João Porfírio has been in Lviv, Ukraine, since Thursday. At the service of the Observer, the Algarve photojournalist has already been to bunkers, in train stations and even in a brewery where Molotov cocktails. Behind the camera, he has been photographing a war in which the images he can't get out of his head are «emotional goodbyes between family members».
The trip to Ukraine, by João Porfírio, born in Portimão and photo editor at Observador, was a succession of «constraints».
The story is told in the first person, in a telephone conversation with the Sul Informação this morning, the 28th.
The photojournalist and the reporter Cátia Bruno, also from the Observer, already had a trip scheduled for Thursday, the day the war started.
“Our flight was at 6 am to Kiev, but Ukraine started to be invaded around 00 am. Then we realized that the airspace was going to be closed and that there would be no way to get to Kiev by plane», says João Porfírio.
The solution turned out to have to be found in the moment.
“What we did was to take advantage of one of the stops. We did Lisbon-Rome, Rome-Munich and Munich-Krakow. Once in Poland, we rented a car and that's how we crossed the border », he says.
The journey was long, about six hours, with long lines at the border, but the team of journalists managed to reach Lviv, a Ukrainian city close to Poland.
On the first night, the first scare came. «We heard two big explosions that we later learned had taken place in a military area», says the Algarve.
Since then, although last night was calmer, the daily background of these two Portuguese journalists has been the same.
“Air attack alarms are heard several times, during the day, at night, on loudspeakers scattered throughout the streets and there are bunkers public, where people go», he says.
João Porfirio himself spent his first nights in Lviv in these bunkers.
“The warnings were constant, every 30 minutes. There were very tense moments, between having one ear to the door to see if there was an explosion and looking at social networks to find out more information”, she says.
Despite the tension, the Observer's team of journalists has heard “many reports” of hope from the Ukrainians.
“People believe and are quite confident that Ukraine will beat Russia. Basically, they will have their country back”, he explains.
Since Thursday, the Algarve photojournalist has been to several places, but he easily identifies the «most dramatic» images he has seen.
“These are goodbyes between husbands and wives, between children. As Ukraine activated martial law, men between the ages of 18 and 60 cannot leave the country and these are hard times», confesses João Porfírio.
With Portugal, the photojournalist has managed to maintain «daily contact».
“Telecommunications have never failed because, nowadays, wars are also fought on the Internet. I have spoken daily with my family and friends, many of them in Portimão », she says.
With the Government, contacts are also daily. “The representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs always ask us how we are, who is with us”, he says.
Now, the Observer's team of envoys awaits what will come out of the negotiations between Ukraine and Russia that took place this morning in Belarus.
“If there is a ceasefire, we will go further east. If that doesn't happen, probably the area where we are, in Lviv, will be even more surrounded and the option will be to flee because there are no heroes anywhere and there is no photograph worth any kind of risk that you may take», concludes João porphyry.
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