Covering Ukraine from Kyiv: Interview with Ukrainian-American journalist Peter Zalmayev
Screenshot showing Peter Zalmayev reporting from Kyiv on Al Jazeera English YouTube channel
Telling the story of Ukraine in a way that keeps non-Ukrainian audiences interested after two and half years of the full-scale invasion and widespread “Ukraine fatigue” among foreign media and donors is not a small feat. Yet developments inside and outside the country, including the latest occupation by Kyiv of parts of Russia's Kursk region or Ukraine's military intervention in Mali, indicate the war continues to have an impact across the world.
For more, read: Line of conflicts shifts from the Donbas in Ukraine to Mali in Sahel
To understand the global importance of Ukraine, Global Voices spoke to Kyiv-based Ukrainian-American journalist and YouTuber Peter Zalmayev, who works both as a Ukrainian reporter and an expert for non-Ukrainian media. Zalmayev received his Master's degree from Columbia University and is the director of the New York/Kyiv-based NGO Eurasia Democracy Initiative and is also a Ukrainian TV host. He's been a frequent commentator for leading international print and broadcast media, including CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera, France 24, ABC News, MSNBC.
The interview was conducted over email after in-person meetings in Kyiv. The quotes have been edited for style and brevity.
Peter Zalmayev, photo used with permission
Filip Noubel (FN): Tell us about your journey from Soviet Ukraine to the US and back to independent Ukraine
Peter Zalmayev (PZ): I grew up in the predominantly Russian-speaking, coal-mining city of Donetsk, in Eastern Ukraine. All the way through eighth grade, I went to school wearing Soviet paraphernalia, such as a lapel pin of Vladimir Lenin and a red bandana-type tie around my neck, denoting membership in the “pioneer” community of young communists. Though still too young to feel an outright aversion to the Soviet indoctrination, from age five I was possessed of a desire to break through the “Iron Curtain” and travel far and wide.
That opportunity arrived in 1994, when a group of Christian missionaries from the American “Bible Belt” invited me to come to the US to study at a Bible college, become a minister and return to Ukraine to lead the flock. Preach I did, in the US, but I returned to Ukraine only in 2016, after a 17-year stint in New York City, and a master's from Columbia University. This was two years into a war with Russia, boiling and simmering in my native Donbass and the neighboring Luhansk oblasts. By then I had become a frequent commentator on all things Ukraine to international media, and a commentator on US politics to Ukrainian media.
Ever since, I have been shuttling between Kyiv and New York. People in Ukraine are often surprised to hear that someone would come back from the US to live in Ukraine, as if quitting a “land of milk and honey” in favor of a place of unremitting drudgery and privation. The truth is, even after Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, Kyiv feels far more safe, clean and cohesive socially than New York. Kyiv subway, in contrast to New York's, runs on time, is clean and rat-free.
FN: What are your main challenges covering Ukraine from within Ukraine for a Ukrainian audience?
PZ: Russia went to war against Ukraine to put an end to its drifting towards Europe and liberal democracy. Even under the most serious threat to its very survival in its post-Soviet history, and under various restrictions due to the state of war, Ukraine is enjoying much greater freedom of speech than its aggressor. Since the start of the full-scale war, I have been hosting live broadcasts on the Pryamy TV channel, as well as on various YouTube channels. There is hardly a politician, journalist, writer, musician or any other public person whom I haven't interviewed. And I have done that without censorship, even when it comes to matters of war. Rather, one exercises self-imposed restraint when discussing matters that could hamper the war effort through, for example, excessive criticism of the military command and ill-advised discussion of matters at the front.
What has been a challenge for Ukrainian journalists especially in these vicious times, is not to give in to temptation of “click-bate” and hype, in order to give the reader/viewer what they want to see/hear, thus driving views. Hence, a proliferation of fakes feeding unjustified hopes of a near victory, whether through Russia falling apart or Putin dying, whether through a palace coup, a popular uprising or of a fatal decease. If fact, probably millians of Ukrainians have fallen victim to the story, originating with a wily Moscow-based YouTube personality, that Vladimir Putin is, in fact, already dead and securely kept in a cozy freezer.
It's been a difficult balancing act: avoiding hysteria and defeatism, in the face of a larger, better armed and ruthless enemy, while at the same time not feeding false hopes and building unrealistic expectations of easy victory.
For more, read Global Voices’ Special Coverage: Entering a third year of war in Ukraine
FN: How does Ukraine relate to the Global South today? Have things changed since February 2022?
PZ: Ukrainians never really knew much or cared about the so-called “Global South,” until Russia invaded and started vying with Ukraine and its Western backers not only for diplomatic support of members of the “Global South” (I use quotes advisedly, knowing how elusive, if not downright non-existent this category is!) but the very hearts and minds of its denizens.
Who among us really cared about the millions who perished in Rwanda in 1994? Or in Congo, over the last two decades? Russia's war against Ukraine has showed how interconnected our planet is: A disruption to shipments of Ukraine's grain reverberated far and wide, from Egypt to Bangladesh, threatening the lives of millions. And although it is clear to us Ukrainians who the party to blame for that has been, we've had to face the harsh reality that on the African, Asian, and Latin American “streets,” the picture is decidedly muddled. That is largely due to the history-based resentments the “Global South” feels towards the US and other former colonial powers. Russia has spared no effort to capitalize on those resentments, presenting itself as a torch-bearer in the “holy anti-imperialist struggle” against the “Anglo-Saxon” world order. Thus we cannot take the support of Africans, Asians and Latin Americans for granted; and it is not enough simply to disprove and expose Russia-disseminated disinformation. Ukraine has been working on a comprehensive plan of engagement with the Global South, to identify commonalities and build genuine relationships that would outlive this war.
FN: Why have you decided to embark on a year-long trip to Africa? What are you hoping to learn and achieve?
PZ: Ukraine needs a large-scale grass-roots outreach to countries of the “Global South” and this is what a group of my partners and will embark on a multi-country listening and talking tour of Africa. It is good and well to see our Foreign Minister follow in the foot steps of Russia's Sergey Lavrov and pay repeated visits to the African continent. But in order for a mutual appreciation and understanding, say, between Zimbabweans and Ukrainians to take root, a longer-term effort involving civil society, prominent cultural figures, journalists and activists must be initiated.
As someone who has since the beginning of the war been giving regular interviews not only to CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera and France 24, but also to Nigeria's Channels TV, India's Republic TV, Wion, CNN News18/India, Egypt's Al Qahera, China's CGTN and Turkey's TRT World, I feel it's time to cast the net deeper. We are hoping to generate and cultivate links with journalists and civil society in each country we visit, and identify effective ways to advance Ukrainian narratives, while at the same time seeking to neutralize Russian propaganda efforts. This will be achieved through print and broadcast media appearances, cultural events, and personal diplomacy. The itinerary currently includes: South Africa, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Madagascar, Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda.
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