Sonya Zabouga has made her career out of words. Before becoming the editor-in-chief of ELLE Ukraine in 2008, Zabouga worked as a broadcast journalist, officially joining the ELLE team as fashion director in 2004. But in the last week, as the Russian military has invaded her country, starting the first major European war in decades, new phrases have entered her vocabulary. 'I didn’t know how to say "missile" or "military attack" in English,' she recently told ELLE from the hallway of her home in the capital city of Kyiv. (She’s taking Zoom calls here, where there are no windows, for safety.) 'We didn’t need them in our previous life.'
Now, as the rest of the world watches, Zabouga has been working to help educate both her fellow citizens and international readers about the current situation in Ukraine, shining a light in the haze of fake news. 'The main role is to help people get the right information,' she says. 'Our mission in terms of communicating abroad is to help the world know the truth, to know what’s really going on.'
For Zabouga, her days have 'changed completely' since last Thursday, when she woke up to the sound of explosions as the invasion began. 'It’s impossible to be ready for [this] kind of scenario.' Since then, most of her staff has left the capital, where Russian forces have been encroaching for days, in order to join their families elsewhere. 'It’s hard to predict where to spend the night without hearing these explosions,' she says. The New York Times recently reported that a rocket strike devastated a large government building in the city of Kharkiv, killing seven people, while a TV tower was bombed in Kyiv. On Wednesday night, Russian forces took control of Kherson and loud blasts were heard in Kyiv as Russian convoys advance on the capital. Attacks have been reported at hospitals and schools, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of war crimes for targeting civilians, per the New York Times.
One of Zabouga’s colleagues left Kyiv to assist her relatives in a southwestern town where people have been staying in basements for days without electricity, sufficient food, or basic necessities. In some cities, Zabouga says people switch off lights at night so passing planes can distinguish civilian houses from other buildings; on her Saturday trip to the supermarket, people were buying as much as possible, preparing for expected delivery delays.
And yet from different corners of the country, as war unfolds around them, her team is still doing what they know best. Currently, that means focusing on ELLE Ukraine’s social media accounts and website, where one can find articles on what to do in case you lose internet, what to do in case of injury or during shelling, a list of volunteer organisations, and stories from Ukrainians who’ve been sheltering for days in an old gym. Zabouga expects that in the coming months, they’ll create a special issue, similar to what the magazine published after the 2014 crisis exploring how Ukraine changed in the aftermath. While some of her staff are staying in places where it can be hard to get cellular service, they’ve continued to communicate through text messages and via apps.
In a recent Instagram post, Zabouga gave a glimpse into how her team has been beginning their days. 'The morning begins with a rollcall in editorial chats and the question "How are you?"' she wrote. 'Now it sounds much more meaningful than before. In fact, between the lines it means "Are you alive?"'
Zabouga knows people in Russia, where authorities are attempting to restrict media reports about the invasion, are following her personal Instagram accounts. 'That’s why I do all my posts in English, so foreigners can understand what’s going on, and Russian people can know what’s going on,' she says. She posts photos and videos to her Stories, showing the destruction across the country. 'They have to compare what they hear from [Russian] TV channels and what they see on our Instagram accounts.' She wants it to be clear: Reality in Ukraine has turned into a nightmare.
But there’s a saying in Ukraine about hope, Zabouga explains, as she tries to piece it back together in English. 'We never thought we would become witnesses of such awful events,' she says. 'It’s a very difficult time, a lot of emotions, a lot of feelings, but I’m still hoping for the best.' After we hang up, I Google the phrase. Its essence: Hope is the last thing to die.
Madison is the digital deputy editor at ELLE, where she also covers news, politics, and culture. If she’s not online, she’s probably napping or trying not to fall while rock climbing.
