I had just arrived in the village of Terny, newly conquered by the Ukrainian army. The Russians were only a short distance away, and they were not yet willing to give up this territory. We were still under artillery fire. There were still many dead bodies of Russians lying in the village, the Ukrainian dead bodies had already been removed. It looked like the Second World War.

I was working feverishly, unaware of what was happening around me at the time. I was documenting one of Ukraine's last victories so far. I'm a freelance journalist, so I have to offer text, photos, and video. I was switching between taking pictures and filming, and I wasn't really interested in the artillery fire either. There was so much going on everywhere. The Ukrainians didn't care much about us; no one forbade us anything. Whoever was brave enough to be there was there. But I didn't see any other journalists here. Now that the Ukrainian army is not advancing, it is much more difficult. When I think about it, I think I was a fool and risked a lot. 

The rocket in the picture flew in front of us a few minutes before I took the photo. I still told the driver to pull over, that I needed to take a good picture, and I needed to get out of the car. Soldiers drove past us and gesticulated that we were out of our minds, crazy and shouting at us to get out, that the road was being shelled.

In summary, I was in a journalistic euphoria and I didn't really perceive the danger. But a car with soldiers driving a short distance in front of us got hit. I was concentrating on work, nothing else.

Being on the front lines in Ukraine is extremely dangerous. I have worked in many conflicts before - from Africa to Afghanistan, Nagorno-Karabakh, Iraq, and Syria, but nowhere was it as dangerous as here. And the risk continues to increase, with thousands and thousands of drones being used on the battlefield. Every photograph taken on the front line is bought at enormous risk to the photographer. That's why I'm so glad that risk has at least been balanced by the attention of judges in international photography competitions.

I'm lucky enough that some of them are already among my friends, we met on the front lines and had some experiences together. For example, the legend of Czech war photography Antonin Kratochvil, Eddy van Wessel or Patrick Chauvel, with whom I sat in the same shelter at the beginning of the war when the Russians shelled Zhytomyr. But I also like the work of Nicole Tung or Lynsey Addario. I immensely admire the work of Ukrainian war journalists - the Libkos couple or the Maloletka-Chernoff couple, who did great work in besieged Mariupol. I don't know if I would have had the courage.

I would like to talk to some of the photographers mentioned above again, or to meet those I don't yet know personally - Evgeny Maloletka, for example. I met him once briefly in Prague, but if I could, I would definitely like to have a coffee with him or sit in a trench!

I am currently working on my independent web portal called Reporters. We are four women, we each have our own topics, I of course especially the war ones. And I'm also about to go to Ukraine again. For the last more than two years my life has consisted of travelling to Ukraine and back, spending a lot of time in the country.

I don't have a specific dream, but I would like to continue my work, do a better job in the war zone than I've done so far. I'd like to get better, to push myself further. And be lucky enough to survive.