Photojournalist and documentarian Mstyslav Chernov is documenting the war in Ukraine. Here’s how he gets it all done

I’m based in Germany but work in Ukraine. I have assignments around the world. Boundaries between work and life have blurred, and the word schedule does not exist anymore. On an intense assignment, such as a conflict or a humanitarian crisis, you’re working all the time. [At the Associated Press], we have training sessions. They include first aid, behavior in conflict zones, and negotiations. There’s a balance between the necessity to go as far as possible to get your story and safety. It takes a mental toll. It’s important not to go into denial. Humans can survive any traumatic event if they know why. The hardest thing for a human being is to suffer and to not understand why. When I see terrible things, I know why this is happening to me—I made a choice to be there. I have a favorite photographer, Reza Deghati. He took a photograph of an old man in Afghanistan whose home was destroyed. He had a bed in a field, nothing else. There was a quote from him about home being a place we carry within our hearts. It’s not physical. That is how I feel. I’ve seen so many lives and homes destroyed that I don’t want to get attached to places. My loved ones are with me in my heart, and my home is with them. —As told to Talib Visram

Time he wakes up
There is no regular schedule.

How he keeps up with the news
To follow the news in Ukraine, I use several Telegram channels, which overlap, but show different sides of the conflict. So I’m aware of how things are perceived by Russian media and international media. For news about other countries, it might be WhatsApp groups or Facebook or a certain news channel, which you would need to keep an eye on all the time. In Afghanistan, the main source of information would be Twitter.

How he stays in contact with colleagues
In every country, there is a dominating messenger. In Ukraine, we have WhatsApp but then need to use Telegram for news. For work conversations, we use Signal, because that’s the safest. But some people can be found and contacted only by Facebook Messenger. My friends in the U.S. use iMessage.

Worst habit
I spent last night on the office floor in a sleeping bag, because I didn’t have time to go home. So I guess my worst habit is that I’m always working. But we’ve been able to finish the editing of the film. So it is also my best habit.

Last thing he does at night
Write down some thoughts and charge all my devices.