In partnership with
Implemented by
As part of the
Funded by
Contacts ECPMF: www.ecpmf.eu Bluesky: @ecpmf.bsky.social E-mail: info@ecpmf.eu
Contacts ECPMF: www.ecpmf.eu Bluesky: @ecpmf.bsky.social E-mail: info@ecpmf.eu

Project Coordinator: Olha Syrotiuk E-mail: olha.syrotiuk@ecpmf.eu
Project Coordinator: Olha Syrotiuk E-mail: olha.syrotiuk@ecpmf.eu
All journalists whose stories are featured in The Only Material project are supported by the Voices of Ukraine programme. The Voices of Ukraine support programme, led by the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), is part of the Hannah Arendt Initiative and is funded by the German Federal Foreign Office. It provides support to journalists in eight areas and is implemented in collaboration with the Public Interest Journalism Lab, The Fix Media Foundation, the Association of Independent Regional Press Publishers of Ukraine, the Lviv Media Forum, the Association of Journalists of Kosovo, and the Women in Media. ECPMF thanks its partners for their support in implementing the programme and assisting with the exhibition. The views and content expressed in the project and its accompanying materials are those of the individual journalists and do not necessarily reflect the positions of the German Federal Foreign Office or any of the programme’s partner organisations. The European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) is a non-profit organisation founded in Leipzig, Germany, in 2015. It operates on the basis of the European Charter on Freedom of the Press and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. ECPMF’s mission is to promote, preserve, and defend media freedom across Europe.
Most journalists,
either European
or Ukrainian, don't
dream of writing
about war.
We asked Ukrainian journalists with which topic they initially entered their profession.














This is not a project about war. It is a project about dreams — the dreams of journalists and the lives they imagined. It is about their transformation, their resilience, and their quiet defiance: carving out space for truth and hope among the ruins.

The project explores how dreams and ambitions could change under the pressure of warfare reality — it’s a complex and painful topic. It focuses on personal stories of those who were forced to adapt to a new role of a war reporter and whose work became part of the global struggle against the aggressor — a fight for democratic values.
A project that explores the personal stories
of Ukrainian journalists whose dreams
and aspirations have been reshaped
by the harsh realities of war
Material
The only