Morning Wire XX
[0] Russia's military invasion of Ukraine is now raged on for more than three weeks, and the human toll is mounting.
[1] For this episode of Morning Wire, we talked to Cassie Dillon, who has been on the ground in Ukraine to document the growing humanitarian crisis.
[2] I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor -in -chief John Bickley.
[3] It's Sunday, March 20th, and this is your special edition of Morning Wire.
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[15] Since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24th, millions have fled the war -torn country, while others have crossed continents to help.
[16] Joining us now is Cassie Dillon, our correspondent who recently returned from assignment in Ukraine.
[17] We're going to spend this special episode hearing what she and the team she led for Daily Wire documented.
[18] Welcome, Cassie.
[19] Thank you, John.
[20] First, what is your a big takeaway having gone there and now back?
[21] It's a bit surreal being back here after experiencing what's happening there on the ground.
[22] I mean, I met so many courageous people from Ukraine who are either looking for a place to say and take refuge or are preparing to put their lives on the line for their country.
[23] There are so many stories to tell and so many more that unfortunately will never be told.
[24] Well, I want to start with your story.
[25] You landed in Warsaw and you quickly made your way to the border of Poland and Ukraine.
[26] How did you actually manage to get into?
[27] to Ukraine.
[28] Shortly after landing in Warsaw, we made our way right down to a border city called Prashemeshil, where the Polish government and NGOs have set up different refugee centers with a processing people coming from Ukraine to Poland.
[29] And then from there, they go to Poland or anywhere in the EU that they would like to go.
[30] So as we were walking around, we were approached by this very excited Polish man who saw our cameras and started talking to us.
[31] What is your name?
[32] My name is Bartik.
[33] And where are you from?
[34] Yes, I am from Skirniewicz, from Poland.
[35] This is my girlfriend, Oksana.
[36] She's a Ukraine, beautiful woman.
[37] And what are you guys doing here today?
[38] Oh, right now we cheat the system because right now the Ukraine people are not above the truck drivers.
[39] We're repacking to the buses because they can cross the board.
[40] Bartak then told us how excited he was about what he was doing.
[41] So what's in the bus?
[42] Oh, my goodness, everything.
[43] to the eat, eat, to the children, the medicine, the medicals, the sleeping bags, everything what is necessary on the war.
[44] These goods are from Germany.
[45] Thank you, my Germany, friends.
[46] Thank you very much with the big herds.
[47] I love you.
[48] According to Bartek, trucks are not allowed across the border, but buses are.
[49] So, on the Polish side, they fill the buses with supplies with humanitarian aid, and then they bring it to Ukraine.
[50] So once the buses are unloaded, they actually fill their buses back up, but this time with refugees to return to Poland.
[51] So after we spoke with him, he invited us to come along to Ukraine with him, and we immediately agreed.
[52] If you want to have a great material, you can go with us to the Ukraine.
[53] Come on.
[54] I would.
[55] I really would.
[56] Oh, you want it?
[57] Yeah.
[58] Come on.
[59] So what was that like?
[60] What happened when you crossed into Ukraine?
[61] About an hour after leaving the border crossing, we reached the city of Lviv.
[62] Now, Lviviv is a really large city in Western Ukraine.
[63] It has something like 700 ,000 people.
[64] So similar size to say Boston or D .C. That's right.
[65] And once we got there, one of the volunteers' cousins, an English teacher, was there.
[66] And she offered to give us a tour of the Lviv Railway Station, where refugees are received before being processed elsewhere.
[67] It's a really beautiful historic building.
[68] But right now, the building is surrounded by many tents with food and medicine for the refugees.
[69] The station is like a central hub where people can meet up and help each other.
[70] Here's how the English teacher, Ola, explain the situation.
[71] So, well, the trains are crowded, and everyone tries to get on the train.
[72] And this is not that easy because people are very exhausted.
[73] They're scared and they're angry.
[74] And they are just fighting for their place on the train.
[75] And some people just need to wait hours and sometimes days to get on the train in want.
[76] And this is awful.
[77] I later talked with one woman who was traveling with her 13 -year -old daughter.
[78] I'm looking around this bus, and I see people who are very brave and people who are keeping their spirits up.
[79] Can you explain where that comes from?
[80] We have this very popular poetess.
[81] Her name is Lesia Ukraina.
[82] And she had a poem.
[83] She said, I laugh not to cry.
[84] So it's like probably it's our position we laugh because we want to hide our tears.
[85] It's amazing.
[86] And obviously you're staying strong for your daughter.
[87] Yeah, of course.
[88] Even though, honestly, I've been a weak person for all of my life.
[89] But for me to leave the country was a very, very hard choice.
[90] I've been spending nights crying, thinking how it's going to be.
[91] You think it's going to take one week, maybe two, maybe three.
[92] But now, what can I do?
[93] I have to think of her future.
[94] Can you talk about how hard it was to leave your husband?
[95] Oh, we were crying because you are going into nothing.
[96] You don't know what's going to happen next.
[97] Whether you can see him again, hug him again.
[98] And I don't even have words to put to you the way I feel.
[99] It's like I left my heart with him.
[100] I feel empty inside.
[101] Hard to imagine going through that.
[102] it's heartbreaking.
[103] Tell us a little bit more about what happened over the next few days.
[104] I began to see beyond the refugee crisis.
[105] I saw Ukrainian citizens mobilizing to defend their country, and I saw people preparing to defend the city of Leviv.
[106] This became very real for me when I was awakened by the police at an apartment we were staying at in the city.
[107] It's 742 in the morning.
[108] I just was woken up to banging on the door and air sirens going off.
[109] I immediately got up and woke up our videographer about the air sirens to grab the camera.
[110] But before he could even get the camera, I answered the door and was greeted by four guys with AKs, asking me who I was, where I was from, and why we had cameras.
[111] I guess somebody called them and told them that we were videoing outside, and that must have alerted them.
[112] So they had a lot of questions about who we were, what we were doing.
[113] Once we told them we were media, they were nicer.
[114] So people are on very, very high alert here.
[115] Shortly after that, we went to a brewery to start our day, and I just have to describe this place to you.
[116] It was like a venue out of a hipster neighborhood in maybe L .A. or Miami.
[117] They have festivals there in concerts, in bars, and restaurants, but now it's being used for different purposes.
[118] These are Molotow cocktails which we prepared.
[119] A lot of people came here willing to help to, to bring some bottles, to bring some materials.
[120] So volunteers came and brought bottles and materials.
[121] Yeah, yeah, but mostly there were guys from our brew team who were doing that.
[122] And we prepared in three days, I think more than 2 ,000 cocktails.
[123] And it's quite a lot.
[124] We distributed it on the points of the local defense group on the territorial defense.
[125] And we shipped some to Kiev.
[126] So really an example of somebody turning their business into the resistance effort.
[127] Exactly.
[128] And, you know, he was the PR guy for the brewery, and now he's the PR guy for the war effort.
[129] He told us that they're currently brewing a special beer and sharing the recipe with breweries all across the world.
[130] So when Ukraine is victorious, as he says, everyone will be able to celebrate.
[131] I'm sure a lot of people across the world would gladly lift a glass.
[132] Absolutely.
[133] From there, we unexpectedly ran into celebrity chef, Jose Andresen LeViv, who was on the ground with his nonprofit cooking thousands of meals of rice, chicken, and food.
[134] soup for those in need.
[135] And he told us that he stands in strong solidarity with the Ukrainian people.
[136] And what we do is try to organize everybody.
[137] So it's not them.
[138] It's not the others.
[139] We are one.
[140] We are all Ukrainian now.
[141] His organization, the World Central Kitchen, has been working with Ukrainians on the ground to provide more than 40 ,000 meals a day.
[142] We try to hire local.
[143] We partner local.
[144] We are very big team because we are working together.
[145] And everybody does what they know.
[146] They know Laviv.
[147] They know.
[148] They know.
[149] know Ukraine.
[150] I don't know Lviv.
[151] I don't know Ukraine, but I know a lot about feeding in conflicts.
[152] We become so much powerful together.
[153] He made it very clear that his organization has no plans to leave until this conflict with Russia is well over.
[154] And they're providing 40 ,000 meals a day.
[155] It's incredible.
[156] Who else did you meet?
[157] I met one very interesting young Ukrainian man who actually makes backpacks, wallets, and purses for a living.
[158] But right now, his business is put on pause as he makes vests to hold body armor.
[159] He told us, through a translator, that it was his duty.
[160] I feel responsibility to help the way I can.
[161] Some people went with military and fight on the front lines, but we here in the back, we must help with everything we can.
[162] I used to, I wanted to make, like, sewing clothes, and I never would have.
[163] I imagine that my first piece of clothing that I saw it would be a body armor.
[164] We also met up with an American in Leviv.
[165] The man's name is Harrison, and he actually quit his job as a Chicago police officer to travel to Ukraine and help.
[166] And now his team is either helping out with humanitarian missions, helping fix military equipment, or being processed by other groups to fight on the front.
[167] I am one of the founders of an organization known as Task Force Yankee, Ukraine.
[168] and what we're doing is sending vetted Americans from America, getting them over here to help any way they can, safely and securely.
[169] I asked him why he thought that this war was worth American veterans risking their lives.
[170] I think most of the Americans can agree that the way that we withdrew from Afghanistan was a failure.
[171] And in that sense, I don't want to see the same thing happen in Ukraine.
[172] And I also lost a very dear friend of mine, Staff Sergeant Ryan Canales.
[173] in Afghanistan in the Kabul suicide bombing.
[174] So I don't want to see that to happen to.
[175] Anybody doesn't have to happen to.
[176] Well, so this is on one level personal for him.
[177] Absolutely.
[178] And that's what's influencing him to grow his organization as large as he can.
[179] I would love to see an entire American division come from my organization, 10 ,000 strong.
[180] And slowly but surely we are getting there.
[181] From here on out, things began to get progressively more intensive.
[182] in the city.
[183] It's 3 .35 in the morning.
[184] I was just woken up by air sirens going off in the distance.
[185] I'm in the city of Lviv, Ukraine still.
[186] You can hear the sirens blaring and there's noise going with the sirens telling you to get the safety.
[187] They are putting the air sirens on because there is either a drill or there is bombing somewhere outside the city or within Ukraine.
[188] When we woke up again in a few hours, there were more sirens, and we found out that it wasn't a drill.
[189] The Russians bombed a military training base, just a short drive from the city, and very close to the Polish border.
[190] Okay, so the Russians attack outside Lviv, how did people react there?
[191] Well, it caused chaos because Western Ukraine was, for the most part, untouched by the Russians.
[192] But this was Putin telling the Ukrainian people that you're not safe, and you're not even safe in Western Ukraine.
[193] It caused another rush.
[194] Right before we left, we interviewed a man who was about to go fight, but our interview was interrupted.
[195] How does your wife feel about you heading back down there?
[196] She's scared.
[197] She's scared.
[198] Anyway, she's reading the news.
[199] She understands the situation.
[200] She's scared of this?
[201] Yes, of course.
[202] Why is nobody running to the bomb shelters right now?
[203] Because people get used to it.
[204] Will the Ukrainian people ever accept Russian occupation?
[205] No, definitely no. Despite Russia moving in, the young people of Ukraine have managed to stay really positive.
[206] It's really incredible.
[207] There was one moment that I still cannot stop thinking about.
[208] I was on the bus heading back to Poland, and I was talking to a young college student and asked her to describe what was around her.
[209] I was expecting her to mention how cramped what the bus was or that people were getting car sick, but that's not what she said.
[210] Tell me where you are right now and what you see around you.
[211] Right now, I'm in a bus headed to the Voluntary.
[212] volunteer center.
[213] Around me is a beautiful sunset, honestly.
[214] Today was a very beautiful day and just some cool nature and cool people.
[215] I was terrified.
[216] Obviously when the war started, I was terrified when I was thinking about it, but the moment I got to do things like, I have a task.
[217] I have to pack my things.
[218] I have to go to the railway station.
[219] I have to find the train.
[220] As long as I have these little tasks, the fear just, it doesn't exist because I can concentrate on those little steps.
[221] Now I can tell you I'm calm as long as I don't start thinking about the future.
[222] And now it's fine.
[223] I'm not scared.
[224] So we're wrapping up now.
[225] Last question.
[226] What was your takeaway from this entire experience?
[227] You know, it was just really remarkable to meet so many people that are stepping up to help.
[228] You know, the volunteers are coming from all around the world.
[229] I was with somebody from Saudi Arabia, people from Poland, France, all over the place, just wanting to help.
[230] Only time will tell the Ukrainian people's patriotic attitude or, the Russian war machine will be victorious.
[231] Well, the courage of the Ukrainians has been truly inspiring for the world, and it was great to hear from a lot of them.
[232] Thank you so much, Cassie, for documenting all of this, and thanks for talking with us.
[233] Thank you.
[234] That was Daily Wire correspondent Cassie Dillon, and this has been a special edition of Morning Wire.
[235] Thanks for listening to Morning Wire.
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