In the early hours of the morning on 24 February, Natalie Vikhrov turned on the TV with bleary eyes to catch the tail end of Putin’s speech. Minutes later she heard the distant thud of explosions. “That whole night was a little tense, you could feel something was going to happen,” she said. Vikhrov is one of hundreds of Ukrainian journalists, braving bombs and bullets to report on the war tearing their country apart. Writing freelance, she focuses on human rights and marginalised groups, particularly Ukraine’s LGBT community, and has tried to gather stories from people living on the edge of the frontline. “At times it’s been very emotional,” she said. “You get used to the shelling and what not, but not personal stories”.