Photo exhibition The War Is Not Over Yet opened in the Odesa City Garden on October 19. The project aims to tell the stories of people who made the world aware of the war waged by Russia against Ukraine – journalists who have been killed, injured, captured or persecuted, came under fire since the start of the full-scale invasion.
According to the Institute of Mass Information data, 40 Ukrainian and foreign journalists were killed by the Russians as of October 14, 2022, including:
- 8 – during the performance of professional duties
- 19 – defending Ukraine in the ranks of the Armed Forces
- 13 – as a result of Russian shelling and torture
One of these journalists is Maksym Medynskyi, a native of the town of Bolhrad, Odesa region. He was killed in Russian artillery shelling near Kharkiv on April 29, 2022. Maksym Medynskyi is a graduate of the Institute of Journalism of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. He worked in printed and online mass media, in the press service of the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine, and was the press secretary for the Energy Research Center. He left this position in August 2014 and joined the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine as a volunteer fighter. Before demobilization in 2015, he was the deputy commander of the 1st battalion mortar battery as part of the 79th Separate Airborne Brigade. After the Russian full-scale invasion started, he returned to the front. Maksym Medynskyi was buried at the Baikove Cemetery in Kyiv. He was awarded posthumously the Order of Bohdan Khmelnytsky "for personal courage and selfless actions shown in the defense of the state sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, loyalty to the military oath" and the Order for Courage, 3rd degree "for significant personal contribution to the development of domestic journalism and information sphere, courage and self-sacrifice, demonstrated during the coverage of the events of Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine, many years of conscientious work and great professional skills". Maksym Medynskyi left parents, wife, and daughter.
Exhibition The War Is Not Over Yet is an expression of solidarity with Ukrainian media professionals who fight for the truth, risking their own lives. They leave their professional activities and join the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. They are actively fighting on the information front, recording the war developments and telling the truth about them to the world. Thanks to Ukrainian journalists, photographers, camerapersons and fixers, the international community learns news from the front and sees evidence of Russian war crimes.
Photo exhibition will last in Odesa until November 24. Earlier, exhibition The War Is Not Over Yet was held in Kyiv, Boyarka, and Vinnytsia.
Exhibition is held under the auspices of PEN Ukraine, Institute of Mass Information, Human Rights Center ZMINA, National Museum of the Revolution of Dignity, Lviv Media Forum, Georgy Gongadze Prize, Odesa City Council.
Photo credit: Ivan Strakhov