happening there."
While the news cycle in the west is starting to be dominated by other issues such as inflation and supply chains, Jones says the Ukrainians still need people to care.
"They're desperate for support there. They need the world's attention to stay on what's happening."
• The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am.
