turned out that he was a lawyer. a week ago, i was representing my cases in the courtroom, and now it s difficult to grasp but if you don t think about it, and simply do what you have to do it, it actually feels pretty, already, normal. i mean, have you ever held a gun in your hands before? at school, we ve trained, uh, to deal with these sort of things, but i have never dealt with it and never even shot a gun or a pistol. there was a real sense at that time that ukraine, and indeed europe, was being dragged back in time. we were at the edge of the city one day in a forest, and we were watching young men, lines of young men, digging trenches with shovels.
there was a real sense at that time that ukraine, and indeed europe, was being dragged back in time. we were at the edge of the city one day in a forest, and we were watching young men, lines of young men, digging trenches with shovels. chopping down trees, frantically trying to create a line of defence around the city. and it s a scene that could have played out, and indeed did play, out in world war one. this could have been the somme, but it was the edge of a european capital in 2022. you can hear lots of shooting tear gas coming in. i ve been based in the middle east covering conflicts in iraq, syria, libya for the past ten years. before that, i was in afghanistan. i ve covered a lot of catastrophes, a lot of wars.
to deal with these sort of things, but i have never dealt with it and never even shot a gun or a pistol. there was a real sense at that time that ukraine, and indeed europe, was being dragged back in time. we were at the edge of the city one day in a forest, and we were watching young men, lines of young men, digging trenches with shovels. chopping down trees, frantically trying to create a line of defence around the city. and it s a scene that could have played out, and indeed did play, out in world war one. this could have been the somme, but it was the edge of a european capital in 2022. you can hear lots of shooting tear gas coming in. i ve been based in the middle east
a week ago, i was representing my cases in the courtroom, and now it s difficult to grasp but if you don t think about it, and simply do what you have to do it, it actually feels pretty, already, normal. i mean, have you ever held a gun in your hands before? at school, we ve trained, uh, to deal with these sort of things, but i have never dealt with it and never even shot a gun or a pistol. there was a real sense at that time that ukraine, and indeed europe, was being dragged back in time. we were at the edge of the city one day in a forest, and we were watching young men, lines of young men, digging trenches with shovels. chopping down trees, frantically trying to create a line of defence around the city. and it s a scene that could have played out, and indeed did play,
when president zelenskyy took his last trip abroad before the invasion and the messages he was getting at that time were really disheartening for him. he was hearing things about you should think about moving your government abroad to possibly rule from compile. you should be digging trenches. they were not offering the kinds of weapons that the west is now providing. they were not offering the kinds of support. if you look at that trajectory over the past year between the munich conference last year and this one, ukraine is in a much stronger position vis-a-vis the support it s getting from the west, the unity the west is showing in its support. that, to me, points to a real chance of ukrainian victory. maxim, you have taken so many remarkable photographs over the past year. let s start with this one. it s a soldier carrying a small child. tell us about this moment.