Grand Prix de Varenne 2024
On December 18, 2024, Agathe Mahuet, journalist-reporter for France Info, was awarded the Grand Prix Varenne de la radio, for her report entitled: "Ukraine, the impassive fisherman despite the war".
Agathe Mahuet, Jérémy Tuil and Yashar Fazylov met Mykola Alexandrovitch, a 73-year-old former policeman living six kilometers from the Russian border in eastern Ukraine. An elderly man, impassive, fishing a few roach under missile fire.
Peach to soothe
In this short report from near the front line, journalist Agathe Mahuet meets a 73-year-old man who goes fishing every day, despite the shells and missiles that fly over his head - some even explode not far from him!
Equipped with a rod, reel and a few maggots, Mykola Alexandrovitch continues to fish in his river near the village of Voltchansk in eastern Ukraine, six kilometers from the Russian border. Every day, he sits on his seat, not far from a bridge destroyed by the Ukrainians to slow the Russian advance, and tries to catch a few fish, no doubt to feed himself, but above all to soothe his nerves.
When the journalist asks him if he's afraid of war, Mykola replies:
"I don't care, I've already lived my life! If I die now, it'll be fate. There's no escaping it. That's life, as they say! "
"And are fish afraid of war?" asks the journalist.
No!" replies Mykola with a laugh barely concealed behind his mouthful of gold crowns.
As fishing enthusiasts, we know just how important fishing can be beneficial to our well-being. In these times of discontent, it's important to remember that in different parts of the world, passionate fishermen fish every day under the bombs, to appease themselves and to feed themselves...
Listen to the report broadcast on France Info on April 21, 2024.
