Sky News team's harrowing account of their violent ambush in Ukraine this week
Apparently, the Russians are even willing to murder unarmed civilians driving down the street. This happened on Monday, four days ago. It's probably worse now.
The Sky News video player didn't work very well for me, but I found it on YouTube. I'm posting it above the seed to save anyone else the same trouble.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
As with many wars, the Russian invasion of Ukraine changes constantly.
Areas of attack and tactics alter, battlefields appear suddenly in previously quiet areas, kinetic places go silent. It all means that to report on events, you accept at the outset that your plans will change.
We set off cautiously for the town of Bucha, where a Russian convoy had been destroyed by the Ukrainian army the previous day. Trusted contacts in the town told us it was quiet and promised to show us the convoy and tell us about what had happened.
Even as we left central Kyiv through a city now being strengthened with extra soldiers, past motorways and major roads where volunteers were digging trenches, and the army were positioning Howitzer cannons for the defence of the capital, it was clear our journey was to be difficult.
Constant checkpoints need to be negotiated with care. The tension is palpable, the fighters are jumpy, and it's all exacerbated by the constant distant sounds of machine gun fire and crump of artillery and mortars.
The town is only 30 kilometres or so from the centre of Kyiv, but our journey took us hours. Roads were closed and we were redirected countless times.
On our way, in the distance, we could see Russian helicopter gunships criss-crossing in the air, noses dipping towards the ground as they opened fire.
From being a quiet location, the whole of this part of the countryside - including our intended destination - had turned into a battlefield.
Pointing weapons into our car, the last Ukrainian checkpoint suggested we shouldn't go any further. We elected to call it a day and return to the centre of the city. We had tried to report, but it was getting too difficult.
But that's what happens, it's just how it is.
The roads we had taken were now unsafe. Well, worse than that, really: they were instantaneously new front lines.
So, we decided to cut down to the western part of the city and re-enter from a different direction.
We stopped at a checkpoint and spoke to the soldiers and police, asking them if the road into Kyiv was passable.
A police officer walked to the car and handed us ice creams through the window, telling us we could turn left and go down the road to Kyiv - he said it was open.
We set off, but it was deadly quiet, and it's fair to say we were concerned. But we travelled slowly forwards towards an intersection. There was rubble in the road, but that's normal now. There were no soldiers, it all seemed deserted.
And then out of nowhere a small explosion and I saw something hit the car and a tyre burst. We rolled to a stop.
And then our world turned upside down.
The first round cracked the windscreen. Camera operator Richie Mockler huddled into the front passenger footwell. Then we were under full attack.
Bullets cascaded through the whole of the car, tracers, bullet flashes, windscreen glass, plastic seats, the steering wheel, and dashboard had disintegrated.
We didn't know it at the time, but we were later told by the Ukrainians that we were being ambushed by a saboteur Russian reconnaissance squad. It was professional, the rounds kept smashing into the car - they didn't miss.
Producer Martin Vowles, who was driving, got out of the car first, quickly followed by Andrii Lytvynenko, our local producer, leaving me, Richie, and my producer Dominique Van Heerden inside, taking cover in the footwells and across the backseat.
At this stage we thought it was a Ukrainian army checkpoint firing at us and that it was a mistake, so we started screaming we were journalists, but the rounds kept coming.
We knew we had to get out to survive, but the incoming fire was intense.
Dominique pushed open her door a little further and slipped to the ground, crawling towards a motorway barrier and then dived down a 40-foot embankment, rolling to the bottom.
Richie was shouting to me, but I can't really remember much.
I do recall wondering if my death was going to be painful.
And then I was hit in the lower back. "I've been hit!" I shouted.
But what amazed me was that it didn't hurt that bad. It was more like being punched, really.
It was strange, but I felt very calm. I managed to put my helmet on, and was about to attempt my escape, when I stopped and reached back into a shelf in the door and retrieved my phones and my press card, unbelievably.
Richie says I then got out of the car and stood up, before jogging to the edge of the embankment and then started running. I lost my balance and fell to the bottom, landing like a sack of potatoes, cutting my face. My armour and helmet almost certainly saved me.
But Richie was still inside the car. The rounds were ploughing into the car every time he moved. He was actually being protected by the engine block - he knew that.
He called out, and we shouted at him to come. But then silence. It seemed like an eternity before he emerged over the barrier and jumped down towards us, followed by a hail of gunfire.
At the bottom, we regrouped. The five of us were alive. We couldn't believe it.
We were in shock, no doubt about it. But elated to be alive. Martin said to me, it's a miracle any of us got out, let alone all five of us.
Still in the firing line, we headed away from the car, using a concrete wall for cover.
We spotted a factory unit with an open gate and sprinted one at a time inside, looking for cover. We were convinced the shooters would come to finish us off.
A door opened, and three caretakers beckoned for us to come inside their workshop.
We ran inside and gathered together, while Martin and Dominique rang through to Sky staff members, signalling the start of a frantic effort to try to start to arrange a rescue for us.
We knew it would take hours and fully expected to spend the night in the workshop while the logistics were worked on. Extracting people from remote locations in the middle of a war that keeps moving is fiendishly difficult.
Outside, the sounds of the battle intensified. We had no idea what was going on, but we were scared that at any moment the garage doors would explode inward, and gunmen would come to kill us.
It's often like this in hairy situations - you survive the first part and get to safety, and then it all starts going downhill again. And you are tired, exhausted really, and the adrenaline subsides, and you feel down and beaten.
Attempts at levity fell on flat ears, eventually we gathered in a small office to keep warm, in silence, waiting for word of the rescue.
The phone rang, and we were told we had to wait until morning. It was by now pitch-black outside.
I began to doze on a couch, and I remember vaguely seeing a flashing light, then the sound of heavy boots and shouting in the stairwell.
Richie said he was convinced it was the end, before he heard these beautiful words: "Ukrainian police, come quickly!"
We filed out and were stuffed into a police vehicle, the driver gunned his engine, and we skidded through the gates of the factory unit.
There was a long way to go, but we had been rescued. A day later, we made it back to the centre of Kyiv.
The point is we were very lucky. But thousands of Ukrainians are dying, and families are being targeted by Russian hit squads just as we were, driving along in a family saloon and attacked.
This war gets worse by the day.
***
Stuart and his team are now safely back in the UK.
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Civilian apartments, homes, schools, hospitals, and random unarmed civilians just driving down the street.
Putin is conducting a campaign of mass murder.
There are several videos online of this incident and it appears like they took fire from Ukranian forces. I'd probably back off this until we have conclusive evidence.
They said that at first they thought it might be Ukranians, but later the police told them it was a Russian saboteur squad.
What proof do the police have? Or the journalists for that matter. They never see their attackers.
Remember Ukrainians are arming civilians- they are creating molotov cocktails, roadside bombs, and getting how too books for homemade explosives.
When the journalists reach the warehouse there is a full on battle taking place in the area. So who was shooting at them? Did they encounter a Ukrainian checkpoint like they really thought to begin with? Did they encounter Ukrainian armed civilian militia? Was it really Russian espionage units? Or was it the regular Russian military? Think that the Ukrainians are so well coordinated they aren't firing at each other? I already know for a fact that the Russians have shot at each other. This is what happens with street to street fighting in cities. If anyone really claims to know what is going on they are morons and liars.
But a few things for these journalists to remember.
Somebody needs to remind everyone that this is what war really looks like. It isn't neat, clean, and heroic. It is messy, ugly, nasty, and the wrong people tend to die in very bad ways. You would think the world would have learned by now; but it seems that several times a year we need to repeat the stupidity as a reminder. Maybe we can have WWIII since it has been so damn long since WWII. We can reinstate the draft; and send everyone of age off to die in Europe again. If we get really lucky Putin will keep his promise and retaliate with nuclear weapons. Then we will find out that Hollywood and video games have lied to us. Of course we will all be dead; but it will be a lesson we will never forget.
Nothing to back off about...
The Russians are everywhere in some parts of Ukraine and journalists, civilians and anything else that moves is a target..
Pity it wasn't Putin in the car.. because if it was the Ukrainians they wouldn't have missed...
And pretty much no matter what Putin does, the UN will not take any military action for fear of WWIII. Thus Putin, most likely, will prevail and capture Ukraine. Then what? Assassination of Putin by his own people? Diplomatic forces used to free Ukraine in exchange for lifting sanctions? As with Hitler, Putin illustrates the havoc that can result from a single ruthless individual in power.
It's pissing me off to no end that Putin can invade a free democracy that was no threat to him at all, murder people all over the place, and nobody will step in to stop it and save who knows how many innocent lives.
I think it's the threat of nuclear war. I also think there's a real concern that Putin may no longer be playing with a full deck.
Yeah, but still.
Anoon Dig...the only thing that will change their minds if the Russians are dumb enough to lob a missile into a NATO country then it will be on..
As we can all see they are crap shots so this could be a possibility..they are hitting apartments, hospitals, schools etc and Putin says this is not happening..
The Russian forces are so good they are only hitting military targets..with a bit of luck they may even hit their own..
It's seriously pissing everyone off, but we cannot get into a direct military confrontation with Russia, unless the Russians attack a NATO member.
Unfortunately, things in Ukraine are going to get much worse.
The only immediate, but unlikely, hope is that Putin gets deposed right away because it's not possible for the Ukrainians to win in the short term. In the long term it's not possible for Russia to permanently subjugate the entire Ukrainian population.
Evening G...yes you are pretty well spot on unfortunately...once the infrastructure is gone then life for the Ukrainians is going to be very tough...and the Russians will be in no hurry to repair or fix anything..
There are 4 million Ukrainians living in Russia and if they start up an underground battle life in Russia could become very uncomfortable...
The old saying about absolute power corrupting absolutely comes to mind with Putin.
I expect the EU will spend a lot more on defense and push a lot of their forces to permanent bases in the former Soviet Block countries. Meanwhile, Putin will have to deal with the pretty much guaranteed collapse of his economy, which will be exacerbated badly if he tries to hold onto Ukraine, which I expect to have a fairly serious insurgency.
The West, on the other hand, will have to deal with the unforeseen consequences the sanctions will have on our own economy and, simultaneously, have to worry about how all of this will have impacted the CCP's thinking about Taiwan. I'm hoping that they are thinking along the lines of the same thing happening to them as to Putin, but who knows?
After Putin conquerers Ukraine which he will because of overwhelming firepower but it will be costly and he'll face an insurgency for years to come.
What next, Moldova, Georgia which he has already taken 20% of their land. I doubt if he is going to stop and after Georgia and Moldova then what a former Russian satellite that is now part of NATO? Romania, the Baltic countries. A neutral country like Finland? What about the Balkans, Putin has a friend in Serbia before the Ukraine invasion Serbia is the last country to start a massive war in Europe including genocide.
IMO, he isn't going to stop with Ukraine.
Serbia is trying to join the EU in case you didn't know.
Of course the EU insists that Serbia make peace with Kosovo. If they do it will be in name only. It takes two to make peace; and Kosovo Albanians aren't up to it.
Ignoring completely the role the KLA had in starting the war? You know the terrorist organization sited by our own CIA for gun running; slave and drug trafficking?
It is no wonder we have these wonderful military conflicts so damn often- people tend to forget why countries attack each other. Oh, by the way- did you forget that Kosovo was a province of Serbia before NATO gave it to the KLA and greater Albania. How do you declare war on yourself?
Serbia is walking a tight rope between their Russian and Chinese military allies; and European economic allies.
Might want to do some research on Serbia before posting. While their hearts (and media) may be with the Russians- they are acting with their heads and siding with the EU.
Also, don't ask any Serb about the NATO bombings of their country- unless you want to be a part of the real conflict erupts. While they might want in to the EU; they will never be a part of NATO.
Thanks for the advice but I've been to Serbia many times as we had offices in both Croatia and Slovenia. I suppose that Serbians committing genocide and being tried for war crimes is simply a side act. You do realize that it was Serbia that started the war with Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia when the old Yugoslavia broke up, right?
Serbia is once again doing their BS in Bosnia you might want to check that out. Additionally, Serbia is rallying for Russia. You might want to research that to inform yourself. Serbia and Bosnia are the only two western Balkan countries not in NATO and Serbs are stopping Bosnia from joining since they are three-party government.
Serbia Rally Backs Russia in Ukraine Conflict
Ugodan dan
Again- you ignored my links. Good to know.
Yes, there are Serbs that are siding with Russia; there are also Serbs that are siding with Ukrainians; and taking Ukrainian refugees in. As my link shows.
Also, please explain why Serbia has a pro Western government; and sided with the EU in the UN vote condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine? If they are such good Russian allies that is.
I am very well aware of the Bosnian Serb ongoing crisis. It is the same as the Kosovo Serb crisis- and is treated with same dismissal from the US and EU. Why would Serbs want to under control of either the Albanians or Bosnians?
I have Serb friends- only chat with them when online gaming. Funny who you can meet online gaming. Better still when the game doesn't allow you to hide what country you are from. I have known them since the Kosovo War. Neither can stand Russia for abandoning them to NATO's not so tender bombing mercies. Both actively support Ukraine. Both really wish they could tell the west and east to fuck off; but Serbia isn't strong enough to do that either militarily or economically.
You are assuming that Serbia will side with Russia despite all of the actions taken by Serbia. Maybe the only person that will be more surprised than you is Putin if he is relying on the Serbs to back him in reforming the USSR.
I did read your links and yet you avoid the wars that Serbia started with Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia and the genocide that they committed.
I have friends as well except that they are Croatian, Macedonian and Bosnian.