The Daily - The Russian Invasion Begins

Episode Date: February 24, 2022

After months of escalating tensions, President Vladimir V. Putin took to state television on Thursday to declare the start of a “special military operation” in Ukraine.In the prelude to the invasion and as Russian troops launched their attacks, we spoke to our colleagues on the ground as they hunkered down to cover the fighting.Guest: Sabrina Tavernise, a national correspondent for The New York Times; Anton Troianovski, the Moscow bureau chief for The Times and Michael Schwirtz, an investigative reporter for The Times. Have you lost a loved one during the pandemic? The Daily is working on a special episode memorializing those we have lost to the coronavirus. If you would like to share their name on the episode, please RECORD A VOICE MEMO and send it to us at [e-mail]. You can find more information and specific instructions here.Background reading: Areas across Ukraine were under attack on Thursday morning. President Biden condemned Russia’s actions, saying that he would speak to the American people later in the day.Why did Russia invade? Here’s what to know about the Ukraine crisis.Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from our team, subscribe to our newsletter. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

This is Sabrina Tabernisi. I'm in Kyiv, Ukraine, and it's about 11.20 at night. About an hour ago, we got information from some colleagues that there will likely be an attack tonight in Kyiv and in a number of other cities in Ukraine. We're gathering all of our stuff together, Kiev, and in a number of other cities in Ukraine. We're gathering all of our stuff together, looking at an empty bag that I'm about to put a bunch of stuff in, a bunch of bottles of water, a little contraption that powers a computer off of a car battery,

headlamp, a bunch of extra power supplies. And the plan is to go into the bathrooms of this hotel if there is a bombing. They are the furthest internal and away from the windows in the hotel, and there are big, deep closets in front of them that are also protective. Looking out the window, this beautiful city just started to rain. Kind of misty.

Really hard to imagine that there could be major damage in this city of millions of people. I'm feeling nervous and my adrenaline starts going, which means the way I focus and remember what I'm seeing and witness is to write down notes in my notebook with time stamps.

So here's the first one. That's 11.28 in Kiev. And I'm putting all my gear into an empty bag. From New York Times, I'm Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily. The Russian assault on Ukraine has begun. Today, my colleagues in Kiev, Slavyansk, and Moscow documented the hours leading up to the military operation

and the attack itself. It's Thursday, February 24th. This is Anton Troianovsky, Moscow bureau chief of the New York Times. It's 3.20 a.m. Moscow time on Thursday, February 24th. About three and a half hours ago, the Kremlin put out a statement saying that the Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine had asked the Kremlin for military help. But this feels like that type of moment that we've been waiting for, a pretext for an invasion. And yeah, so it's such an unsettling feeling walking through my neighborhood in central Moscow tonight. It looked totally normal. Everyone was just going about their business. The restaurants are full. And to think we could be on the verge of a horrific war is still, I think, not something that people can imagine. So for now, I'm staying up.

All my colleagues in Ukraine are staying up and we just have to wait. It's 1.51 a.m. in Kiev, Ukraine. This country's president just gave a live address to his own nation and to the nation of Russia. Today I initiated a telephone conversation with the President of the Russian Federation. The result is silence. In the beginning he says that he called President Vladimir Putin the President of the Russian Federation. And he said, quote, the result was silence. And then he said, as a result, I want to address all of the citizens of Russia.

I am speaking to you not as a president. I speak to you as a citizen of Ukraine. We are separated by more than 2,000 kilometers of mutual borders, along which 200,000 of your soldiers and 1,000 armored vehicles are standing. Your leadership has approved their step forward into the territory of another country. This step could be the beginning of a big war on the European continent. It was a really striking speech in which he essentially appealed to Russians,

to their sense of conscience, and told them that what they were getting on their televisions was a completely different version of the country he knew as Ukraine. He said, You were told we are Nazis, but how can a people support Nazis that gave more than 8 million lives for the victory over Nazism? You were told we hate Russian culture. How can one hate a culture, any culture?

Neighbors always enrich each other culturally. However, that does not make them a single whole. It doesn't dissolve us into you. We are different, but that's not a reason to be enemies. Note, I'm speaking to you now in the Russian language, but no one in Russia understands what I'm talking about. Many of you have been to Ukraine. Many of you have relatives in Ukraine.

Many of you have been in Ukraine. Many of you have relatives in Ukraine. Many of you have relatives in Ukraine. Some studied in Ukrainian universities. You know Ukraine. Listen to yourselves. Listen to the voice of reason. The people of Ukraine want peace. The authorities in Ukraine want peace.

They want it, and they are doing everything they can for it. We don't need war. But if we are attacked, if someone attempts to take away our land, our freedom, our lives, the lives of our children, we will defend ourselves. We won't attack, but defend ourselves.

By attacking, you'll see our faces, not our backs. Our faces. I know this speech of mine won't be shown on Russian TV, but the people of Russia need to see it. They need to know the truth. The truth is that this must be stopped before it is too late. And if the leadership of Russia does not want to sit down at a table for peace with us,

then maybe it will sit down at a table with you. Do Russians want war? I would very much like the answer to this question. But the answer depends only on you, the citizens of the Russian Federation. So, an hour or two after the Kremlin made that announcement about the separatists, another remarkable thing happened, which is that President Zelensky of Ukraine released a speech, a video address in the Russian language to Russians. to watch, you know, really felt like a last-ditch appeal for peace. Zelensky telling Russians that they're the only ones who can stop this horrific bout of violence from breaking out that Zelensky said could kill tens of thousands of people. But of course, the fact is, they can't really influence it. They can't really influence anything in this country. It's a country run by President Putin.

It's 3.28 a.m. The hotel is quiet. I'm going to open the window. The rain stopped. The lights in the city are still on. I'm going to get some sleep. We'll be right back. Цель – защита людей, которые на протяжении 8 лет подвергаются издевательствам, геноциду со стороны киевского режима. И для этого мы будем стремиться к демилитаризации и денацификации Украины. А также приданию суду тех, кто совершил многочисленные кровавые преступления против мирных жителей, в том числе и граждан Российской Федерации. It's 6.20 a.m. in Moscow. Just a few minutes ago, Putin went on national television in the middle of the night to essentially all but declare war against Ukraine.

He said he had ordered a special military operation to, quote, demilitarize and denazify the country. the country. He said he wanted to bring Ukrainian officials, who the Russians call neo-Nazis, to justice. It's something, obviously, I'm still processing. He called on Ukrainian soldiers to lay down their arms, and he threatened that any other countries who tried to interfere would face consequences, quote unquote, unlike they've never seen before in their history. It's 5.09 a.m. It's 5.09 a.m. I just heard an alert on my phone, and it sounds like it started. There's a strange green light. Directly out of my window, I can see it on this horizon.

I can't hear anything here in Kiev. I'm seeing my colleagues send little recordings. This is Michael Schwartz saying it's begun. I'm a reporter with New York Times reporting from Slavyansk. I was just woken up by two very large booms. It seems like the neighboring city of Kramatorsk is is under some kind of fire. Still waiting to confirm this. It looks like explosions. Rocket or artillery attacks right now in Kiev, the outskirts of Kiev, and Kharkiv, which is a large city a little ways to the north of me. I'm seeing other reports, several major cities.

There was definitely some kind of artillery or rocket attack on the city of Kramatorsk this morning, about 10 or 15 minutes from where I am right now. There are reporters from the BBC in the city who confirmed that there was some kind of attack. There are other reports of... Oh, my God, this is actually happening. There's a very loud explosion just now.

5.37 a.m. The same spot over the horizon. It's glowing red. I'm watching reports from other cities. Here's one from Mariupol by a journalist. Very loud explosions over the city of Mariupol. It's a city on the southern coast, really close to Russia. There's just no way that Ukraine can fight this off.

Russia's military is overwhelmingly stronger. It's just like they're coming in and attacking. And I'm just not sure how long Ukraine will be able to hold this off, if at all. It's 7.07 a.m. and sirens are going off around Kiev. What sounds like air raid sirens. There's some smoke coming from the horizon. There's some smoke coming from the horizon. There are reports of huge traffic snarls leaving the city, going to Zhytomyr, headed west toward Poland.

Looks like buses are still running. There are growing signs that people are trying to leave the city. Sabrina, what's your name? Alex. Alex, nice to meet you, Alex. Where are you going today? Home. Where's home? Rivne region.

Where is that in Ukraine? It's western part of Ukraine. And you're waiting for a bus here? Yeah. Alex is sitting on a black bag and a very cloudy day. western part of Ukraine. And you're waiting for a bus here? Yeah. Alex is sitting on a black bag and a very cloudy day. Jet going overhead. It's very loud. How are you feeling this morning, Alex?

Horrible. Tell me about that. Our people, our militaries now dying in Luhansk and Donetsk region. And that's horrible. Belarus, same thing. The tanks from Belarus started to attack us, so I don't know. I don't know what to do.

How old are you, Alex? 18. Will you come back to Kyiv, do you think, to help or...? If it will be Russian, no. If it will be Russian, meaning... Oh, if Kyiv will be Russian, you will come back? Yeah. Do you think that Kyiv will be Russian?

Maybe by the evening, I think, the half of Ukraine will be Russian. How are you feeling right now? I don't know what to say. No words. Thank you. Good luck, Alice. You too. As of Thursday morning, the Ukrainian government said that more than 40 Ukrainian soldiers had died and that dozens had been wounded. Russia's defense ministry said it had disabled all of Ukraine's air defenses

and air bases. But despite being severely outnumbered, Ukrainian forces continued to resist, telling the Times they had shot down six Russian fighter jets and a helicopter, and had held back Russian forces from two key cities. Meanwhile, both the United Nations and the United States condemned Russia in the strongest possible terms. In a statement, President Biden said, quote, President Putin has chosen a premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering. He added, the world will hold Russia accountable.

We'll be right back. On Wednesday, Los Angeles County dropped the requirement that its 10 million residents wear masks indoors as long as they can show proof of vaccination. It was the latest major jurisdiction to lift COVID restrictions as infections plunge. The number of new cases in the U.S. has fallen 66 percent in the past two weeks. has fallen 66% in the past two weeks. And on Wednesday, the U.S. Postal Service said it would purchase up to 148,000 gas-powered delivery trucks over the objections of the White House, which had encouraged it to invest in green technology. The decision undercuts the climate goals of the Biden administration, which has pledged to transition the federal government's fleet of cars

to electric vehicles. The Postal Service said it lacked the time and money to purchase tens of thousands of electric cars, a claim that the White House has disputed. electric cars, a claim that the White House has disputed. Today's episode was produced by Lindsay Garrison, Claire Tennesketter, Aastha Chaturvedi, and Sydney Harper. It was edited by Lisa Chow and Larissa Anderson, contains original music by Marian Lozano and Dan Powell, and was engineered by Chris Wood.

Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Lansford of Wonderling. That's it for The Daily. I'm Michael Barbaro. See you tomorrow.