Bakhmut’s local newspaper, Vpered, has only been compelled to halt print twice in its history spanning more than a century. The first hiatus occurred when Nazi Germany took over Soviet Ukraine in 1941 while the second was necessitated by Russia’s full-scale war on Ukraine in February 2022. Despite these ordeals, Vpered has managed to bounce back, continuing to serve the Bakhmut community scattered by Russia’s invasion and subsequent destruction of the city. The importance of Vpered, like numerous other local newspapers, is further underscored in times of warfare, serving as a trustworthy source of information especially amidst the barrage of Moscow’s missiles and propaganda.
In times of adversity, such as the no-electricity, no-radio, no-television, and no-phone situation that Bakhmut endured in October 2022, printed media like Vpered uphold their importance. As elaborated by Vpered’s chief editor, Svitlana Ovcharenko, who fled the city along with other colleagues, the newspaper was recommenced after eight months of cease, with themselves based elsewhere in Ukraine.
Recognising that the residents of Bakhmut were blanketed in isolation, cut-off from the outside world, the team marshalled funds to rebuild the local paper and had volunteer aid workers distribute it alongside ration supplies. This stood as a bold counter to the notion that printed newspapers are a fading entity, using the Vpered as an indispensable information source especially in a situation where phones and internet were non-functional.
Vpered, trusted and read by generations of Bakhmut’s community owing to its 104-year-old tradition, relayed essential information in these trying times, particularly about where and how to access aid and evacuation resources, the whereabouts of displaced individuals and updates on Bakhmut natives now living elsewhere domestically and internationally.
Having relocated to Odesa with her elderly mother and two adult children, editor Ovcharenko expressed pride in Vpered’s contribution to aiding people’s survival in this crisis. Vpered guided them on whom to contact and were to go for evacuation, possibly saving hundreds of lives.
Taking a stance alongside her fellow displaced residents of Bakhmut and the international community, Ovcharenko was an observer to the Kremlin-backed Wagner group raining destruction on her city for over a year, until they ultimately took over the devastated remains in May 2023. Through drone footage, she witnessed the gradual demolition of her apartment block, until it was no more than a pile of rubble. She left behind almost all her possessions when she left in March 2022, hoping to return home within a month.
Formerly having a workforce of 11, Vpered now functions with just four employees each residing in different cities, navigating the regular and lengthy power outages while trying to produce the biweekly newspaper. Just a few nights ago, the layout for the recent issue was completed between midnight and 5 am, due to that being the only period Ovcharenko in Odesa and Sasha, the typesetter stationed in Shostka, had access to electricity. Shostka, a frontline city near the Russian border, lies 750km north of Odesa. There’s often an alarm ringing at 2 am, signaling the availability of electricity and prompting work in the kitchen.
The newspaper, consisting of 8 pages, is printed in Kyiv and 6,000 copies get allocated to 12 cities throughout Ukraine. These cities have dedicated centres to aid the erstwhile residents of Bakhmut, which had a pre-2022 population of 70,000.
“Bakhmut as we knew it has been decimated and is now merely a digital city”, states Ovcharenko. “But the spirit of the community is still alive. Wherever Bakhmut’s people have taken residence, there is Bakhmut”.
Efforts continue from Ukrainian soldiers to defend a thousand-kilometer-long frontline to save other cities from Bakhmut’s fate. Meanwhile, millions of civilians still inhabit regions within a 50-kilometer range of the frontline or the Russian boundary, often surrounded by vast damage due to continuous shelling.
The chief editor of Vorskla newspaper, Oleksiy Pasyuha, has taken on the task of delivering the newspaper to Velyka Pysarivka and surrounding locales in the Sumy border region – a task Ukraine’s postal service no longer carries out. Velyka Pysarivka village has been severely affected by aerial bombings, thus leading to an indirect dependence on hardly audible drones that pose a threat to inhabitants, according to Pasyuha.
Despite potential threats, Pasyuha dedicates half of his weekly duration engaging in article writing and distribution in areas proximal to Russia’s border, specifically less than 10km away. The first publication of the now-weekly Vorskla was in 1930, but circumstances led to its pausing for a month early in 2022 before restarting by a straightforward printing method with A4 papers until the exhaustion of the ink, aided by community helpers who delivered them alongside humanitarian aid.
Pasyuha emphasises that they report local narratives often overlooked by many, like volunteers, local military personnel and contributors to the local area, alongside information concerning local law and services accessible to evacuees. With their office located in Okhtyrka – a safe and stable town roughly 100km away, Pasyuha and a combination of paid and voluntary staff, alongside his wife, operate from there after bomb impacts rendered the initial office damaged this year.
The Zorya (Dawn) Newspaper office, located in Lyman district of the Donetsk region, was plundered and destroyed amid Russia’s occupation of the small city last year which more or less lasted four months – resulting in Oleksandr Pasichnyk, the chief editor and his family being displaced. The newspaper is now operated from Kyiv with social media and website operations run by his daughter, Khrystyna Lebedieva. Twice a month, the council in Lyman receives copies of the paper for distribution in regions along the frontline and to areas habited by relocated citizens.
In the wake of a full-blown war, individuals have begun reading increasingly more, notes Pasichnyk. In Lyman and its district, where Russian media historically stirs pro-Kremlin sentiments, their publication remains the sole patriotic news source.
Lebedieva reveals that a cyber attack, led by the Russians, resulted in the downfall of their website. Due to a lack of an IT specialist, she and her spouse were left to repair the damage and successfully got the site back online.
The National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU), sustained by international contributors, has been fundamental in reinstating and continually supporting 32 newspapers in conflict zones. NUJU president, Sergiy Tomilenko, emphasizes that in many instances, these publications are the only accessible information for the locals.
However, he believes their contributions extend beyond providing straightforward news, acting as Ukrainian symbols. These local newspapers portray the resilience of Ukraine, reminding people they’re not forgotten even during hard times.
The Swiss-based Fondation Hirondelle backs roughly 25 media outlets within Ukraine. Sabra Ayres, a media mentor, and trainer, comments that the full-blown war has heightened the essentials of accessible, ultra-local information for global communities.
She notes how Telegram channels became the go-to information source during the war’s initial stages but admits to a high level of misrepresentation on such platforms. In communities on the frontline where electricity and mobile services were patchy, the trusted local printed press had its significance revived as it was favoured over less familiar national Ukrainian media outlets.
According to Pasyuha, local newspapers have an obligation to ensure factual information counters the Russian’s hatred of their work. He points to a newspaper on the border that’s on a mission to counteract Russian propaganda and stop misleading information from infiltrating people’s minds.
His belief stands that newspapers play a vital role in uniting their region’s population, giving those situated elsewhere the chance to stay connected with their hometown and district, instilling hope of their return.