The Lviv Herald is an independent English language newspaper started in January 2024 to present an alternative source of news, analysis and opinion about Ukraine, both to Ukraine and to the world. It is staff entirely by volunteers, and seeks to provide refreshing insights and stories about the real war in Ukraine and life in wartime Ukraine. The goal was to get behind the government press releases and often lazy journalism of the international media, and to tell stories of what life is really like in Ukraine and a range of divergent opinions about the progress of the war in the face of relentless propaganda emerging from both sides. In the tradition of Ukraine's historical independent newspapers, the Lviv Herald seeks to expose the truth of what is happening in modern Ukraine and to catalyse free speech and debate.
​
If you wish to make a donation to support our work, please do so via the Ukraine Development Trust. A flyer can be downloaded here.
Our Story
Conceived one evening in a notorious Lviv bar, the Lviv Herald was the brainchild of its founder and editor-in-chief, Matthew Parish, who together with a team of highly experienced professionals, and using the team's extensive contacts across Ukraine and around the world, to create journalistic content that would bring fresh perspectives to life and death in wartime Ukraine.
​
If you want to join our team, please contact us.
Editorial Integrity
The entire team of the Lviv Herald prides itself on integrity, honesty, freedom of speech and debate, repudiation of censorship, fearless reporting in the face of criticism or condemnation, using the most reputable sources, and fierce independence.
​
Principles
1. We will not be told what to write by any third parties. We will not respond to intimidation or threats
2. We will not hesitate to criticise the government or those in power where we think that is warranted
3. Where others disagree with our articles, we will endeavour to give them a reasonable right of reply
4. Our authors are independent of our editors and express views on their own conscience; our editors will not seek to censor content
5. We seek to give expression to voices and opinions that might otherwise go unheard
6. At all times we comply with the provisions of martial law in Ukraine restricting certain sorts of reporting
​
​
Proud Allies
Meet The Team
Maryna Balamut
Senior Reporter, Chernihiv Region
Maryna's childhood was spent in a Ukrainian village in the north, where her mother and stepfather had a farm. After school, she moved to the regional centre of Chernigov. In 2014 she obtained a master's degree in history. and then worked in business with A.S.Watsons Group. The war caught her in Chernihiv and after a month of living in the besieged city, she and her family went to Transcarpathia, and then after another month became refugees in England. Now she lives in two countries, a life that seems familiar to many Ukrainian refugees. You come to Ukraine, see your family and friends, volunteer and return to England. You begin to love two countries and no longer know where your home is.
Manoel Chavanne
Senior Reporter, International, Linguistics and Climate Change
​
Manoel Chavanne is a self-proclaimed citizen of the world having lived in the US, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Portugal, Spain, France, Turkey, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Australia and now in Lviv, Ukraine. He teaches languages online to people all over the world and looks at the world through a global perspective. He has been volunteering for various organizations in numerous countries and continues to do so at Lviv Volunteer Kitchen and online with The Shift Project, a French Climate/Energy NGO.
Captain Jack Morgan*
Senior Military Affairs Correspondent
​
Captain Morgan is a former British special forces officer who has been deployed across a range of Middle Eastern and Central Asian theatres. spent thirteen months in Ukraine working as an crisis relief manager in a British NGO before joining the Lviv Herald as a military operations specialist.
Anthony Rodrigues
Senior Reporter, Religious Affairs
​
Anthony is from London, England and first visited Ukraine in 2023 to assist with the Ukrainian war effort. After graduating from the University of York in 2020 with a Bachelor degree in History and Politics, Anthony spent time working in the media industry and hospitality, as well as spending time travelling across Europe. A year and a half after the Russian full scale invasion of Ukraine began Anthony travelled to Lviv to work in the Lviv Volunteer Kitchen, he later documented his time in Ukraine in an article published by the Catholic Herald titled "Peeling vegetables in Ukraine under the auspices of Just War Theory: a young Catholic volunteer reflects".
T. Felix Gregg*
Artem Goldberg
Director of Commercial Relations
​
Artem Goldberg is a Ukrainian patriot originally from Donetsk who escaped as a refugee to Lviv amidst the Russia-backed invasion of the Donbas in 2014. He attended the world-renowned Gordonstoun School near Thurso in Scotland and now spends his time promoting philanthropic activities, British-Ukrainian relations and promoting commercial investments in Ukraine. He has a keen awareness of Ukrainian government and political institutions and EU public administration reform.
Dr Chris Cook
Senior Policy Advisor, Energy and Resilience
​
Dr Cook, a Senior Research Fellow of the Institute for Strategy, Resilience and Security, part of University College, London with close ties with relevant departments of His Majesty's Government, is a global leader on energy infrastructure reform with particular emphasis on the former Soviet Union, the Caspian Sea region, the Persian Gulf and the Middle East more generally. He is renowned as one of the world's leading experts on energy efficiency and in his capacity as government regulator and industry leader has developed energy resilience strategies with global reach.
Polina Arhipova
Kharkiv Correspondent
​
Polina, born in her beautiful native city of Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine, lived in the now heavily shelled northern suburb of Saltivka and studied at one of the top educational institutions in Ukraine until the Russian aggression drove her from her home and forced her to become an internally displaced person in her own city. Nevertheless she continued her education, learned English and decided to stay in wartime Kharkiv to resist the Russian aggression and to write about daily wartime life in her troubled home to help the rest of the world understand the Russian threat to Europe and the world.
Angelo A. S. Blais
NGO and Volunteer Coordinator
​
Angelo is a political activist, photographer,
and humanitarian based in the city of Montreal. Since March 2022, he has actively participated in relief and public awareness initiatives relating to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. He played a crucial role in spearheading the development and implementation
of health, safety, and sanitation protocols at the cafeteria tent of "Grupa Żywimy na
Zachodnim" located at the Warsaw Zachodnia bus station. This initiative, made possible by the generous sponsorship of World Central Kitchen, provided food to displaced Ukrainian refugees for a continuous six month period, following the events of February 24th, 2022. More recently, in 2023 and 2024, Angelo had the privilege of being in Ukraine, actively engaging myself in diverse humanitarian endeavors. These efforts were focused on providing support to both the civilian population and the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He is thrilled to share the exciting news of his joining the writing team at Lviv Herald.
Titus de los Santos
Senior Editor, Finance and Economics
​
Titus de los Santos is a senior manager in a major commercial and investment bank in the Netherlands who consistently devotes his vacations tirelessly to work as a volunteer kitchen preparing food for Ukraine's Armed Forces. His generosity of time and spirit in his love for Ukraine and her people and his devotion to the cause of the war in Ukraine is unprecedented and he is also well known for his love of animals, having adopted a Ukrainian dog called Mia.
Johannes Honkanen
Military Affairs Correspondent, Kherson
​
Johannes lives in Kherson where he works on the reconstruction of civilians' homes damages as a result of Russian artillery strikes both in the centre of the city and in suburban and rural areas. He previously worked with the Finnish military and has an intimate understanding of military affairs relating to the actions of the Russian Federation on the front line with Ukraine and NATO.
Philip Semenchuk
Senior IT and Government Relations Correspondent
​
Philip, from Durham, North Carolina, reports on a range of political and government related issues in the United States and elsewhere affecting Ukraine.
Amr Metwally
IT and Marketing Expert
​
Amr, from southern Florida, is a frequent visitor to Ukraine and runs a range of IT and marketing ventures in the United States. He is interested in commercial investments in Ukraine in the hospitality and IT sectors.
Daniele Balelle
Eastern Operations Director
​
Based in Kraków, Poland, Daniele is in charge of a variety of humanitarian assistance and coordination projects in eastern Ukraine where he manages deliveries of humanitarian supplies to communities affected by front line fighting.
Dr J. Howard Parish
Academic Standards Director
​
Dr. J. Howard Parish is responsible for maintaining the academic integrity and independence of the Lviv Herald and is one of the very few Life Fellows of the University of Leeds.
Lesley Glover
Managing Director, British-Ukrainian Coordination
​
Lesley Glover is a senior administrator and manager in the financial and public sectors in Scotland, and a frequent volunteer at a military kitchen and elsewhere in Lviv.
Leya Parish
Artistic Coordinator
​
Leya is responsible for coordinating the artwork and marketing materials of the Lviv Herald.
Olyesa Romanyuk
Real Estate Director
​
Olyesa, an enthusiastic Ukrainian patriot living in Lviv, is the manager of the Lviv Herald's anticipated and emerging real estate portfolio and a writer on matters relating to land, agriculture and commercial and residential real estate.
Katie Nurton
Website and admin
​
Katie is an experienced investment banker with a first class degree from Christ's College, Cambridge. She was formerly a member of the British Sailing Team and now directs a consultancy specialising in sustainable investments.
Eddie D.
Kramatorsk Correspondent
​
Eddie is a volunteer who provides backup support to medical teams providing essential assistance to front line communities in the Kramatorsk regions otherwise deprived of the assistance of doctors, pharmaceutical supplies and other essential medical provisions. He also assists with civilian evacuations from front line communities where the parties evacuating request that.
Senior Eastern European Affairs Correspondent
​
Felix was born and raised in Prague, Czechia, and is a long-term volunteer currently based in Lviv. He reports on issues for the Lviv Herald mainly on issues connected to Eastern Europe, where he has spent most of his life.
Eva Bergman
Director, Donbas Reporting
​
Eva is an actress and model living in Lviv, Ukraine and with a passionate interest in keeping Ukraine independent and free. She works tirelessly with women's groups and other voluntary organisations in Lviv and elsewhere in Ukraine and has committed herself to unflinching media reporting on events taking place both on the front line in Ukraine and elsewhere.
Marcus Saul
Energy Resilience Policy Coordinator
​
Marcus Saul of the Institute for Strategy, Resilience and Security, part of University College London with close ties with relevant departments of His Majesty's Government, is a leading expert in the provision of energy and associated infrastructure supplies, distribution and investment to remote communities, with a specific focus on areas and regions with remote infrastructure networks, including in the Pacific Islands region. He brings an immense wealth of experience to remote Ukrainian communities in need of elementary energy infrastructure resources fit for the twenty-first century.
Maryna Chumachenko
Vinnytsia Correspondent
​
Maryna, born in Vinnytsia but a resident of Lviv, is a philologist and expert in the English language and a devout critic of Repbulican foreign policies in the United States towards Ukraine.
Maria Duda
Arts and Political Correspondent
​
Maria is an actress, artist, writer and activist based in Kyiv. She is passionate about working with frontline communities and internally displaced people who are suffering as a result of the Russian aggression, and to providing support to the Ukrainian Armed Forces and Ukrainian people through her artistic work.
Kevin Baker
Frontline Civilian Operations Correspondent
​
Kevin, from South Africa, has been working as a volunteer since the beginning of the February 2022 unlawful Russian invasion of Ukraine, tirelessly managing logistics on a project working up and down the front line to feed the most deprived civilian communities in circumstances of danger, hardship and relentless tension and exhaustion. Through his tens of thousands of hours of tireless labour, hundreds of thousands of the most vulnerable, impoverished and malnourished Ukrainian civilians trapped in close proximity to the front line have found warm food and joy.
​
Toni Piechota
Senior Political Correspondent
​
Toni, based outside Sacramento, California, report for the Lviv Herald on a range of US domestic political issues including Congressional and White House support for the war in Ukraine; US taxpayer funding for the war in Ukraine; and US support for humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.
Solomiia Mozyl
Lviv Heritage and Culture Correspondent
​
Solomiia lives in Lviv where she works as a tour guide and is an expert on Ukrainian history and culture. She loves to travel widely and speaks several languages. She believes that Lviv represents one of the apexes of European culture and civilisation.
Ben Hoer
Senior Manufacturing and Engineering Correspondent
​
Ben, from the United States, runs a blacksmith's forge outside Vinnytsia in Ukraine, manufacturing equipment for use by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Stavros
Chief Kherson Civilian Correspondent
​
Stavros has lived and worked in Kherson since the city's liberation from the Russian Armed Forces in November 2022 and is a well-known international figure in the city. He coordinates a series of civilian reconstruction projects including assistance to children and other persons in Kherson's public hospitals.
Daren Carroll
Senior NGO Expert and Advocate
​
Darren has extensive experience of working for a variety of crisis disaster and war zone NGO's in Europe and elsewhere. He is a leading expert on NGO coordination, organisation and fundraising.
Lachie Langley
Australia Correspondent
​
A keen volunteer with Lviv Volunteer Kitchen in Kyiv, Lachie lives and works in Australia where he campaigns on a variety of Ukrainian causes.
Mia Parish
Swiss-Ukrainian Coordinator
​
Mia Parish is a resident of Geneva, Switzerland where she coordinates a variety of campaigns to support Ukraine and crisis relief in Ukraine.
Cathrin
Military Assistance Manager
​
Cathrin, a native of Germany, supplies active nonlethal support to the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the front line by way of medical equipment, uniforms and other clothing items designed to manage extreme temperatures and inhospitable trench warfare conditions.
Viktoria
Artistic Director
​
Viktoria is an artist in Lviv who is passionate about her home country and culture and prepares her artistic works around themes of heroic resistance to Russian aggression.
Cyprian Chmielewski
IT and Web Design Manager
​
Cyprian, a Polish native, is a web design specialist who uses his skills on a voluntary basis to promote Ukraine's independence and freedom and at the same time undertakes a variety of voluntary activities in Lviv to support military and civilian humanitarian objectives.
Paul Beesley*
Senior Security Correspondent
​
Paul has an extensive background in the security industry, including working on some highly sensitive British government projects and including in zones of civil conflict.
Nicholas Bloom
International Relations and Eastern Europe Correspondent
​
Nicholas is a Canadian citizen with professional training in law and international relations who lives in Lviv, Ukraine and makes his living from professional writing. He is actively engaged in international politics, in particular in his home country of Canada.