Annual Report 2022

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"We sent more than 80 missions to Ukraine, with a total of 70 people

on the ground since the end of February, split three ways across the

disciplines (text, photo, video), with sometimes as many as nine

people deployed at once."

"Is Vladimir Putin going to go for it?"

In the weeks leading up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, this

question was on everyone’s mind. In early December 2021,

as tensions soared, Washington claimed to have “proof”

that Moscow was preparing an attack against Kyiv. For his

part, Putin continued to demand “concrete agreements”

from the United States and its allies to prevent NATO expan-

ding to the East

We started to get ready Every day war looked more likely

So we started to flesh out a plan to cover it We had internal

meetings and consulted other major media organisations

Our first concern was the safety of our journalists living and

working in Ukraine Would they want to leave if war broke

out How many special correspondents would we need to

deploy What protective kit would we need in the field

We sent a team to Kyiv to ask the bureau these questions

One third of the team said they would want to leave We

rented flats in Lviv so that some of our colleagues could set

up there with their families Others left for Warsaw Brussels

or Prague We offered financial help to find housing Other

colleagues on the ground offered free accommodation as

a favour At this point we estimated that we needed to

double our staff in Ukraine If war broke out we would need

to double our staff again

We also needed to make sure that satellite transmissions

continued to function in the event of a power cut. One mon-

th out from the invasion, the tension rose still further. The

West threatened Moscow with “serious” consequences.

Washington placed 8,500 troops on combat-ready alert and

withdrew diplomatic families from Kyiv. Europe’s stock ex-

changes were in freefall and the NASDAQ fell four percent

on Wall Street.

February 24 war erupts

In the middle of the night at 348 0248 GMT Putin took

everyone by surprise with an appearance on Russian TV He

announced a special military operation in Ukraine while

denouncing what he called a genocide orchestrated by

Kyiv in the east of the country

Londonbased photographer Daniel Leal went to sleep

fully clothed his camera bag by his side He even kept his

contact lenses on One of his colleagues had told him that

night would be the one He was right

While this was going on Europe was sleeping An angry Joe

Biden in Washington declared that the World would hold

Russia to account

Dmytro Gorshkov who had been working in AFPs Kyiv bu

reau since 2013 was still finding it hard to believe Every

body thought it could be averted he said The reporter had

just spent a perfectly normal evening with his wife and their

KARIM TALBI

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF FOR EUROPE

WAR IN UKRAINE

REPORT

MARIE-LAURE MESSANA

PHOTO EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

FOR EUROPE

URGENT: Russia's Putin announces 'military operation' in

Ukraine

Moscow, Russia | AFP | Thursday 2/24/2022 - 04:02 UTC+1 | 44 words

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Thursday a military operation in Ukraine to defend separatists in the east of the country.

"I have made the decision of a military operation," he said in a surprise statement on television shortly before 6 am (0300 GMT).

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bu/je

,,,.-

QUENTIN LEBOUCHER

VIDEO EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

FOR EUROPE

CHRIS OTTON

DEPUTY EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

FOR EUROPE

ALERT: Putin makes surprise speech on Russian TV about

Ukraine

Moscow, Russia | AFP | Thursday 2/24/2022 - 03:50 UTC+1 | 10 words

Putin makes surprise speech on Russian TV about Ukraine

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