War Crimes Journalism Series Ends with Ukraine Focus – Key Insights

The final installment of the 2026 summer series "Witness to War Crimes" on Asymmetrical Haircuts examines the challenges faced by journalists documenting conflicts, particularly in Ukraine. The episode, titled "When Your Beat Becomes a War Zone with Oksana Kovalenko," was originally recorded in May 2022 and is being rerun this week.

The series has explored how journalists, filmmakers, and investigators document global atrocities, often against considerable odds. Previous episodes have covered the People’s Tribunal on the Murder of Journalists in The Hague, the Srebrenica genocide, and the ongoing conflict in Gaza. This week's episode focuses on Ukraine, with a discussion featuring Ukrainian journalist Oksana Kovalenko.

During the conversation, Kovalenko shared her experiences reporting from a conflict zone in the early months of the Russian invasion. She discussed the difficulties of adjusting to life under invasion, including the challenges of obtaining basic necessities like fuel, and the mental toll of reporting on traumatic events. Kovalenko also spoke about the post-traumatic stress disorder experienced by herself and her colleagues.

The series has examined how journalists themselves become targets when bearing witness to atrocities, how survivors perceive media coverage of their trauma, and the pressures of streamlining narratives and what gets lost in that process.

In a follow-up segment, intern Gigi addressed the issue of declining media attention on Ukraine since 2022. Citing analysis from The Ukrainian Review and an opinion piece by Dr. Stepan Stepanenko in the Kyiv Post, Gigi discussed the concept of "Ukraine fatigue" and what it means for media consumers to be witnesses to the conflict.

For those seeking firsthand accounts of the conflict, Gigi recommended two Academy Award-winning documentaries: "20 Days in Mariupol" (2023), which provides a firsthand look at the siege through the eyes of Ukrainian journalist Mstyslav Chernov, and "Mr. Nobody Against Putin" (2025), which was filmed in a Russian classroom by schoolteacher-turned-whistleblower Pavel Talankin.

Additional resources recommended include the work of The Reckoning Project, a war crimes unit led by Janine di Giovanni, and The Telegraph’s podcast "Ukraine: The Latest" for daily coverage.

On a lighter note, Gigi also composed a song for Ukraine, "I Think They Call It Peace," which is included as a bonus track on her 2023 EP.

For more episodes on Ukraine, listeners can tune into "Dealing with Damages for Ukraine with Markiyan Kliuchkovskyi" (Episode 110) and "Ukraine’s Justice System under Strain with Nadia Volkova" (Episode 107), among others. Additional recommendations from Oksana Kovalenko can be found in the show notes of the original episode.