24.02: The Invasion Reconstructed

"Kyiv will stand as long as Chernihiv stands. As long as Kyiv stands, Ukraine keeps fighting." This quote from Taras Chmut, founder of the Come Back Alive Foundation, captures the essence of the predicament of the Ukrainian defence forces in Chernihiv on the morning of 24 February 2022. Convoys of Russian military vehicles and hardware, stretching out over dozens of kilometres, are easy to spot on satellite images of Russian territory just the other side of the Ukrainian border on the eve of Russia’s full-scale invasion. On the morning of 24th of February, all of that hardware was unleashed on Ukraine, where it was met by the 1st Tank Brigade, all on its own bar several smaller units. But somehow the Ukrainian forces were able to engage – and indeed stop – the Russian army. The Kharkiv defence forces undertook a similarly miraculous effort to stop the Russian invasion on the eastern stretch of the northern front. Ukrainska Pravda presents part two of the final episode of our series 24 February 2022 Reconstructed, which tells the story of day one of Russia’s full-scale invasion.

This is the first part of the final episode of Ukrainska Pravda’s podcast 24 February Reconstructed, in which Ukrainska Pravda tried to recreate the military events of the first day of Russia's full-scale invasion: how the fronts emerged and moved, who heroically stopped the Russians’ advance and how they did so, how Ukrainian cities and the country as a whole recovered from the first shock and prepared for defence. Authors: Roman Romaniuk and Fedir Popadiuk Narrator: Ben McBride Producer: Alina Poliakova Co-producer and AI-editor: Dmytro Volkovynskyi Soundproducers: Yevhenii Klimuk and Oleh Labynskyi Assistant: Anna Khivrenko Translators: Myroslava Zavadska, Yelyzaveta Khodatska, Tetiana Buchkovska, Artem Yakymyshyn and Olya Loza Editors: Monica Sandor and Ben McBride

The image of the guarded presidential post where the top officials of the Cabinet of Ministers, the President's Office and the Verkhovna Rada gathered on 24 February 2022 reflected the nature of the entire resistance to the aggressor: sometimes poorly organised, but really deep. Ukrainska Pravda continues its podcast series 24.02: RECONSTRUCTION and brings its readers the next fascinating episode about life in the presidential bunker in the early days of the full-scale invasion.  Ukrainska Pravda spoke to several top officials who either lived in Facility No. 1 or visited it from time to time. Unfortunately, it was not possible to talk to the president himself. The head of his office was also unable to find time to talk to us, despite numerous requests from Ukrainska Pravda. Authors: Roman Romaniuk and Fedir Popadiuk Narrator: Ben McBride Producer: Alina Poliakova Co-producer and AI-editor: Dmytro Volkovynskyi Soundproducers: Yevhenii Klimuk and Oleh Labynskyi Assistant: Anna Khivrenko Translators: Yelyzaveta Khodatska, Myroslava Zavadska and Tetiana Buchkovska Editors: Susan McDonald and Ben McBride

While the military was preparing everything necessary to repel Russian attacks from several directions simultaneously, the state apparatus was involved in making decisions on the security of the country's top officials and wartime legislative decisions. One of the most important thing to be decided at the moment was the introduction of martial law in Ukraine and the announcement of mobilisation. In order for Zelenskyy's decree to be put into effect, it had to be approved by members of parliament, who were gathering for an extraordinary session. Ukrainska Pravda publishes the second episode of the podcast "24.02: The Invasion Reconstructed". In this episode, some of the people who were most directly involved in these events recall how the Ukrainian government in Kyiv tried to maintain control of the country, how the first wartime session of the Verkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian parliament) took place, why the government left and where they went, and why the speaker of the parliament and the president spent a month avoiding each other. Credits: Authors: Roman Romaniuk and Fedir Popadiuk Narrator: Ben McBride Producer: Alina Poliakova Co-producer and AI-editor: Dmytro Volkovynskyi Soundproducers: Yevhenii Klimuk and Oleh Labynskyi Assistant: Anna Khivrenko Translators: Yelyzaveta Khodatska, Elina Beketova and Olya Loza Editor: Susan McDonald

23 February 2022 seemed to drag on forever. It seemed like it couldn't get any worse. All sorts of intelligence agencies had spent the last few weeks trying to give President Volodymyr Zelenskyy the date when the full-scale Russian invasion would "definitely" begin. These dates rolled by – 16, 19, 22 February – without anything happening. The night of 23-24 February was said to be the next possible date for the invasion’s start. But would it materialise? And if it did, what would it look like? What forces would be deployed? Would the Russians advance openly or continue the proxy attacks under the flags of puppet regimes in occupied eastern Ukraine of the past eight years? Ukrainska Pravda publishes the first episode of the podcast "24.02: The Invasion Reconstructed", which tells about Russia's preparations for a full-scale invasion, Ukraine's preparations to repel it, and what happened between 00:00 and 05:00 on that day. Credits: Authors: Roman Romaniuk and Fedir Popadiuk Narrator: Ben McBride Producer: Alina Poliakova Co-producer and AI-editor: Dmytro Volkovynskyi Sound producers: Yevhenii Klimuk and Oleh Labynskyi Assistant: Anna Khivrenko Translators: Yelyzaveta Khodatska, Elina Beketova and Olya Loza  Editor: Susan McDonald