Journalist’s notebook: 100 days of Russian aggression but Ukraine continues to fight

Kyiv, Ukraine – When I arrived in Ukraine on January 23, the skies were gray and the weather cold. In the depths of winter, it snows in Kyiv almost every day and the sidewalks are treacherously icy. At the small coffee kiosk, barely more than a hole in the wall, a young barista whipped up hot lattes and said she wasn’t worried about the prospect of war. She was far from alone.

Despite tens of thousands of Russian troops and artillery gathered at the border for what Moscow called military exercises, few in Ukraine believed Russia would invade their country. There was no sense of urgency, no hoarding of basic foodstuffs, no panic buying. Most people we spoke to hadn’t packed or planned to evacuate. But the signs of conflict were ominous.

Russia was already waging a propaganda battle. A skillfully produced video by the Russian Ministry of Defense highlighted their military superiority. Footage captured well-trained soldiers maneuvering sinister-looking mobile missile launchers into position. Russian MLRS were photographed firing barrages of rockets, chilling images for a potential battle between David and Goliath.

In early February, Western intelligence reports predicted that Kyiv would fall within days, tank divisions would pass Chernobyl and enter the capital. And yet, Ukrainians seemed to be in a state of denial. However, behind the scenes, the government had been preparing for years, digging and digging trenches along the eastern front for what it saw as an inevitable fight.

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On February 24, Russia invaded, and it soon became clear that what the intelligence reports failed to take into account was the incredible resilience of the Ukrainian forces. Outnumbered and outgunned, they held back the Russian army, fighting street by street, field by field – fighting for every inch of ground.

As this brutal conflict enters its 100th day, the atrocities being perpetrated against Ukrainian civilians are shocking. As you walk through Kyiv’s suburbs, you see firsthand the devastation caused by the relentless Russian artillery. Residential buildings were destroyed, in some cases reduced to rubble. Others are burned, their facades blackened.

Cities few in the Western world could name have suffered unimaginable damage. Mariupol, Kharkiv, Kherson. According to reports, more than 21,000 people were killed in Mariupol alone, most of them civilians who were trapped and unable to escape. The death toll is staggering.

It’s hard to convey the general mood here. Thousands of people have returned to Kyiv, but it remains a virtual ghost town. Air raid sirens are sounding day and night, but there have been no missile attacks. Nevertheless, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy continually encourages people to stay alert and take shelter.

You are constantly concerned about the safety of your colleagues here. On March 14, we tragically lost two colleagues in this war. I was in Lviv, in the west of the country, when we heard from our longtime cameraman, Pierre Zakrzewski, and our local Ukrainian producer, Oleksandra’ ‘Sasha Kuvshinova, had been killed in an artillery strike at Irpin. Correspondent Benjamin Hall was seriously injured. It is a day etched in my soul. An absolutely tragic and heartbreaking event.

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Now, as we travel to cover stories in the towns and villages that have suffered such heavy losses, we often pass by the corner where our friends lost their lives. We stopped a few times, last week leaving flowers in the national colors of Ukraine. Sasha would have liked that. She was only 24, a young woman with so much life to live. She also understood the importance of letting the world know what’s going on here, and that’s a responsibility I wholeheartedly believe in. This is a critically important story, perhaps the most important since 1945. We are literally on the cusp of World War III and the slightest spark could ignite a European war that could drag the whole world in a conflict.

Not far from Kyiv, the town of Bucha has become synonymous with Russian war crimes. Civilians were murdered indiscriminately, some tortured before being executed. Bodies littered the streets, burned in an attempt to hide the brutality inflicted on them. Countless numbers of women have been sexually assaulted. So many people were killed that they were buried in a mass grave behind the local church.

Since the Russian withdrawal, Bucha is slowly coming back to life. But there is a veil hanging over this city, a sadness that cannot be erased.

On a narrow dirt road not far from the city center, Alla Nechiporenko is just trying to get through another day. After the Russians arrived, her husband, Ruslan, cycled with their teenage son to find food. According to Alla, they wore white armbands to signify they were civilians but soon encountered a Russian checkpoint.

“When my husband raised his hands and started to turn towards my son, two shots were fired at him, then two shots were fired at my child as well. And when the child fell on the asphalt, a third shot was fired in the direction of his head,” she says, there is no inflection in her voice, as if the mere effort of speaking is exhausting.

The bullet passed through the hood of his son’s jacket, narrowly missing his head, and he was shot in the arm. His father was mortally wounded, dying beside him.

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The pain of the loss is etched on Alla’s face, and she said the weeks since her husband was killed have been difficult morally, psychologically and financially.

“Our family was taken care of by my husband. We turned to a psychologist for help. I try not to be alone, I went to work and I am constantly trying to engage in something so that there is no free time. I often visit the cemetery, that’s how my life goes.”

Damaged buildings can be rebuilt, but not the lives torn apart by this war.