LYMAN — Valentyna Bykova knew the residents of Lyman, a bombed-out eastern Ukrainian town a dozen kilometres away from Russian positions, were waiting for her.
She was bringing them the latest issue of Zoria — Dawn — a local paper whose print edition is vital when power goes down near the front.
“Sometimes we don’t have enough copies because it’s the only remaining link to the outside world,” said the 78-year-old retired journalist.
Print news may be dying in much of the world, but for isolated communities near Ukraine’s front lines, it has become one of the few reliable sources of information left, as Russian bombardment cuts electricity and internet access.
Bykova walked through Lyman’s streets, lined with crumbling buildings, their windows barricaded or blown-out, until she spotted a crowd standing in the silent city.
As soon as she held up the stacks of black-and-white copies, a dozen pensioners swarmed her.
“Give me some, wait! Me too! I didn’t get any, just one please!” people shouted.
The pensioners’ bicycles rattled as they surrounded Bykova, who wet her finger to better separate the copies.
Many of the town’s elderly residents look to the paper for guidance at a time of rising disinformation, and for some, it is a reminder of simpler times.
“It’s impossible to live without this newspaper,” said Galyna Brys, a 72-year-old retired railway worker clutching her issue.
“It talks about everything in detail, about our Lyman. They keep writing even when times are so difficult for us,” she said.
Lyman has come under renewed Russian attacks, prompting authorities to urge the community of around 8,700 people to evacuate.
The city used to be home to 20,000, but its population plummeted after more than two-and-a-half years of fighting and Russian occupation between May and October 2022.
