To Our Readers: Thank You for Carrying Our Witness Forward
By: Giorgio Provinciali
Live from Ukraine
For more than four years, Alla Perdei and I have taken on a very high level of risk because we believe that what we see here in Ukraine must not be lost.
We have always regarded our work as more than just reporting. We see it as testimony: a recorded presence intended to preserve something of what this war truly is, how it is experienced, and its impact on people and landscapes.
If these records last, they could help others understand, learn, and possibly avoid repeating the same mistakes in the future.
But testimony, no matter how honestly collected, cannot withstand silence.
Without those who read us, share our articles, and help our message travel further, much of what we do would remain unseen. Our voices would risk going unheard, and our videos and photos would stay unseen. That is why everyone who helps spread our reporting plays a vital and meaningful part in leaving a mark for history.
This is the first thing we want to say to our Medium readers: thank you.
Thank you to everyone who reads us. Thank you to everyone who shares our work. Thank you to everyone who helps these dispatches reach people far beyond the places from which they are written. In a war, visibility matters. Memory matters. The simple act of helping truthful reporting circulate is not secondary to the work itself. It is part of the work.
There is also something else we want to say openly and from the heart.
After years of immense sacrifices, we also need to thank those who support us financially and continue to remember us even during the toughest times.
Our constant presence on the battlefield has never been something easy, comfortable, or sustainable without help. For years, before deciding months ago to launch a fundraising campaign, we covered almost everything ourselves, receiving only a modest amount from a newspaper that believes – and still does – in what we see as a mission. “La Ragione” provided us with something priceless: visibility, space on its pages, and the willingness to publish and share our work, including through its YouTube channel. But visibility alone does not keep people alive in kill zones.
Over these years, we have had to purchase everything necessary to remain operational and survive: body armor, helmets, anti-drone systems, three cars, repairs for those vehicles, fuel, phones, equipment, medicines, clothing, food, lodging, and every other tool needed to keep moving and working in areas where technology now hunts humans far from any traditional idea of a frontline.
What used to be difficult has become increasingly costly. Technology makes a difference and evolves faster than troops on the ground. To defend ourselves and keep reporting from gray zones that now extend far beyond areas of direct mutual infiltration has become, for us alone, extremely expensive and unsustainable.
That’s why your support is so important.
Those who support us through donations aren’t just providing money; they’re helping make our ongoing presence here possible. They are allowing us to keep documenting, filming, writing, and bearing witness in places where the truth can easily be lost beneath propaganda, distance, fatigue, or indifference.
So to all our Medium readers – and especially to those who have supported us by sharing our work and backing us materially – we want to say this with complete sincerity: thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
Your help is not abstract to us. It becomes fuel, protection, time in the field, one more journey made possible, one more report written, one more video recorded, one more truth preserved.
If what we document today is to be preserved for history tomorrow, it is also because of you.
致读者：感谢你们让我们的见证得以延续
作者：Giorgio Provinciali
翻译：旺财球球
乌克兰前线报道
（图：我与Alla从乌克兰顿涅茨克向波克罗夫斯克方向的“星形”阵地报道——版权所有，Giorgio Provinciali）
四年多来，Alla Perdei 和我承担了极高的风险，因为我们坚信：在乌克兰这里所见到的一切都不应被遗忘。
我们始终认为自己的工作不止是新闻报道。我们把它视为见证：一种被记录下来的存在，用以保留这场战争的真实面貌、亲历感受以及它对人和疆土的影响。
如果这些记录能够保存下来，它们或许能帮助后来者理解、学习，并可能避免未来重蹈覆辙。
（图：我与Alla在乌克兰赫尔松周边的“死区”报道——版权所有，Giorgio Provinciali）
但见证，无论收集地多么真实，也无法抵御沉默。
如果没有人阅读和分享我们文章、没有人帮助我们把信息传播的更远，我们许多工作将无人知晓。我们的声音可能被淹没，视频和照片可能无人看到。因此，每一个帮助传播我们报道的人，都在为历史留下印记的过程做出重要且有意义的贡献。
我们首先要对Medium读者说的是：谢谢你们。
感谢每一位阅读我们文章的人。感谢每一位分享我们作品的人。感谢每一位让这些前线报道跨越遥远距离、传递到远方的人。在战争中，可见性很重要，记忆很重要。帮助真实报道传播的行为，并不次于报道本身。它是报道工作的一部分。
还有一件我们想真心而坦诚公开地说的事。
在经历了多年巨大的牺牲之后，我们还要感谢那些在最艰难时刻仍在财务上支持我们并记得我们的人。
我们长期驻守战场，从来不是轻松、舒适或无需外援即可坚持的事情。多年来，在决定发起筹款活动之前数月，我们几乎自掏腰包承担一切开销，仅从一份仍然相信我们使命的报纸那里得到微薄报酬——虽然不多、但一直持续。《理性报》为我们提供了无价之物：曝光度、版面空间，以及愿意发布并分享我们作品的平台，包括其YouTube频道。但单有可见度并不能让人在“杀伤区”存活。
（图：Alla 与我在顿巴斯战壕中报道时的照片——版权所有，照片Giorgio Provinciali）
这些年，我们不得不采购一切维持行动和生存所需的物资：防弹衣、头盔、反无人机系统、三辆车、车辆维修、燃料、手机、设备、药品、衣物、食物、住宿，以及在当今技术能在超越传统“前线”概念的区域追猎杀人的情况下继续行动与工作的所有工具。
曾经只是困难的事如今变得愈发昂贵。技术在改变战场，而且迅速演进的速度远超地面部队的挺进要快得多。要保护自己并持续在那些已远超传统交叉渗透区的“灰色地带”进行报道，仅靠我们自己已变得极其昂贵且难以为继。
这就是为什么你们的支持如此重要。
（图：我与Alla在乌克兰灰色地带壕沟报道——版权所有，Giorgio Provinciali）
通过捐助支持我们的人，不仅仅是在提供资金；他们在让我们能够继续留在这里；让我们得以继续记录、拍摄、写作并在真相易被宣传机器、距离、疲惫或冷漠掩盖的地方作证。
（图：我在扎波罗热防线报道——版权所有，Giorgio Provinciali）
因此，我们要向所有Medium读者——尤其是那些帮助我们传播报道、在物质上支持我们的读者——由衷地说一声：衷心感谢。
你们的帮助对我们并非抽象的概念。它化为燃料、防护、在前线的时间、多一次得以抵达前线的行程、多一篇得以撰写的报道、多一段得以记录的影像、多一条得以保存的真相。
如果今天我们所记录的内容能在明天成为历史的一部分，这其中也有你们的功劳。
（图：致所有我认识的为我们付出一切的人 Геро? не вмирають ????
在过去三年里，自乌克兰大规模战争爆发以来，作为自由撰稿人，我们一直在乌克兰战争的所有前线进行报道…
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