The Daily - The Story Behind a Defining War Photo

Episode Date: March 15, 2022

This episode details graphic scenes and contains strong language.The image shows four people lying on the ground — a woman, a man and two children who had been fleeing from a suburb of Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital. The woman and her children had been killed by a mortar moments earlier. Around them are Ukrainian soldiers attempting to revive the man.The picture was taken by the photojournalist Lynsey Addario, alongside Andriy Dubchak, a Ukrainian videographer. When it was published by The Times, the image became a watershed, offering irrefutable evidence that Russia’s tactics in the war were killing civilians.Guest: Lynsey Addario, a photojournalist currently working in Ukraine.Background reading: President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has repeatedly denied that his forces are targeting civilians. But only a handful of Ukrainian troops were near the bridge when mortar shells began raining down, and they were helping refugees escape Kyiv.Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from our team, subscribe to our newsletter. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

From The New York Times, I'm Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily. A shocking photo that provides a picture of what is going on with civilians inside Ukraine right now. I want to warn you, though, it is graphic and it is disturbing. Last week, my colleague, photojournalist Lindsay Adario, took a photograph that immediately defined the new reality of the war in Ukraine. Russia's President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly denied his forces are targeting civilians. But on Sunday, the world saw the truth for itself with this horrifying picture of a family lying dead after trying to... And offered irrefutable evidence that Russia's tactics are killing innocent civilians and potentially violating the rules of war.

As civilians tonight are under intense firing around the suburbs of Ukraine's capital, the White House says there are now, quote, strong indications, their words, Russia's committing war crimes in Ukraine. Today, I spoke with Lindsay about the photo and the story behind it. It's Tuesday, March 15th. March 15th. Lindsay, tell us about how it is that you came to take this photograph. So as the war started, I was kind of just covering everything.

Every day I was covering a lot of shelling, the exchange of fire between the Russians and the Ukrainians. And I wanted to capture what was going on with civilians, and particularly women and children. To me, they pay the highest price in war. And for me, that's where I like to focus my coverage. So I heard that people were fleeing from the sort of suburb of Kiev called Irpin. It's a place where there was heavy fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces. And I was seeing a lot of images of civilians fleeing across this broken bridge. The bridge had been broken by Ukrainians intentionally to stop the Russians advance into Kiev. So there was no way to drive across. And so there were these incredible scenes of elderly, the ill, women, children, all sort of climbing across this bridge.

And so the night before I took this photograph, I decided I wanted to go. So I went the next morning at 7.30 with Andri, who was my fixer, driver, videographer, a very well-known photographer in Ukraine. And we headed out with a New York Times security advisor, Steve, and the three of us went to the bridge. And as we approached, I assumed we would be covering a regular civilian evacuation, sort of a stream of civilians, much like I'd seen in those photographs. And very quickly after we arrived, I heard a lot of small arms fire, a lot of artillery,

and it seemed like they were a bit off in the distance. And it felt much more tense. It didn't feel like the way the pictures looked the day before. And there was a cement wall where a lot of the Ukrainian soldiers were sort of staging to go help civilians carry their pets, their children, their bags as they crossed the bridge. as they crossed the bridge. These soldiers were basically acting as shepherds for civilians to get them across this rickety bridge that you described as not entirely intact. Correct, absolutely. And because there was so much shelling going on,

I personally didn't feel like I could go any further, and nor did Andre or Steve. So we kind of stayed behind that cement wall. And about 15 minutes after we arrived there, mortar rounds started coming directed toward our position. A bit far off, like maybe 200 meters or so. And there was a Ukrainian mortar position off in the distance. So I assumed, okay, they're targeting the Ukrainian mortar position.

And so I said to myself in my head, everyone knows this is a civilian evacuation route. There's no way they're going to target civilians because everyone has seen those images. And it was a well-known, very visible from the other side, from Irpin, that there are civilians coming. So in your mind, there's virtually no possibility that one of these Russian shells is going to hit this spot because everyone understands

this is an escape route for civilians. Yeah. I mean, ironically, that was what was going on in my head because at some point, Steve, our security advisor, said maybe we should think about going. And I said, Steve, they know that this is a bridge for civilians. Like, maybe we should wait, because in order to get back to our car, we would have to run across that line of fire, across the street and toward where the Ukrainian military actually had a mortar position. So I said, you know, rather than run toward where I assume they're firing, let's just wait here and let them kind of duel it out and we'll just be behind this cement wall. Mm-hmm.

And as I was shooting, I remember looking through my viewfinder and seeing, like, families dragging their small children. Like, you know, I have a 10-year-old and I have a 3-year-old. And I'm thinking to myself as I'm looking through my viewfinder, I cannot believe these people are dragging their children through the line of fire.

You know, like, how must this be for them? So we found this kind of, like, a few feet over, there was like a cement room, essentially. And so every time a shell would come in, we would kind of dive into this little room. And every time they're coming, they're coming closer. And so I dove again back into the, like, back onto the gravel. And almost immediately after... Oh, fucking hell!

Shit! Shit, shit, shit. Shit! Another round came in about 20 to 30 feet from where Andrei, Steve, and I were standing. All right. Stay there! All right? from where Andrei, Steve, and I were standing. I mean, I had this spray of gravel all up and down my neck. No, no, no.

You can hear me in Andrei's video saying, am I bleeding, am I bleeding? And he said no, because I thought, I hope it's not shrapnel, because then I would be dying. Come on, medic! Medic, you're dying! And Steve then ran across the street and started screaming for a medic. And at that point, we didn't know what had really happened.

I mean, we knew that a shell landed kind of right in the middle of the road, but it was chaotic and we were all in shock and we were all trying to figure out if we were injured. And I thought maybe a soldier was down because it was so dusty, we couldn't really see anything. And so I just started shooting and Steve said, stay where you are. And we were kind of waiting for direction from him. And finally he said, okay, come now.

Because there's still a volley of artillery back and forth. And so we ran across the street. And the first thing I came upon were these four bodies, feet first. So I couldn't see any faces. And I was trying to sort of register, and I saw these kind of puffy moon boots and puffy coats. And I thought, that's a child. And then I looked at the luggage, and the luggage had kind of fallen in sync with their bodies, like they were fleeing. You know, it was almost kind of vulgar,

the way that it was just so pronounced how innocent they were. And then I went around the side and took maybe two or three frames. And this is all happening very quickly because there are still shells coming in. And so then I went around the front, and I could see some faces. And I remember sort of gasping and thinking, it's a family because there was a woman and a man and two children. The mother looked almost like a child. She looked very young.

Everyone looked kind of like they were sleeping. And so I took another few frames, and I thought to myself, we never show faces of the dead, and so I'm just shooting this as a document of war. I have to do this. I have to take this photo. And I felt sort of guilty as I was taking it because I thought, it feels intrusive, of course.

I'm documenting the moment of someone's death and this family will have other family and this family will have loved ones. And so there are a lot of things going on in my head. But then, of course, I'm sort of snapped to reality of the fact that we still have to get out of there. And it's very, very tense at this point. There are still civilians coming. And some of them would sort of stop and look at the family, but just keep kind of moving. Wow. Because everyone had to get out of there. I mean, it was extremely dangerous. And so Andre was kind of paused. And I noticed he was just staring. And I just screamed at him and said, Andre, we have to move. And we started going and Steve said, walk. And I looked at him and I said, I'm running. Keep moving. We're moving. We're not stopping.

And I started kind of trotting almost. And we were walking along the civilian path with other people. Every so often I would turn around and take a few pictures of people with sort of smoke in the back and their faces sort of riddled with fear. And then two more either tank rounds or mortar rounds came in as we were making our way to the car. One time I dove into the woods, and then one time I sort of climbed over a log and just lied flat next to Andre behind this log. So it's clear to you at this point that there's no accident here.

This area near this bridge, which is teeming with civilians trying to get out of a city, this is being repeatedly targeted by Russian missiles. There was absolutely no accident. You know, as a photographer, we often and I often arrive after an incident has happened. And I go there and I document and I report and I speak to people about what has happened. This was one of those rare instances in my life where I watched it unfold in front of me. I had all the context in the world.

And then I was there to witness their deaths. And so what happens next as you flee this site, your camera filled with the photographs of this dead family? So first of all, we're all sort of very much in shock. We all realize that we just very narrowly escaped death. And then I'm thinking, are the pictures even in focus? Is the exposure right? Sometimes I mess up, you know, sometimes my pictures aren't in focus or sometimes I have the wrong setting. So the other question was like, what if I, what if I had this moment and I didn't even capture it, you know. So I get into the car and I check the back of my camera and realize the photographs are in focus and the exposure is correct. And I sent a message to my editor and let her know that I would be filing some really sensitive photographs.

And I explained to her what had happened to us. When I got back to the hotel and filed, I was really surprised to hear that they would be publishing the photograph. And the photo they chose was the image where some of the faces were visible. And sort of the visceral immediacy of what had just happened was so clear. Four people lay lifeless, strewn out with their bags still on their backs and beside them, sort of mid-stride as if they were fleeing and some force knocked them over in the exact same position. The little kid had a backpack on his back.

There was a little bit of blood on the man's face. You could tell that they were either dead or close to dead. A soldier was trying to revive them. A man was walking past, barely looking over. And there was some blood, but it wasn't too gory. It just looked like everyone suddenly had just stopped and fallen. And that's the photo the Times decided to put on the top of the website and on the front page the next morning.

We'll be right back. So, Lindsay, after the photo is published, what do you do? So once the photograph was published, I wanted to know who these people were. We didn't know anything about their lives. And it just felt wrong because the photo was going viral and people were sharing this horrific image of a civilian casualty, but we knew nothing about them. So we decided to sort of look into their lives and to try to recreate a picture of them as people. And the first person we were able to contact

is this woman, Paulina, who explained that she was the best friend of the woman in the photograph and godmother to the two children in the photograph. And in fact, the man in the photograph was not the husband and father as we had assumed. He was a volunteer, a member of the church who was helping the family escape. She tells us the husband was out of town. Hmm.

He saw some images on Twitter and immediately called her and said, my family is dead. And she said, no, that's impossible. And then he saw my photograph and he recognized the luggage. And instinctively, he knew it was true. She explained he was frantically trying to make it back to Kiev. And so she was going to the morgue the next morning to identify the bodies. And we asked if we could join her there. So Andre and I woke up early the next morning and we went out to the morgue. And she was there, the godmother.

And she was crying. And immediately, we all started crying. And at some moment, I just said to her, you know, I'm so sorry for taking that photograph. You know, I'm sorry if that has made it more difficult for you and more emotional for Sergei, the father. And she said, no, it's important. You know, it's very important that these moments are documented because it was a war crime. She also said she didn't want to speak on behalf of the family, that she wanted to wait until he returned.

And so we said, okay, you know, please tell the father we are so, so sorry and that we would like to meet him when he comes to Kiev. And she said it will probably take three or four days. And we said would like to meet him when he comes to Kiev. And she said, it will probably take three or four days. And we said, we'll be in touch. So a few days later, the father came back and he said he was going to the morgue to see his family. And we decided that was too personal of a moment that we didn't want to bother him in that moment. Of course, he hadn't seen them. a moment that we didn't want to bother him in that moment. Of course, he hadn't seen them. And so we met him in Maidan Square and asked him to come to the hotel so we could sit in a place and talk. And what did he tell you? So my colleague Andrew Kramer and I sat down with him

and he told us about his family. He told us that his wife, Tatiana, was 43. family. He told us that his wife, Tatiana, was 43. They had two children, Makita, who was 18, and Elisa, who was nine. Sergei and Tatiana were married in 2001, and in fact, they renewed their vows in a church in 2013. They were so in love. She worked for a company, a software company that had offices in California and in London. And she was a workaholic. She loved to ski. And the family originally was from eastern Ukraine, from Donetsk. And they had been displaced from the war in 2014. So they moved to Irpin in order to rebuild their lives in a safer place.

A little before the war started, Sirha's mother came down with COVID, and he went back east to deal with his mother when the war started. And so Tatiana was alone with her two children. And her son was sort of stepped up and tried to take care of the family. He would make them sleep in the hall at night when the shelling got closer. But they hesitated to leave. They were sort of holding out until a shell landed and hit their kitchen wall. Wow. And that was sort of the deciding moment when they decided they would leave. Sirha called his wife the night before. He called Tatiana and said, I'm so sorry. I'm not there to

protect you. And she made a joke out of it and said, don't worry, we'll leave tomorrow and we'll be fine. And then they were killed the next day trying to flee. And at the end of the interview, I just said, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry for your loss and I'm so sorry I was there and I'm so sorry I took that photograph and I'm so sorry that it has to remind you of their death for the rest of your life.

And Andrew asked him, you know, if we had been able to get in touch with you in that moment and we had been able to ask your permission, would you have given us your permission? And he said, yes, this is a war crime, and I would have given permission. And somehow that made me feel better, because somehow I felt like he understood why I do this work, why I think it's important, as devastating as it is, to be present for those moments and to document them. And in fact, the image has resonated with a lot of people, and it's been brought up in Congress. This photo shows the result of one horrific attack by Russian soldiers on the people of Ukraine. It's been talked about around the world as proof of the fact

that civilians are being targeted intentionally by the Russian military. Mr. Putin, these deaths are your doing. Your reputation as a war criminal and a bloody tyrant is now sealed in history. Well, Lindsay, thank you very much. Stay safe. We appreciate it. Thank you so much. On Monday, the Secretary General of the United Nations issued his harshest condemnation to date of Russia's tactics in Ukraine,

expressing shock at the toll on civilians and the destruction of non-military targets like hospitals and apartment buildings. The UN now says that at least 636 Ukrainian civilians, including 46 children, have died in the war, while Ukrainian officials put the civilian death toll in the thousands. We'll be right back. Here's what else you need to know today. China has locked down several major cities, including the manufacturing hub of Shenzhen, in an attempt to end the country's largest surge in COVID infections since the start of the pandemic.

China's infection rate has quintupled over the past few days, and there are now sustained outbreaks in two-thirds of its provinces. The lockdowns, especially in Shenzhen, have disrupted the production of everything from cell phones to cars. That, in turn, is expected to increase consumer prices in the United States at a time when inflation is already at a record high. Thank you. Andre Dubcek contains original music by Dan Powell and was engineered by Chris Wood. Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landferk of Wunderling. Special thanks to Ivan Nechaparenko.

That's it for The Daily. I'm Michael Barbaro. See you tomorrow.