Luke Harding, a well-known British journalist who works for The Guardian, recently visited the Ukraine frontline with the Ukrainian Security and Cooperation Center team (USCC).
During the visit, Mr Harding spoke with Ukrainian defenders near Donetsk, particularly in Avdiivka, approximately 50 meters from the enemy near the Donetsk airport. The group came under sniper fire from Russian occupation forces close to the airport. The shot was captured on video and published by the newspaper.
Luke Harding conducted interviews with Avdiivka Military and Civil Administration representatives, the former head of the frontline village of New York, and frontline civilians.
“Will Russia launch a full-fledged invasion of Ukraine?” Nowadays, people from all over the world are asking this question, and journalists are seeking answers. During our conversations with military and civilians in eastern Ukraine, we made certain that “no one wants to be Putin’s slave”. Ukrainians are calm and ready to repel any aggressor’s attack in order to protect our homeland,” said Olesia Horiainova, a member of the delegation and co-founder of the Ukrainian Security and Cooperation Center.
Luke Harding has been a foreign correspondent for The Guardian since 1996. In 2007, he became the publication’s bureau chief in Moscow, and in 2011, he became the first foreign journalist to be deported after the Cold War under pressure from the FSB. He is the author of books on Putin’s criminal regime, including Mafia State; Collusion: Secret Meetings, Dirty Money, and How Russia Helped Donald Trump Win about Russian electoral interference in the United States in 2016; Shadow State about Russian state secret operations; and A Very Expensive Poison: the Definitive Story of the Murder of Litvinenko. His books served as the inspiration for the films Fifth Power about the founder of WikiLeaks and Snowden. He reported on the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya as well.
The USCC collaborates with think tanks and international media to tell the truth about the situation in Ukraine. We were honoured to arrange a visit for the distinguished international reporter Luke Harding, who investigates the aggressive nature of the Kremlin.
As a result of the expedition, The Guardian published an article with an eloquent headline quote from a Ukrainian soldier: “Nobody wants to be Putin’s slave’“
Volodymyr Yurchenko, a member of the USCC team, worked as a photographer and cameraman for the British newspaper during the trip. The Guardian produced a short film and a podcast about the current state of the Russian-Ukrainian war based on the acquired information.
