Lisette’s life on the edge - 'I BAWL MY EYES OUT'

The reporter reveals what it's really like covering the war in Ukraine

- Fleur Guthrie

When Lisette Reymer took up the much-coveted role of Newshub’s Europe Correspondent in 2020, she and cameraman Daniel Pannett were sent on an intense hostile training course.

For a week, the pair played out being hostages, protecting themselves from gunfire and being interrogated by gun-toting military officers. It all seemed so far-fetched, Lisette wondered when she would ever use any of the skills they were taught.

“We wore bullet-proof vests and helmets, with people pretending to throw grenades at you,” she recalls. “Now I look back and think it couldn’t have been more valuable for what was to come.”

The 28-year-old never imagined she would be a war correspondent. It was not on her radar. But she has spent most of 2022 finding the human focus in stories from war-torn Ukraine since the Russian invasion began last February.

When the Weekly catches up with her in Auckland, Lisette is home for a whirlwind two-week visit to attend the New Zealand Television Awards, where she was a finalist for Best TV Reporter.

She also decided to use the opportunity to surprise her family in Cambridge, who had no idea she was in the country. Needless to say, it was an emotional reunion.

“Mum is still squealing and hugging me,” says Lisette. “In fact, I won’t tell her about this interview either and she’ll see it in print and be like ‘LISETTE! Stop doing this to me!’ She will have a hernia.”

And how do her parents feel about their youngest child being in a war zone?

“They are surprisingly good with it, probably due to how much support and security we have there. They’re silent worriers because they know it does me no good to hear how stressed they might be.