Staying Alive: The Perils of Reporting from Ukraine

Driving through Ukraine, Fried and I navigated the war’s chaos, narrowly avoiding danger as we documented resilience, connection, and the human spirit's defiance.

It’s 5:00 a.m. on the 31st of August, 2024. I’m gripping the wheel, eyes on the empty road ahead, as I cross a bridge bordering Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The darkness of early morning wraps around the landscape, and there’s a peculiar sense of calm that feels almost out of place given where I've been and where I'm heading. The hum of my car's engine is my only companion, a steady rhythm to the thoughts swirling in my head. My journey, my stories, my conflicts, the people I've met—it's all a tangled mess of emotions and experiences that I can’t quite unravel, but that I’m determined to share.