War! A Special Issue
April 6, 2022
A pregnant woman, while giving birth, survives a bomb explosion. Journalists covering the war face a barrage of gunfire, trapped in their car. Civilians and soldiers alike continue to fight for the sovereignty of their country.
Our HHS journalists have felt an obligation to delve into the reality and background of the war in Ukraine. What they have written for this special edition of The Forecast is gripping, heart-wrenching, and highly informative. Trisha Bin has extensively researched the background of this tragic conflict in her article “Ukraine War.” Jennifer Izaguirre, in her feature “Russia’s Attack on the Most Vulnerable,” portrays the suffering of doctors and patients alike as healthcare facilities are targeted. Huntingtown HHS students have folded 1,000 cranes to lift up hopes and prayers for peace.
And what follows in this article is a compilation of writings from more of our own student reporters about the harrowing experiences of fellow journalists on the scene in Ukraine, who are struggling to inform the world of this massive human tragedy. The accompanying video puts moving images to their experience.
Journalism in Wartime
By Jennifer Izaguirre
Bloodied faces and mangled limbs emerge from a building as you hold a camera steadily before you. These are victims of war. Innocent people being brutally massacred in an unprompted international conflict. Your task? To record every infringement on human rights so Russia may be held accountable. As people are evacuated, you hear the thundering wails of a mother, marking the death of a child. Salty tears stream down your face, and a suffocating pressure torments your heart. Entire hospitals and neighborhoods lay abandoned before you, a wasteland that people once called home. These images haunt your dreams at night. A pregnant woman with blood splattered on her face, a child laying on the ground, his mouth open as if to utter a last goodbye, and entire families being bombarded with bullets as they try to flee. Later, you will cry for these people, pray for them. But for now, you focus. Debris from the bombing rises into the air and strikes your eyes. They burn a crimson red, but you keep them open. You have to see this. The world has to see this. Suddenly, a sonic boom resonates through the earth, and more people fall to the ground. Another bombing…
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When Will It End?
By Sadie Storm
There’s not a moment of peace nor a moment to spare in Ukraine, as weary citizens continue to face another week of horrific Russian violence. None are exempt from the terror, whether they be children, pregnant women, or international journalists. After over a month of back-and-forth between Ukrainian fighters and Russian soldiers, people on all sides are wondering – when will the fighting end?
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The World May Not Know
By Cameron Kapiskosky
After years of dreaded build-up and developed tensions between the countries of Russia and Ukraine, war has finally taken place. The two countries biting back at one another like two angry dogs, one protecting its home, the other trying to take it over. When you are in these territories, you must be ready for the unexpected, anything could happen. Ambushes, airstrikes, shellings, and you could even witness the devastation and suffering in these warzones. How is this going to escalate and how is this going to end though? The world may not know.
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Nightmare Turns Real
By Kyle Carter
Imagine the most terrifying place you can. The place you only see in your nightmares. Imagine the sights and smells, the feeling, and the environment. Now imagine if it was real. Surrounding you, engulfing you in its terrifying, brutal grasp. Unfortunately, that is the reality of many innocent people amid the Russian bombardment of Ukraine. Among those innocent Ukrainian people are journalists, documenting and reporting the horrors of war in real-time. There is no special treatment for these heroes as their hotels are bombed, their cars are shot at, their teams run out of their temporary safe-havens. Footage and photographs have been released by said journalists of the civilians now brought into the front of the war, covered in wounds, and filled with shrapnel. Wounded pregnant women evacuating from bombarded maternity wards, doctors trying to save the lives of children wounded by shrapnel, firefighters, and ambulances unable to continue their services as the number of bodies trapped under rubble become overwhelming. Like electricity, water, and service towers are being critically taken down, these reporters continue their crucial work. Donning thick body armor and helmets labeled “PRESS” in bold letters at best; dressed like soldiers just to document and reveal truth in chaos. And through this all, they must still report, they must still record. Live broadcasts cut short by rocket fire and terrifying footage of innocent journalists being shot by ambushes are real and terrifying occurrences, documented by such companies as Sky News and Fox News; both of which have lost their brave and unyielding reporters in the brutal crossfires of war.
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Wartime Wastelands
By Nathan Dudley
War has broken out in Ukraine and towns have been destroyed leaving them looking like waste lands. People are grieving over the loss of loved ones as they hold the ones they have left. People are running out of buildings to safety to avoid being hit by bombs. The people cover from the fire just hoping to survive.
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Fireworks Gone Wrong
By Caleb Evans
The scene is like a fireworks show gone wrong. Monstrous blasts, immense booms, smoke filling the air. Everyone in intense suspense. But, instead of cheers, there are screams. Instead of joyous crowds, there are people running for their lives. I’m here in Ukraine and the only way to describe this situation is just devastating. There goes another one, we have to move!
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Tranquility Replaced
By Jay Wilson
Ukraine’s tranquility and peace have been replaced with the sounds of gunfire and the crash of bombs upon the Earth. Such sounds stretch all across the country and can be heard all throughout. Cars lay in the street, abandoned, and concrete jungles of ruined ‘ghost cities’ haunt the land.