After being forced evacuate from Kiev, TVN24 reporter Wojciech Bojanowski had to flee again - from a bombarded city of Bila Tserkva. He has now found himself in Zhytomyr, which has also been heavily attacked by Russian forces. "The tension is very palpable, not only due to missile attacks, but also because of how the front is shifting," he said. The reporter also visited a local hospital, where he spoke with wounded Ukrainian soldiers.
Zhytomyr is located some 140 kilometres west of Kiev. The city was heavily shelled twice on Sunday. There were civilian casualties. Four people died. A local school was destroyed. TVN24 reporter Wojciech Bojanowski and his crew are in the city.
"This is the most heavily fortified city of all places I have visited so far. Anti-tank barricades can be seen in the streets, while most of the key cities building, crucial infrastructure, have been secured with sandbags," he said.
He also mentioned that Zhytomyr is "one of the key cities on the evacuation route for the wounded". "Yesterday evening we have reached a hospital to which the wounded are being taken, from Irpen, from Kiev area, among others," he added.
The reporter said the situation was very tense. "We had all our bags searched, the asked us to show what videos and photos we had stored on our phones. The tension is very much palpable, not only due to missile attacks, but also because of how the front is shifting," Wojciech Bojanowski reported.
Bojanowski also went to an intensive care ward at a local hospital. "There are dozens of people here across many wards. Stories they tell are horrifying," he said.
"This is not a war. War is when a soldiers shoots at another soldier. But a soldier at a child? Soldier at civilians? I'm a soldier. I agree, please go ahead, shoot at me. But spare the civilians, spare the children, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, grandmothers, and grandgathers. What do they have to with this? They haven't done anything wrong to anyone," said one of the wounded soldiers at the hospital.
Bojanowski concluded that "war from close-up" is "many tears and plenty of tragic stories".
Źródło: TVN24 News in English, TVN24
Źródło zdjęcia głównego: TVN24