Near the frontlines in Ukraine, delivering the mail can be deadly. Since the full-scale invasion, Russian attacks have destroyed more than 500 Ukrainian post offices — and killed at least 9 postal workers doing their jobs.
Postal courier Larysa Navrotska risks her life every day as she ensures villagers near the front receive their retirement payments, medicines, food, newspapers and mail. She is also a rare social connection for many who are now living in near isolation.
This was the first time I got to narrate a piece in @nytimes , so please take a watch with sound on! You can find it at nytimes.com/by/whitney-shefte and youtube.com/@nytimes
As Larysa says in the video: “May there be love in your heart, peace in your soul, butterflies in your stomach and a peaceful sky above your head.”
It was a joy to collaborate on this with @michaelanthonyadams@dzvinkography@erasurehead_ Dmitry Khavin, Rafaela Balster, @aritzparra and @hanaansarhan
#ukraine #ukrainewar #postalworkers #videojournalism
On our recent trip to Ukraine, we embedded with a crew of volunteers, including @aero.tim , who have turned an old skydiving plane into a vehicle for drone hunting. Much of the crew lives together when they’re on duty, getting calls all through the night to run out and prep the plane for a mission, often to be told to stand down. Just from our few days there, I found it to be physically and mentally exhausting. But sometimes the missions are a go and the team shoots down drones over unpopulated areas before they can cause harm.
Watch ‘Inside The Old Skydiving Plane Hunting Drones in Ukraine’ on nytimes.com and our YouTube channel.
With production by @michaelanthonyadams , @dzvinkography and me. Cinematography by me, with additional footage by Alex Stratienko. Editing by @erasurehead_ , supervising production by @aritzparra and executive production by Hanaan Sarhan
#ukraine #dronewarfare #flight #airplane #videojournalism
There continue to be crucial stories to tell from Ukraine, so I’m grateful to have been able to return for two weeks of reporting for NYT. From Kyiv, to an area a couple hours south, to Dnipro region, to Lviv, we covered a lot of ground in a short amount of time. We met amazing people who are so very tired from over four years of senseless full-scale war - but have no wishes to relent. We jumped into a ditch to hide from an approaching drone. We saw a Shahed up close at a roadside museum, drove under drone protection nets and so many other things you’ll see when our videos publish. We had such a tremendous team collaborating on these stories and the logistics required to execute them - my co-VJ @michaelanthonyadams , producer/photojournalist @dzvinkography (who captured some of these images), our stellar security team of Adam and Steven, drivers Maksym, Sashko, Pavlo and Natalia, producer Oleksandra, reporter video queen @kimbarker30 and all of our editors from afar, especially @aritzparra .
I feel so lucky and so tired all at once.
Until next time, Ukraine!
Hey, I have a new job! Thrilled to join the video team @nytimes in the DC bureau as a Senior Video Journalist / Cinematographer!
Leaving The Washington Post two years ago was the hardest decision I ever made, but I’ve learned so much working as an independent filmmaker and video journalist since then. I got to collaborate with some of the best news organizations, documentary crews, nonprofits and World Bank teams to tell impactful visual stories.
Now, I’m excited for a new chapter at NYT! 🎥
2025. What a year. An epic hiking vacation in Patagonia. An IWMF fellowship in Ukraine. Family ski trip to Breckenridge. Visiting friends in Minneapolis. A baby shower in NC and another in DC with the best friends and family. A vacation in Vienna and Krakow before heading to Ukraine for the most important moment of the year (and our lives) - the birth of our son, Kostya, via the most amazing surrogate, Mariia. Briefly seeing dear friends in Kyiv while getting Kostya’s passport. A week in Italy. Bringing Kostya home to meet Derry and all of our family and friends. A trip to Colorado for a dear friend’s wedding. Another to Charlotte for Kostya to meet his Gramps and other Shefte relatives. Then a visit to CT to see the Blodget crew. Visits from Kostya’s grandmothers Ginger, Martie and Sweetie. An incredible work trip to Alaska before starting a new full-time job. And a sweet first Christmas for Kostya, seeing our NC family. How grateful I am.
What an incredible week reporting across Alaskan villages with this badass all-female aka “gal gaggle” crew (plus our intrepid pilot Dirk of @coyote_air , flying the 1953 Beaver named Pumpkin)! @kaylakshea@emelex
Slashed USAID funding endangers women’s health in Ukraine
In eastern Ukraine, one health clinic has no in-house OBGYN. Many patients can’t — or won’t — travel to larger cities for care because of the war with Russia. To fill the gap, the humanitarian group Action Against Hunger (ACF) has sent a mobile health team that includes an OBGYN. But after the Trump administration cut USAID funding in early 2025, ACF lost 60% of its Ukraine.
This reporting was supported by the International Women’s Media Foundation’s Women on the Ground: Reporting from Ukraine’s Unseen Frontlines Initiative in partnership with the Howard G. Buffett Foundation.
#Ukraine #ukrainerussiawar #womenshealth #health #usaid #humanitarianaid #unitedstates #obgyn
The Ukrainian Radio Station Fighting Russian Lies—With Less U.S. Support Than Ever
When USAID programs were dismantled, a Ukrainian public radio station lost 60% of its funding. Now, it’s searching for ways to keep countering Russian disinformation.
This reporting was supported by the International Women’s Media Foundation’s Women on the Ground: Reporting from Ukraine’s Unseen Frontlines Initiative in partnership with the Howard G. Buffett Foundation.
#ukraine #war #ukrainerussiawar #freepress #journalism #publicradio #documentary #videojournalism
I started a Substack to unpack the intersection of filmmaking / video journalism and motherhood as I embark on this new journey. Take a look! /@whitneyshefte #filmmaking #videojournalism #infertility #surrogacy #ivf #parenthood #motherhood #workingmoms
Welcome to the world, Baby Kostya. We’ve been waiting so long for you to get here. And we’re so grateful to be your parents. But we didn’t do this alone. We’re eternally thankful for our truly amazing surrogate Mariia. It’s hard to understate how special her gift was to us. She is a literal angel.
We’re also so thankful to our incredible agency, @smartpath_fertility_intl . Ivanna, Maria, Oksana and Lesia have been by our side every step of the way. Which is no small feat when you choose to have a baby in Ukraine at this tough moment (stand with Ukraine, y’all!)
Infertility is a hard road. But after 7 years of trying, we can hopefully be a testament to not give up. If anyone ever wants to talk about these challenges, we’re open.
P.S. Kostya (pronounced Coast-E-Ah) is short for Kostiantyn. We wanted to give our son a Ukrainian name in honor of our surrogate, the resilient Ukrainian people and my dear friend @kostiantynkhudov , who was in the bunker with us - not to mention navigating the city during some uncertain moments - at the beginning of the war in Kyiv (and continues incredible coverage now). ❤️
Being back in Ukraine 3 years after Putin viciously, without provocation, launched the full-scale war there, I was reminded of how much suffering and loss the Ukrainian people have endured. I was reminded how they have been the unintended buffer against Putin’s encroachment on the free world - though it’s clear his encroachment extends beyond Ukraine through disinformation repeated by our own president. I was also reminded how resilient, kind and incredibly strong the Ukrainian people are, despite all of the horrors foist upon them.
The trip brought back memories of 3 years before, when my friends and I hid in bunkers in Kyiv as Russian forces pummeled us on all sides. I was reminded of families tearfully fleeing the shelling in Irpin, burying their relatives who had worked ordinary jobs just days before, giving birth in bunkers, and of women recounting the rape and torture they had endured at the hands of Russian soldiers.
It’s important to remember - and know that all of this still goes on. And I’m so grateful for the opportunity to be back there, thanks to incredible support from @theiwmf , who brought me there on a reporting fellowship. They provided a HEFAT, a team of badass women producers (including the amazing @meydileyn , who I worked with), and resources to work on projects around the country - not to mention a chance to see some of my dearest friends and other important people in my life. IWMF has been a pivotal part of my career and I’m so grateful for all they do to support women journalists.
Now, it’s time to put together the stories I worked on. Because the rest of the world needs to remember what’s happening in Ukraine, too.
#ukraine #kyiv #lviv #hefat #journalism #videojournalism
