As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine grinds into its fifth month, AP teams in the war-torn country and across Europe went into overdrive to dispel the notion voiced by Western leaders that global audiences are beginning to experience “war fatigue.” An exceptional week of all-formats coverage dug out exclusives and must-read, must-watch stories, adding new layers of depth to AP’s already pacesetting journalism on Europe’s worst conflict since World War II and its global repercussions.
AP journalists in the region, recognizing the need for a shift in focus from increasingly incremental developments, pivoted swiftly to impactful big-picture views of the conflict, all while ensuring competitive coverage of major spot news. Ranging from analysis of the war’s shifting front lines to essential multiformat reporting on longer-term repercussions — the legacy of land mines, the plight of Ukrainian youth, the effect on global food security, to name just a few — and including exclusive video and photos from front-line positions, the AP provided clients and readers with an exceptional body of work over the course of seven days.
Using contacts nurtured over years, and more recently since the Feb. 24 Russian invasion, Ukraine-based photojournalist Efrem Lukatsky and video journalist Inna Varenytsia secured astounding access to Ukrainian forces firing U.S.-supplied howitzers on Russian positions in the eastern Donbas region, a vivid example of the Western-sourced heavy weapons that Ukraine’s government hopes will tip the conflict in its favor. Lukatsky also secured exclusive front-line access to Ukrainian troops laying mines intended to thwart Russian advances, while video journalist Srdjan Nedeljkovic provided extensive footage from the region.
In Kyiv, where journalist David Keyton worked tirelessly coordinating coverage, logistics and safety, the all-formats team of photographer Natacha Pisarenko, video journalist Oleksandr Stashevskyi, multiformat journalist John Leicester and freelance journalist/translator Hanna Arhirova paired compelling in-depth enterprise with competition-beating spot news coverage of an unprecedented visit to Kyiv on short notice by the leaders of France, Germany, Italy and Romania, promising diplomatic, economic and military support. Leicester also quickly turned out an evocative account of the leaders’ visit to the devastated town of Irpin, where they saw the grim aftermath of Russian occupation. Further coverage outside Kyiv revealed the deadly consequences of a land now sown with mines left in the wake of fighting that raged around the capital; Ukraine has an area the size of Arizona left to de-mine.
The team also covered the funeral of an activist killed on the battlefields, telling the story of Ukraine‘s post-independence generation that is sacrificing its best years in a committed effort to preserve freedom. And the tale of a Ukrainian snail-farmer’s battle to save her precious crop from Russian troops reinforced Ukraine’s importance not only as an exporter of grains that feed the world, but also myriad other niche products savored in bars, restaurants and homes across Europe.
People ride a bicycle past a building destroyed by attacks in Borodyanka, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, June 12, 2022.
AP Photo / Natacha Pisarenko
A municipal worker passes by a fragment of a Russian rocket following night shelling in the town of Bakhmut, in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, June 13, 2022.
AP Photo / Efrem Lukatsky
Seen through a broken window, a house is heavily damaged after overnight Russian shelling in the town of Bakhmut, in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, June 13, 2022.
AP Photo / Efrem Lukatsky
A destroyed tank lies on a road in Lypivka, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, June 14, 2022.
AP Photo / Natacha Pisarenko
Russian soldiers guard an area next to a wheat field during a trip for journalists organized by the Russian Ministry of Defense in the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia region of southeastern Ukraine, June 14, 2022. The region has been under Russian control since the early days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
AP Photo
Ukrainian soldiers fire on Russian positions witha U.S.-supplied M777 howitzer in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, June 18, 2022.
AP Photo / Efrem Lukatsky
U.S.-supplied M777 howitzer shells lie on the ground for use against Russian positions in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, June 18, 2022. Writing on one of them reads: “Nothing is forgotten.”
AP Photo / Efrem Lukatsky
A Ukrainian soldier carries a U.S.-supplied Stinger weapon in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, June 18, 2022.
AP Photo / Efrem Lukatsky
A local resident looks up at his damaged house following overnight Russian shelling in the town of Bakhmut, in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, June 13, 2022.
AP Photo / Efrem Lukatsky
Police inspect a crater after a Russian rocket attack on Pokrovsk, in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, June 15, 2022.
AP Photo / Efrem Lukatsky
A man examines the roof of a hospital damaged during shelling in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, June 14, 2022. This photo was taken during a trip for journalists organized by the Russian Ministry of Defense.
AP Photo
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, second from left, shakes hands with French President Emmanuel Macron, as they are flanked by Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, left, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, at the Mariyinsky Palace in Kyiv, Ukraine, June 16, 2022. The four European leaders made a high-profile visit to Ukraine, where they were saw ruins of a Kyiv suburb, denouncing the brutality of the Russian invasion and pledging their support for Ukraine.
AP Photo / Natacha Pisarenko
A woman carries a parrot, still alive in its cage, after it was rescued from under the rubble of a building after a Russian air raid in Lysychansk, in Ukraine’s Luhansk region, June 16, 2022.
AP Photo / Efrem Lukatsky
An injured woman waits for a doctor at a city hospital after she was cut by shards of window glass in a Russian air raid on Kramatorsk, in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, June 17, 2022.
AP Photo / Efrem Lukatsky
A house burns after shelling in Donetsk, in territory under the control of the Government of the Donetsk People’s Republic, in eastern Ukraine, June 17, 2022.
AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov
A woman kneels at the coffin of activist and soldier Roman Ratushnyi, 24, killed in a battle near Izyum, during his memorial service in Kyiv, Ukraine, June 18, 2022. The hundreds of mourners for Ratushnyi included friends who had protested with him during demonstrations that toppled Ukraine’s pro-Russia leader in 2014 and who, like him, took up arms when Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February.
AP Photo / Natacha Pisarenko
Soldiers carry the coffin of activist and soldier Roman Ratushnyi for his memorial service in Kyiv, Ukraine, June 18, 2022.
AP Photo / Natacha Pisarenko
People throw sand on the coffin of activist and soldier Roman Ratushnyi during his funeral in Kyiv, Ukraine, June 18, 2022.
AP Photo / Natacha Pisarenko
Soldiers hold flares as they attend the funeral of activist and soldier Roman Ratushnyi, 24, in Kyiv, Ukraine, June 18, 2022.
AP Photo / Natacha Pisarenko
A member of an extraction crew works during the exhumation at a mass grave near Bucha, previously occupied by Russian troops, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, June 13, 2022.
AP Photo / Natacha Pisarenko
Andriy, a member of an extraction crew, takes a break during the exhumation at a mass grave near Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, June 13, 2022.
AP Photo / Natacha Pisarenko
Hanna Sylivon, 76, stands inside her house destroyed by attacks in Chernihiv, northern Ukraine, June 19, 2022.
AP Photo / Natacha Pisarenko
Children stand outside a building destroyed by attacks in Chernihiv, northern Ukraine, June 19, 2022.
AP Photo / Natacha Pisarenko