Saturday, he said that reporting from the front lines of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had left him with lifelong pain.
In an editorial for USA Today, Trey Yingst detailed the consequences of his encounter.
The journalist, who had previously reported from the Gaza Strip, stated that his time spent in Ukraine had profoundly altered his life.
Yingst recalled his fortuitous choice to remain in the nation to cover the fighting, despite the fact that many of his colleagues chose to flee in the face of airstrikes and artillery barrages on Kyiv’s capital.
“I decided I would stay, even when most of our crew pulled out,” he wrote.
Yingst stated that he had no regrets despite the following problems.
“The decision proved a fateful one, with life-altering effects,” he said. “It wasn’t a question for me. I don’t regret my choice, but the decision has altered my life and mind forever.”
During his time in Ukraine, Yingst witnessed several war atrocities, an event with which he is still grappling.
“I have reported under incoming fire, seen lifeless bodies strewn across landscapes and experienced complex grief that I still process today,” he wrote. “I know firsthand the rush of adrenaline that clouds your ability to process emotions.”
From @usatodayopinion: Rarely do we discuss what it feels like to get home from a monthslong assignment and lie there in silence … That needs to change.https://t.co/k1hH3DSqIe
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) February 26, 2023
Traumatized individuals, such as those in a battle zone, are vulnerable to acquiring post-traumatic stress disorder, a potentially severe ailment.
“What I witnessed still haunts me,” Yingst said of an environment he called “hell on earth.”
He detailed the perspectives of several war veterans and survivors by referencing his personal experiences in Ukraine.
“For many, post-traumatic stress disorder is not a cut or wound that stings immediately, but rather a dull scar that remains dormant until a sound, a dream or a smell brings memories rushing back in a way that makes it hard to distinguish reality from imagination,” the Fox News reporter said.
WARNING: The following video contains graphic images that some viewers may find disturbing.
The war in Ukraine through my eyes. pic.twitter.com/yDBXwm17OU
— Trey Yingst (@TreyYingst) February 24, 2023
In March, Pierre Zakrzewski, a cinematographer for Fox News, and Oleksandra Kuvshynova, a Ukrainian journalist, were murdered in a bombardment that also injured Benjamin Hall, a correspondent.
The invasion of Ukraine by Russia has become the worst conflict in Europe since World War II.
According to The New York Times, the battle has been marked by mass deaths of civilians and sexual assault in captured towns and villages – acts that Ukrainian authorities have attempted to prosecute as war crimes.