Ron Haviv, the world famous war photojournalist who covered 25 conflicts over the course of his career, and reported, among other things, on the war in the Balkans in the 1990s, talked to N1 Television's Ana Mlinaric via a video link on Tuesday.
In the interview, he described the situation in Ukraine, saying that he couldn’t believe that back in the 1990s he did not believe that another brutal war could break out in the 20th century – and that he was even more shocked that another conflict like that was happening again in the 21st century.
(The following is the English-language translation of the interview as published on the Croatian N1 website.)
Haviv was asked to compare the war in the Balkans and the ongoing war in Ukraine.
“I think the main difference is that, unlike the war in Croatia and Bosnia, the world is now paying much more attention to this. For example, there is no embargo on sending weapons there, which was the case in the Balkans, and diplomatic activity has been going on for a long time. In terms of similarity, the resilience of Ukrainians is similar to that of Croats and Bosniaks who fought to protect what they thought was right. We hope that this conflict will not last that long, but we will see if the world will continue to pay attention,” Haviv said.
Ana Mlinaric asked Haviv about the scenes of destruction he had witnessed in Ukraine.
“I saw the destruction of people’s lives, ethnic cleansing. I was documenting those situations when people leave with bags in their hands, children, pets, it’s all very tragic. Over the last few days I have seen what happened to people who had never left Bucha and Irpin, I have seen these war crimes and atrocities. I thought I would never have to photograph things like that again.”
Haviv added that the next phase of the war would be particularly brutal and cruel to civilians.
“At the beginning of the war in Bosnia and Croatia, access to the Serbian side was possible, but that changed when they thought we were anti-Serb. Today, there is no access to the Russian side if you are not a Russian journalist. Six journalists have been killed so far. I don’t think there is any protection for journalists or civilians,” Haviv told N1.
Haviv was asked to talk about his motives for recording victims and casualties of war.
“I think there my work has an impact, we want to document and hold people accountable. During my time in Bosnia, my work was used by the international war crimes tribunal to build indictments, and in the long run that’s a great thing. Short-term, people always get tired from listening about the war and our task as journalists is to remind people and governments that the war is still going on, and that there are promises we have made to the Ukrainian people,” Haviv said.
These people are victims, and the question is whether we work for individuals or the common good. I believe the common good prevails, and that these photos should be shown – but not the ones that serve to degrade. It is up to us as people documenting things to find photos that will arouse emotions, so that the viewer can learn something, or do something… Photography can do that, and also it can protect the dignity of the person you are photographing,” he said.
Haviv also met with Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, and was asked about his impression of him.
“I had never met him before, and the first impression I got was that the was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. He is in a very important place in history right now, and some people can’t cope with that. Meeting him reminded me of meeting Nelson Mandela – Zelensky too had this aura that is different from the rest of us, which comes as a consequence of what he is doing. I have seen him show a range of emotions during our time together, and although he is professionally an actor, I believe he is an honest man. I was very impressed.”
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