It’s 23 February 2022 and investigative journalist Anna Myroniuk is at home in Ukraine’s capital Kiev, watching history unfold. President Putin has taken to the airwaves, delivering an address that any Ukrainian would immediately recognise as a declaration of war.
For months there had been troop build-ups and a steady drum of warnings that Russia was about to invade. Then, only a couple of hours after Putin’s address, Anna awoke to the sounds of explosions outside her home.
In this – the last episode of the series – Nicola speaks to Anna about how she and her colleagues continued to report from inside Ukraine despite missile strikes, internet shutdowns and an aggressive Russian disinformation campaign. She describes the complexities of setting up the Kyiv Independent after she and 50 of her co-workers were fired from another paper and the ongoing challenges of getting impartial information out of the country.
Presented by Nicola Kelly
Producer: Kevin Caners
Listen to the other episodes in the series:
Syrian journalist Ali Al-Ibrahim
Nigerian journalist Philip Obaji Jr
Afghan journalist Sanjar Sohail
Vietnamese editor and journalist Quỳnh-Vi Trần
Brazilian investigative journalist Juliana Dal Piva
Iranian photojournalist Yalda Moaiery
Georgia’s protests and the battle for democracy
Hiba Morgan, the last international correspondent in Khartoum