“In the cells they found the texts of Katyusha, which the prisoners were forced to sing”: reporter Viktoria Streltsova about work in front-line Kharkov

- Viko, what are your feelings now, when the war has been going on for thirteen months?

- Now the feeling is somewhat different than those that were in February 2022. As scary as it sounds, the war has become almost a routine. These are the new realities of life. When I hear explosions, nothing twitches at me. Of course, this is bad, but many are already accustomed to living under shelling.

- Although the military themselves say that you should never lose fear.

- This is true. And when the danger in Kharkov was very close, starting from May last year, I made it a rule for myself: if I stop “twitching” from explosions, I need to leave for a quieter place at least for a couple of days. To feel that there is another life and it is normal. And when she returned, the fear returned. This has apparently saved my life on many occasions.

- Did you ever think about leaving Kharkov?

- I left Kharkov on February 24, 2022, but not very far. She returned in May, when the Russians were driven off 20 kilometers from the city. But even then it was hot.

What was your February 24th like?

- My husband and I then lived on Northern Saltovka. Of course, before that I filmed stories about how to prepare for war, what to do. But one day I treated it like it couldn’t happen to me. And when it really happened, it was like a shock! We lived on the ninth floor, and at night I woke up from explosions. The windows trembled, and there was a glow outside the window. The first feeling is panic. I didn’t even realize what had happened. There was an opinion that someone launched a salute. She reached for the phone and saw a bunch of notifications that the war had begun. I woke up the man with the words: “Wake up, it has begun …” It was very difficult to put my thoughts in order. I didn’t know what to collect. “Saved” a call from the channel. I say: “We are being bombed, I don’t know what to do!” - and I start to roar, excitedly. The editor answered me in a calm voice: “Master yourself, the war has begun. We have to work … ”And, you know, this phrase somehow influenced me right away. I calmed down and for these 13 months I did not have a tear.

See also: “I pulled a fighter out of the line of fire for a bulletproof vest”: a cameraman who volunteered for the war died in Bakhmut

Where did you go that day?

- My husband and I collected documents, took laptops, a cat, got into the car and drove to the city center. We did not take any things, because we decided that we would be back soon. There were already first flights around the city, I started working. Until the evening, she joined the Marathon, from time to time hiding in the subway, because she was drinking all the time. And in the evening they decided to go to the man’s parents in the village of Zolochiv. It wasn’t a very good decision. We sat in peace for two weeks, and then real hell began. We celebrated the man’s birthday in the cellar. At that time, we already had little food - a furious shortage of food, hygiene goods began. But all the time we thought that it was about to subside. My parents insisted that we move to the Dnepropetrovsk region. I spent two months there, but I couldn’t sit idle. By the end of May we returned to Kharkov.

What happened to your apartment?

“We knew we shouldn’t go back there. It was a rented apartment. Windows were already broken in the house, a stone flew into our apartment. We only went to collect things and moved to another area. But there are no safe areas in Kharkov. I remember how we came under massive artillery shelling by “Peonies”. There was an arrival at our house, but in a different entrance. My husband and I were sitting in the bath, and it was all thumping, the light was blinking. This went on for quite some time. By the way, this was the only time I did not leave to film the aftermath of the arrival. It was very scary.

— When you returned in May, how did the city change?

- I entered Kharkov with my mouth open. The city was destroyed. I saw it in the video, but it’s completely different when you see everything with your own eyes. The coffee house where I used to go almost every day was gone. The regional administration is broken. There were very few people on the street. Like some dead city. Now the situation is completely different: people have returned, traffic jams. There are many who switched to the Ukrainian language in communication. Although before that, Kharkov mostly spoke Russian.

- You sometimes go out to work very close to the front line …

- Recently we were in the Kupyansky district for the evacuation of the civilian population. We were lucky - the arrivals that day were quite far away. We were with volunteers in the village of Petropavlovka. We drove to the address where an elderly woman lived with her mother, but she did not agree to leave. She said: I’m not going anywhere. This is my hut … ”For a long time they persuaded her. Volunteers are going to come back for them.

What story has surprised you the most lately?

- It was in Kupyansk. We came to shoot the dungeon that the Russians had set up at the police station. What they saw inside struck gas masks, wires, traces of people’s vital activity. People were held there long enough for their pro-Ukrainian position. In the cells we found leaflets with the text of the song “Katyusha”, which the prisoners were forced to learn. Unfortunately, there are many such dungeons in the liberated cities. I remember we were in September in the liberated Balakliya. We met a man who was in a dungeon, he was tortured with electric current. We ask: “What did they want from you?” Nobody really knows. They were just tortured.

See also: “They took men out into the street, undressed and looked at tattoos”: military correspondent Olga Kalinovskaya about past occupations

Has the war changed you?

“Maybe I’ve become cynical and unemotional. For, seeing the tragedies of people, it is difficult not to experience them yourself. The first stories that I filmed about “arrivals” were with tears, people’s grief. This, of course, emotionally affects. For the first month, I only thought about my heroes. She was constantly in herself, locked up. A colleague told me: “Rejoice because you have.” Then the cynicism kicked in. Because otherwise I simply would not be able to continue to work.

See also: “Elderly people died in the basement from suffocation”: war correspondent Alla Khotsyanovska about the horrors of the occupation

— Do you remember the days last year when they began to liberate Kharkiv region from the enemy?

- You know, I was then afraid to blink, so as not to miss the next village. Indeed, it was euphoria. I remember the morning when I read that the village of Cossack Lopan was sacked. Then Tsirkuny… I immediately called my mother on the phone. Such emotions! For several weeks at that time, I, along with colleagues from other channels, left Kharkov at six in the morning and returned at about ten in the evening. I wanted to photograph every piece of terrain that our soldiers had liberated.

- What is the mood of the guys at the front now?

- We recently communicated with the military. None of them say they are tired. Even those who were in Bakhmut. They even joke: “Well, they gave them a thrashing …” Nobody talks about “hell”. And in general, during the war, I never saw a “decadent” mood in the military.

- Have you already decided what to do when our Victory comes?

- Before the war, we wanted to buy a house in the village of Tsirkuny, the Russians bombed it. Now we think where we will buy. I want something of my own. And only in the Kharkiv region. My dad was promised grandchildren. He is now serving at the front, in the Zaporozhye direction, and this is his main motivation. I say: “Dad, Victory is from you, grandchildren from us!”

The Reporters at War project was created with the participation of CFI, the French Media Development Agency, as part of the Hub Bucharest project with the support of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Earlier, a military correspondent for Channel 5, Yevgenia Kitaeva, told FACTS about her work at the front.

In the photo in the header: View of Saltovka, the most affected by Russian shelling