The first study visit to Kyiv took place on May 8-12. Despite heavy shellings of the Ukrainian capital in May 2023, the journalists had an insightful week by discovering the Ukrainian media landscape and journalistic practices in a country at war.
The group visited the Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine, met with human rights activists (Volodymyr Yavorsky, Tetyana Pechonchyk, Maria Tomak, Yanina Kornienko, and Natalya Gumenyuk), discussed the current and post-war challenges of Ukraine at the Veteran HUB, engaged in a discussion with civil society activists and representatives of the volunteer movement. The program also featured a day trip to the Kyiv region, where the fellows could see the destruction inflicted by the Russian army as well as the reconstruction projects already in place.