▶ Watch Video: Photographing Russia’s war atrocities in Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly denied his forces are targeting civilians in Ukraine, but the world saw for itself the truth — a horrifying photo of a family lying dead after trying to flee the city of Irpin.
The photo, seen on the front page of The New York Times, was taken by Lynsey Addario — who has spent her career documenting war zones.
“I went forward and found a place sort of behind a wall and started photographing,” she told “CBS Evening News” anchor and managing editor Norah O’Donnell. “Within minutes, a series of mortars fell increasingly closer and closer to our position until one landed about 30 feet from where I was standing and it killed a mother and her two children.”
Addario said the shocking scene made her think of her own children.
“I’m a mother, and when I’m working, I try to stay very focused. I try to keep, sort of, the camera to my eye,” she said. “But of course, it was very emotional. First of all, I had just been sprayed with gravel from a mortar round that could have killed us very easily. So I was shaken up, and when we were told that we could run across the street by our security adviser, I ran and I saw this family splayed out and I saw these little moon boots and puffy coat.”
Addario added that, even though she felt it was disrespectful to take the photo, she thought that she had to.
“This is a war crime,” she said.
Addario said that she was in a civilian area at the time, and she believes the attack was intentional.
Asked how she was holding up, Addario said that she’s trying to stay focused on her work.
“I think it’s really important that people around the world see these images,” she said. “It’s really brave of the New York Times to put that image on the front page. It’s a difficult image, but it is a historically important image.”
