Three Canon R10 cameras and additional memory cards and batteries, as well as sleeping bags, were handed over by Sergiy Tomilenko, the President of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU), on March 2 to talented front-line photographers who constantly work in the war zone and risk their lives to cover Russian aggression against Ukraine. The event took place at the Kyiv Journalists’ Solidarity Center of the NUJU.
“Today, when we hand over the cameras to our colleagues, war correspondents, is a very solemn day for us,” said Sergiy Tomilenko. “People who receive this equipment definitely need it. They record the terrible truth of the war, including the war crimes of the occupiers. We are very proud that we can help our colleagues who do so much for Ukraine.”
Among the recipients of the equipment were Iryna Rybakova, a freelance photographer for the Reporters publication; Roman Chop, a freelance photographer for Reuters; and Serhii Takhmazov, a freelance photographer for Associated Press.
Associated Press photojournalist/Pulitzer Prize finalist Efrem Lukatsky (on the left) agreed to help the NUJU select photojournalists to receive modern equipment. He will also be the curator of a photo exhibition of works that will be shot on this equipment.
“This help from the NUJU is not just for fellow journalists, but for colleagues who have been constantly in the war zone since the beginning of the war,” says Efrem Lukatsky. “They work in Bakhmut, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia. And it is very important for them to feel that the NUJU has not abandoned them and that it thinks about them, cares for them, and helps them in whatever way it can.
As some photojournalists are currently in the war zone, their colleagues have come to receive technical assistance to deliver to the frontline.
Recently, the Union handed over 10 more cameras to colleagues working on the front lines.
Watch the video on the Instagram channel of the Union: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CpSeplTAZB-/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
NUJU information service
