The Battle for Kyiv

[0] At 7 .30 in the morning on Saturday in Kiev, last night President Zelensky was standing outside the government building and trying to reassure his people.

[1] He was standing with other government officials.

[2] He was holding the phone.

[3] It was kind of shaky.

[4] And he said, Good evening.

[5] The head of the faction is here.

[6] The head of the presidential office is here.

[7] The prime minister is here.

[8] Padalak, here.

[9] I am here.

[10] And points to each of the men standing behind him.

[11] And he's telling people we're here.

[12] We're going to defend our country.

[13] Slav our national defenders.

[14] Slav our security.

[15] From a New York Times, I'm Michael Barrow.

[16] This is a daily.

[17] Over the weekend, the battle between Russian and Ukrainian forces came to Ukraine's capital of Kiev, transforming a once -vibrant, bustling city, into a war zone.

[18] And the question was, would the Russian military quickly overrun the city?

[19] or would Ukrainians, despite being outgunned, somehow find a way to defend it?

[20] Once again, Sabrina Tavernisi reports from Kiev.

[21] It's Monday, February 28th.

[22] It's 10 a .m. in Kiev.

[23] I'm walking out to the main street in front of the hotel.

[24] I just saw an ambulance go by.

[25] Another ambulance go by.

[26] A fair number of cars.

[27] on the street this morning.

[28] We're on our way to a blood bank and a recruiting center where people are getting guns and volunteering in civilian defense forces.

[29] It was a really loud night.

[30] There was fighting as close as the zoo, which is kind of in the western part of the city.

[31] So Russian forces reached quite far, in fact, into Kiev last night.

[32] and it was there was also small arms fire which might have been a kind of a a saboteur group of Russian soldiers or fighters not far from the hotel I heard that one as well several times during the night big explosions and yeah we're going to go out and and check things out this morning okay so I'm standing outside an office where people are signing up to do territorial defense work or receive weapons.

[33] People, the line is quite long.

[34] It's sort of a courtyard, a lot of men milling around, holding rifles on their backs, guarding the gate.

[35] A man says, where do we sign up?

[36] And this gentleman is selling him to a different building.

[37] Okay, I'm going to go try to talk.

[38] to some people who have come to sign up.

[39] Hello, hi.

[40] My name is Sabrina.

[41] I'm a journalist from the New York Times.

[42] Can I talk to you?

[43] Nice to meet you, too.

[44] My name is Andre.

[45] Hi, Andrei.

[46] What is, what are you, why are you here today?

[47] Why am I here?

[48] Okay.

[49] I'm living here.

[50] Just in that area.

[51] Oh, right.

[52] Right here.

[53] This is where you live, this name.

[54] What's it called, Andre, this neighborhood?

[55] It's Tatarka.

[56] Tatarka.

[57] And I feel, I need to protect my house, my home place.

[58] They think they get us free, but it's lie.

[59] It's completely lie because they want to destroy us.

[60] They're quite stupid because for all of that time, for 30 years, they didn't identify us as a nation.

[61] but it's true we are they always said oh Ukraine's not a nation but Ukraine is a nation Ukraine is so they need to kill a lot of people to kill nation and it's not possible just not possible so we're walking along the site of this really major firefight there's an Ukrainian position dug in over the railroad tracks and there's debris all over the street pieces of branches pieces of concrete looks like various glass shrapnel oh wow my god oh my god look at the truck so a major major firefight here two trucks look like two transport trucks very very strong smell of burned maybe tires rubber two completely burned out and just smoldering transport trucks there's a kind of a slick oily stain around one of them right now they're Ukrainian soldiers picking through the wreckage of the two trucks one two three four five seven Ukrainian soldiers They're putting what looks like munitions in small wooden boxes that they have salvaged from this firefight.

[62] It's about 1 p .m. in Kiev on Saturday.

[63] This is the sound of Ukrainian soldier digging positions above the highway.

[64] Hello.

[65] Hello.

[66] I'm media.

[67] Nice to meet you.

[68] Nice to meet you.

[69] Are you, you're digging a position here?

[70] Yes, yes.

[71] What's your name?

[72] Alexander.

[73] Alexander, nice to meet you.

[74] Why are you doing this?

[75] Why?

[76] Yeah.

[77] I don't want to die.

[78] And you know this problem in Ukraine.

[79] Yep.

[80] And I, I, I can't just explain.

[81] In Russian.

[82] Can't?

[83] Yeah.

[84] Well, we, we don't want to die.

[85] And we understand, we understand, And we understand that war is inescapable now, so we're digging in positions.

[86] The war, it's not that it's inescapable, it's already started.

[87] We have to protect all of the peaceful people who stayed here and who are trying to leave Kiev so that they can peacefully leave.

[88] I'm 29.

[89] I'm 29 years old.

[90] Sasha, you have some blood on his cheek?

[91] Sasha has some blood on his cheek.

[92] He said it's just a scratch.

[93] Bye, Sasha.

[94] Bye, bye.

[95] Try to talk to that, no. God, that is really quite terrifying sight these trucks, God.

[96] Hello.

[97] So, documents.

[98] Documents?

[99] My document.

[100] New York Times, Sabrina.

[101] We're going back to our cartel.

[102] Yes.

[103] Thank you.

[104] Very, very jumpy here.

[105] Oh, a bunch of Molotov cocktails.

[106] Watch out there.

[107] They're going to freak out if you take a picture.

[108] A bunch of multaf cocktails here at the base of a tree.

[109] A box of, looks like they're in, actually, in beer bottles.

[110] I still can't believe this is happening in Kiev.

[111] So we're going down into the parking garage.

[112] of this building where the firefight was outside of to look, to talk to people.

[113] There's a trail of blood going into the parking garage.

[114] The gentleman who's leading us says it's a shelter.

[115] So we're going down into kind of a cavernous area, clearly.

[116] Parking garage, there are men and women walking up.

[117] the other side of us.

[118] I'm walking along and seeing seeing blood.

[119] I see blood on a footprint.

[120] So somebody's footprint with blood and it's leading to a boot that is lying by itself.

[121] I can't tell.

[122] It's clearly wet, but I'm looking at the boot and it seems to have a look.

[123] Look at the plastic.

[124] the plastic thing has blood on it as well.

[125] Yeah, it is blood.

[126] Yeah, it is blood.

[127] What happened here?

[128] Yeah.

[129] Young man was saying that it happened around four or five in the morning, and he helped bring the wounded down into the parking garage that's now a bomb shelter.

[130] He's pointing out, look, there's the blood.

[131] There's the trail.

[132] He didn't die.

[133] He survived.

[134] He's in hospital now.

[135] Look, that's the trail.

[136] That's the trail of the blood.

[137] That's where he came from.

[138] We dragged him.

[139] We dragged him and we carried him with our hands.

[140] We'll be right back.

[141] We're going upstairs to the blood.

[142] donation.

[143] This appears to be some sort of a hospital or health center or something.

[144] And people are lined up along the stairs.

[145] Hello.

[146] So I'm a reporter from the New York Times.

[147] My name is Sabrina.

[148] Nice to meet you.

[149] My name is Sasha.

[150] Yeah, it's Irina.

[151] It's my sister.

[152] Hi.

[153] Nice to meet you.

[154] Nice to meet you.

[155] Why did you guys come today?

[156] What made you, what drew you here?

[157] I think it's just a little thing which we can do right now to support our guys who are fighting for our independence for a bit.

[158] I want to be Ukrainian.

[159] I'm okay on my land.

[160] I'm okay in my country.

[161] And it's just a little thing what I can do.

[162] I'm a psychologist.

[163] I support my people.

[164] And now I can take just a little of my blood to support the bodies of my people.

[165] I'm crying sorry okay did you sleep last night how was last night for you just a little bit because it was bombing and it was syrians yeah so we were scared just on the first day but now now it's okay it's okay we are together we are on our land and we will stay here Ida, how are you yourself feeling right now?

[166] You know, I'm calm down and angry.

[167] I'm calm and angry.

[168] I'm sometimes scared, but I'm calm.

[169] And what is the anger?

[170] Anger.

[171] You see this good weather, this wonderful weather.

[172] It's the sun, it's a spring.

[173] The birds are singing.

[174] and I want to live my peaceful life I don't want to have war on my land that's why I'm angry thank you it's 3 .42 on Saturday driving around Kiev lots of boarded up windows and tape and plastic on windows to prevent them from shattering really really has the look of a city that has closed down and expects a storm I'm on my way to go inside the metro where people are taking shelter overnight We've arrived Metro is called University So I'm going to 20 This I'll, I'm going to I'll just There's now a checkpoint to get into the metro And the guy who's guarding it is asking me for my passport So I have to show it to I'll ask documents Ah, we're like We thought.

[175] Yeah, I thought, yeah, I thought, yeah, Yeah, can't Can't go?

[176] Okay, but I'll go, I'll go, Talk to the ticket taker She said The Metro isn't working But you're welcome to go down About 3 .30pm So it's getting close to curfew These Soviet metros are deep, built deep, deep into the ground because they were originally designed as bomb shelters by the Soviets in the event of a nuclear attack.

[177] This one is very deep off the street.

[178] It has three escalators and white marble walls.

[179] And there's a giant kind of semicircle, very thick metal plated opening that is the entrance to it, that can be closed up in the event of a bomb attack, kind of like being sealed up in a safe.

[180] So I'm walking down.

[181] Hello.

[182] One woman's sitting there.

[183] So when I look and stare down this escalator, it's really almost as far as the eye can see.

[184] It is hard to overstate just how deep into the earth this escalator goes.

[185] And, yeah, I'm just going to walk down.

[186] It's going to take me a while.

[187] Still walking.

[188] Okay, we're getting close to the bottom.

[189] The train is just sitting on the tracks in front of them with its doors open.

[190] I see blankets, someone's black purse, a few wheelie bags in this one.

[191] Hi.

[192] A for Russian?

[193] Me's Sabrina.

[194] Yulia, your name is your name?

[195] Andre.

[196] Andre.

[197] So, Yulie and Andre and two.

[198] very, very cute little kids.

[199] How are they called?

[200] I, Gleb.

[201] Gleb, hi, Ia. How old are you?

[202] How old are you?

[203] How are you?

[204] I'm four.

[205] And Gleb is a year and a half.

[206] Hi.

[207] Hi.

[208] How are you guys doing?

[209] How are you guys doing?

[210] We're here for a second night.

[211] How was last night?

[212] Did you hear anything?

[213] No, I didn't hear anything.

[214] I'm hoping that it will be safer than home.

[215] I don't know what I'm saying, I can't understand that this is happening.

[216] I want a metaphor, to be it's just like a complete nightmare.

[217] It's like a movie.

[218] You're how called?

[219] Lena.

[220] So I'm speaking with Lena.

[221] my grandmother told me how terrible it was when there was bombing and she had two little children about these age children she she grasped the two children to her chest and the Germans were shooting down.

[222] This is like that.

[223] This is like my grandmother running from the Germans shooting.

[224] It's the same.

[225] I myself.

[226] I myself.

[227] from a grandmother and these are my grandchildren and I am in the same situation.

[228] It's impossible.

[229] It's impossible.

[230] My father and they've never seen.

[231] My father and mother have passed and I'm really glad that they haven't seen this because it would be impossible for them to bear.

[232] These are my grandchildren.

[233] So it just, I just wanted to finish as fast as it can.

[234] Finish, because it's, it's impossible to finish.

[235] What should we do?

[236] There's no work?

[237] We're not, my son and lies in working.

[238] He can't work, the jobs are closed.

[239] But what to do?

[240] There's no, there's no money.

[241] to feed the children.

[242] that's four and a half.

[243] Yeah.

[244] Leanna's not be.

[245] It's can't be, it cannot be my life.

[246] It's not can't.

[247] How?

[248] Lena's saying, we don't know how to be, we just don't know.

[249] Everything was great, it was peaceful.

[250] Oye.

[251] It's hard.

[252] It's hard.

[253] No. All right.

[254] I'm going to go back up.

[255] Good luck, you guys.

[256] Udachi, God be with us.

[257] God be with us.

[258] Now I'm walking out.

[259] Back up the longest stairway.

[260] The longest, deepest escalator in the city.

[261] Curfews almost starting.

[262] On Sunday, as Russian and Ukrainian forces battled for control of Kiev, The two countries agreed to hold their first negotiations since the war began.

[263] But even as the talks neared, Russia dispatched more troops to Kiev.

[264] Satellite imagery showed a miles -long convoy of hundreds of Russian military vehicles, bearing down on the capital city.

[265] Meanwhile, Western governments intensified their efforts to punish Russia and to rally around Ukraine.

[266] A growing list of European countries banned flights from Russia.

[267] The U .S. and the European Union imposed sanctions that personally targeted Russian President Vladimir Putin and his foreign secretary.

[268] And in an extraordinary declaration, Britain's foreign secretary said she would support British citizens who wanted to travel to Ukraine to fight against Russia.

[269] As of Sunday night, according to Ukrainian officials, Russia's assault has killed 352 Ukrainian civilians, including 14 children.

[270] We'll be right back.

[271] Here's what else you need to another day.

[272] Congressional Democrats are promising the swift confirmation of President Biden's first nominee to the Supreme Court, Katanji Brown -Jackson, a federal appeals court judge who would be the first black woman to serve on the high court.

[273] All 50 Senate Democrats previously voted to confirm Jackson to the appeals court, a level of support that would be sufficient to put her on the Supreme Court.

[274] The question for Biden is how much support Brown will win from Senate Republicans.

[275] Look, her nomination and her confirmation would or will be historic.

[276] And like anyone dominated by the president of the United States.

[277] She deserves a very careful look, a very deep dive.

[278] Over the weekend, Republicans like Senator Mitt Romney of Utah in an interview with CNN said he was open -minded.

[279] And I'll provide fresh eyes to that evaluation and hope that I'll be able to support her in the final analysis.

[280] And U .S. regulators have issued new guidelines for living with COVID -19 that could allow about 70 % of Americans to stop wearing this.

[281] masks and social distancing, including schools in certain communities.

[282] Unlike previous guidelines, which were based on the number of infections in a community, the new recommendations are based on measures such as COVID -related hospital admissions, which have fallen significantly.

[283] Today's episode was produced by Michael Simon Johnson, Caitlin Roberts, Asta Chatharvedi, and Alexandra Lee Young.

[284] It was edited by Larissa Anderson, Lisa Chow and Lisa Tobin, and was engineered by Chris Wood.

[285] Original music by Dan Powell and Marion Lazzano.

[286] Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Lansberg of Wonderly.

[287] Special thanks to Lindsay Adairio, Andre Dupechalk, Valerie Hopkins, and Mark Santura.

[288] That's it for the Daily.

[289] I'm Michael Babaro.

[290] See you tomorrow.