One week later

Photo by Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

Ukraine under attack, one week later

In the days since Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his troops would invade Ukraine, Russian forces have attacked Ukraine by land, sea and air. Military and civilian casualties continue to climb. More than a million people in Ukraine have been forced to flee the war in the past seven days. And a global chorus has joined world leaders imploring Russia to stop the attacks.

As Moscow intensifies its crackdown on Ukraine, the PBS NewsHour has been covering the developments, with correspondent Nick Schifrin in Lviv, Ukraine, and special correspondent Ryan Chilcote in Moscow. Here are some of the highlights from our reporting:

How it began. For months, Russian forces amassed on Ukraine’s borders as the world watched. Russian state media launched disinformation campaigns in an attempt to paint Ukraine as the aggressor. On Feb. 24, the Russian invasion began.
The battle for Kyiv. The battle for the capital city of Kyiv began with Russian missiles and airstrikes hitting the city. Ukrainian officials said it was under a large-scale attack for the first time in 81 years, since it was targeted by Nazi Germany in 1941.
The fighting is on multiple fronts. Russia’s invasion continues in the central, southern and eastern reaches of Ukraine.
Global leaders say Putin must be held accountable. The secretary-general of NATO said the Russian president must “pay a high price.” U.S. President Joe Biden echoed the line in his first State of the Union address. Russia’s attacks, too, violate international law.

Days into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the United Nations Security Council held a March 4 emergency meeting in New York City. Photo by Carlo Allegri/Reuters

What led to this moment? Ukraine gained independence in 1991. From there, the former Soviet bloc nation has been dogged by scandal, economic mismanagement and Russian interference. This Council on Foreign Relations’ timeline covers 30 years of major events that preceded the invasion.
But why is Putin attacking Ukraine? Putin sees Ukraine as an existential threat to Russia, explains University of Michigan professor Ronald Suny in The Conversation. It could also get more brutal in the days ahead. While the early days of Russia’s invasion showed it was “off its timetables,” some experts say there are measures Moscow can still take to escalate the war. Already, Russian forces have turned to targeting civilian areas.
“The worst is yet to come.” A French official said those ominous words after President Emmanuel Macron had a 90-minute call with Putin.
The war is impacting ordinary Russians. Hundreds of Russians were arrested for demonstrating against the invasion of Ukraine. Unprecedented economic sanctions aimed at Russia’s economy are having an impact. How are Russians feeling?

Image by Megan McGrew/PBS NewsHour

A key takeaway from our latest poll: Eight out of 10 U.S. adults support the economic sanctions targeting Russia, transcending demographic categories and partisan politics. And a majority is willing to go a step further – 69 percent said they support the sanctions even if they result in higher energy prices at home.
The UK, like the U.S., has ruled out sending troops to fight in Ukraine, but is supplying weapons to Ukraine, along with other Western nations.
The cultural pushback to the war has been immense. Blue and yellow, the colors of the Ukrainian flag, have been a way for many to show solidarity.

The face of Ukrainian opposition. President Volodymyr Zelensky’s defiance in the face of Russia’s invasion has lifted his nation. Here’s a look at his rise from comedian to a wartime leader.

‘WE ARE SAFE AND HAPPY TO BE HERE’

Inna Kozub (R) and her 13-year-old daughter take a train to Lviv, Ukraine, after sheltering in a Kharkiv, Ukraine, subway station for several days. Photo courtesy of Inna Kozub

For several days, Inna Kozub sheltered in a subway station in Kharkiv, the second largest city in Ukraine, with her 13-year-old daughter, Masha. Her husband was hundreds of miles away in Kyiv.

They were so deep underground that Kozub said they could hardly hear the explosions and fighting that erupted across their besieged city. From time to time, she said, “I think I’m dreaming.”

On Tuesday, the central square of Kharkiv, along with other civilian sites, was shelled by multiple Russian rockets. The strikes killed at least 10 people and wounded 35, an official from the Ukrainian Interior Ministry said. Zelensky called the bombardment “frank, undisguised terror” and “a war crime” by Russian forces.

A man looks in a window of an evacuation train from a Kyiv, Ukraine, station on March 4. Photo by Gleb Garanich/Reuters

In a Feb. 28 interview with the NewsHour, Kozub said that Monday had been “the best day,” because there was a special delivery of cakes for the children in the subway. They’ve also been getting deliveries of food and water “two or three times a day,” she told producer Leah Nagy.

Whenever Kozub talks to her husband, which is as often as she can, he insists that he’s OK. But, “I understand that he’s been crying,” Kozub said.

Later in the week, Kozub and her daughter left Kharkiv. They spent 20 hours on a train to get to Lviv, more than 600 miles away. They plan on traveling to Germany soon.

For now, in Lviv, “we are safe and happy to be here,” she said.

More on the humanitarian crisis from our reporting:

Here’s how you can help people in Ukraine and the refugees fleeing the conflict.
According to an estimate from the United Nations’ refugee agency, 1.3 million people have fled Ukraine, seeking refuge from the conflict. They join more than 82 million people displaced from their homes globally. That amounts to more than 1 percent of the world’s population.
Africans in Ukraine, along with other people of color, have reported racist discrimination and hostility while trying to flee.
“It is very difficult to reach anyone.” Ukrainians in the U.S. despair as they watch the Russian invasion from afar.
Samantha Power, the U.S. Agency for International Development administrator, was at the Polish border Sunday. She spoke on how Europe and the world is responding to the dire situation.

THE RUSSIAN CRACKDOWN ON ANY FORM OF DISSENT

Under pressure for its reporting on the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, the radio station Ekho Moskvy, one of the remaining independent media outlets in Russia, was silenced by the Kremlin. The television channel TV Rain was also shut down by Russian authorities.

The Prosecutor General’s office accused both media outlets, the last of Russia’s free press, of spreading information that incited extremist activities and for deviating from the Kremlin’s official narrative about the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

Ekho has gone head-to-head with the Kremlin previously. What was different this time?

“Putin happened,” said Tatyana Felgenhauer, a talk show host who has worked at Ekho for 18 years.

“Vladimir Putin and the authorities, they just don’t want free media, professional media,” she said. “This voice of truth must be destroyed.”

This newsletter was produced by Joshua Barajas.