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Eight years in the past, Olga Yurkova and her colleagues based StopFake, a fact-checking group based mostly in Kyiv, Ukraine. Since then, they’ve confronted the Russian propaganda machine head on. StopFake continues to publish regardless of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
A journalist for 18 years, Yurkova was named to the Monetary Occasions’ “New Europe 100” checklist in 2016 in recognition of her combat in opposition to propaganda. She was named a TED Fellow in 2018; greater than one million folks have watched her TED discuss.
That is her account of the primary week of the conflict and her determination to go away Ukraine’s capital metropolis.
Feb. 24: ‘No feelings however anger and chilly, fierce rage’
7:48 a.m.: A cellphone name from my sister wakes me up. I’m aggravated. I do not like calls — particularly early calls. However what I hear makes me leap. My 12-year-old nephew, Vova, obtained a cellphone name from a buddy who’s finding out at a cadet college in Tulchin, in central Ukraine.
At 6 a.m., the varsity was attacked by missiles. The cadets have been evacuated.
That phrase, “missile assault,” paralyzes me. Rapidly, I’m going on-line: Russia has invaded Ukraine. Rocket strikes are reported in various cities, together with the capital, Kyiv, the place I reside. Russian troops are advancing from the north, the east and the south.
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For the following hour, my thoughts refuses to just accept this actuality. I robotically scroll by way of messages on my cellphone, learn Fb, write to kin. Neighbors write that the explosions have woke up them. Somebody tells me to fill the tub and different containers with water in case service traces are lower.
I’ve no different feelings however anger and chilly, fierce rage. Why did our neighbors enter our peaceable, calm, pleasant nation with their soiled soldier’s boots? Who determined they’ve the appropriate to take action?
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10 a.m.: I cancel all my conferences, together with one devoted to a world challenge to enhance Ukraine’s strategic communication. One other assembly was to be with an American professor a few scientific paper I’m writing on propaganda.
She texts me: “Putin has actually misplaced his thoughts. And the propaganda is simply ridiculous — do they actually suppose anybody will consider that anymore?” We each know it’s ridiculous, however a current ballot reveals that 68% of Russians assist Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
11 a.m.: I drive myself to get away from bed. I do my workout routines, wash my hair, cook dinner an omelette. However I don’t drink my regular morning espresso — I do not want it this morning. I fill the tub and name a buddy who lives in Irpin, a suburb of Kyiv. Within the final anxious days, we regularly discuss like this — it helps to alleviate the stress.
12 p.m.: Whereas a part of our workforce works to make sure the security of the StopFake workers, I monitor disinformation and put articles on our web site together with my colleagues. There are quite a lot of pretend tales.
The primary themes are surprisingly related to those who unfold in 2014, when StopFake was based after Russia attacked jap Ukraine: The Ukrainian military could be very weak, the tales go, navy items are surrendering, leaving their positions or going over to the aspect of Russian puppet pseudo-republics, the so-called Donetsk Individuals’s Republic and the Luhansk Individuals’s Republic.
Russia’s propaganda media additionally report that varied cities of Ukraine have come beneath the management of the invaders. Their “proof?” Outdated or photoshopped photographs with Russian flags on administrative buildings. One of many pretend tales experiences that the headquarters of the Joint Forces Operation of Ukraine has been destroyed.
All this disinformation clearly goals to demoralize the Ukrainian military and the folks. Our reality checkers work continuous.
An enormous variety of these fakes are unfold anonymously on Telegram, an immediate message app based by two billionaire Russian brothers that has grow to be very fashionable in Ukraine. It is one of many principal data weapons the Russians are utilizing inside our nation.
The Russian message is just not spreading broadly over tv, which stays a principal data supply for 67% of Ukrainians. That is as a result of a 12 months in the past, the Ukrainian authorities blocked three TV channels distributing Russian narratives, which have been linked to Ukrainian oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk. Vladimir Putin is the godfather of Medvedchuk’s daughter.
Simply three weeks in the past, the final main pro-Russian TV channel, Nash, owned by Yevgeny Murayev, additionally was blocked.
1 p.m.: A journalist from Bosnia writes, asking for a remark:
“Did you hear the siren? Are you scared?”
I reply: “I am not scared, however disoriented and do not know what to do. I did not hear the siren.”
I do not wish to discuss my worry. I do not actually really feel any worry — not but. However the journalists who contact me that day are enthusiastic about my worry.
2 p.m.: International associates specific their assist and ask what they’ll do to assist. I inform them easy methods to contribute to the Ukrainian military. I barely have time to place coronary heart emoji’s on all of the messages which might be flowing in. Everyone seems to be asking if I am protected. I do not know, I reply. It appears that evidently, for now, the Russians simply wish to scare us in order that we comply with peace talks on Putin’s phrases. We is not going to agree.
4 p.m.: Since I do business from home, I attempt to stroll a number of kilometers every single day. As we speak, I’ve deliberate a visit to the grocery store for meals. I ran out of meat and had deliberate to purchase it within the morning. I solely keep in mind this now. However once I get to the grocery store, there isn’t any meat, solely unappetizing rooster hearts and a bit fish. I purchase herring and a bunch of bananas.
5 p.m.: I plunge into work however am consistently distracted by each the incessant information and the incessant messages. One buddy asks: Is it true that the Russians have seized Boryspil airport (in Kyiv)? I reply that I’ve not heard this. She forwards messages from an nameless Telegram channel, and I’ve to elucidate to her that such channels are primarily run by Russia. I ask her to ship me hyperlinks to them for evaluation.
It’s extremely exhausting to focus. On a regular basis, there’s details about the battles for the navy airport in Gostomel close to Kyiv. Our military has already crushed again a number of navy landings of the enemy, however the Russians are sending in an increasing number of troops.
I examine an alarming scenario in Mykolaiv and Kherson, the place Russian troops enter from the Crimea, and Chernigiv and Sumy, within the northern a part of the nation, the place they entered from Belarus. In all these cities, fierce battles are happening. The Ukrainian military is holding its personal and pushing again the invaders however the Russians seize the crippled Chernobyl nuclear energy plant. That is an gigantic risk, in fact, and never just for Ukraine.
8 p.m.: I write to Taisa, a buddy in Irpin, who’s sheltering in an underground parking storage together with her cat, Patrick, a blue Scottish Straight. Gostomel is just not far-off, so she hears repeated explosions. On the shelter, she and others are suggested to shut their eyes and open their mouths after they hear an explosion. I ask if she desires to attempt to get to Vinnytsia tomorrow, the place our mother and father reside. She loves this plan. I focus on the concept with one other colleague, Maryna, and all of us agree to speak within the morning.
9 p.m.: As soon as once more, I keep in mind that I didn’t eat something after breakfast. However I can not take my thoughts off the information. It appears to me that if I do something however watch, I’ll miss one thing necessary. So I watch the Ukrainian TV station Espreso over YouTube as I cook dinner herring tartare. Working with my fingers helps to make me really feel extra grounded and calmer.
Quickly, the professional being interviewed is interrupted by a speech by President Joe Biden, who broadcasts “unprecedented sanctions.” However the commenters on YouTube are disenchanted by the president’s announcement. Sanctions may work however not instantly.
When the tartare is prepared, it takes me a really very long time to eat because the messages proceed to pour in and I attempt to reply them.
Lastly, the messages wane and other people start to fall asleep. Everybody, that’s, aside from these on the nameless Telegram channels, the place another actuality is being formed.
Russian channels describe the “atrocities” of Ukraine’s non-existent Nazis. The channels that masquerade as Ukrainian “clarify” that the Ukrainian navy is surrendering en masse, Russia is successful, President Volodymyr Zelensky is allegedly calling for give up, and so forth.
None of it’s true.
I screenshot the messages to doc them. Maybe sooner or later, they are going to be helpful as proof of the data facet of Russia’s conflict crimes.
10:30 p.m.: A buddy within the navy calls and asks to go away Kyiv inside seven hours. However since we’re beneath a curfew, that is not possible. Lastly, for the primary time, worry units in.
11 p.m.: On chats and in social media, information spreads that at 3 a.m., the Russians will assault. However nobody shoots at 3 a.m. It is not till 4 a.m. that the explosions start as Kyiv is bombed and enemy saboteurs are detained not removed from the place I reside.
Feb. 25: Panic at a prepare station
4 a.m.: I lastly cease looking Telegram channels. The disinformation may be sorted into considered one of a number of classes: messages that incite worry, reminiscent of calls to show off electrical gear as a result of there will probably be energy outages, or “information” that the Russians have already invaded some Ukrainian cities, which isn’t the case.
Then there are the pipe dream rumors such because the supposedly insider data that Russian troops will solely bomb navy targets, so there’s nothing to worry. Or the wedge-driving rumors just like the pretend calls by Ukrainian troopers to their comrades, imploring them to not die “for President Zelensky and his household.”
4:30 a.m.: A psychologist buddy conducts a half-hour livestream on easy methods to settle down. He advises respiration, grounding and figuring out what we are able to management and what we can’t. I lastly begin packing my “go bag.” A lot of my associates did this months in the past, when Russia started to station extra troops on our borders.
I put paperwork, money, some garments, a laptop computer and chargers within the bag. I run the dishwasher and clear the house. I can’t discover my passport for an hour. Due to the pandemic, I haven’t traveled overseas for a very long time. However lastly, I discover it, hoping very a lot that I will not want it.
5:30 a.m.: I’m going to mattress, pushing a lounge chair into the hall, the place there are not any home windows. I really feel assured that the load-bearing partitions right here will shield in opposition to a blast wave. By this time, a downed enemy missile falls on Poznyaky, a Kyiv neighborhood not removed from Boryspil airport.
7 a.m.: I awake to a name from Maryna, who’s going to the prepare station. I write to Taisa, however she will be able to’t come as a result of the bridge to Kyiv was blown up over evening to cease the enemy. Ultimately, she finds a neighbor who travels within the course of Vinnytsya in a roundabout approach. He takes her and Patrick, the cat.
11 a.m.: Maryna, shocked by the variety of folks on the station, decides to go by automobile with a household of displaced individuals from occupied Donetsk; they go away the town in three vehicles with their cats and canine.
11:30 a.m.: I can not name a taxi for an hour, and most public transport is out of service. However the subway remains to be working so I determine to stroll the 5 kilometers to the station. I’ve breakfast, water the flowers as a lot as I can, wash the dishes and take out the trash. I do not trouble to push the lounge chair again into the room.
12 p.m.: I go away the home with two baggage, a backpack and a mat nevertheless it’s a tough stroll so after a kilometer or so, I determine to flag down a automobile. I skip those that look too new. We have now been warned that sabotage autos, which put marks on the roads to information the Russian navy, may seem like that.
I cease a modest blue Opel with an aged couple inside. The lady needed to go away the hospital forward of schedule. All of the sufferers had spent that evening in a shelter. “It is good that there have been docs and every thing you want close by,” the girl says. “One outdated man had surgical procedure proper within the basement.”
From the window, we are able to see kilometer-long traces at ATMs and supermarkets.
They take me to the Beresteyska metro station, three stops from the railway station, however troopers meet me and say that the subway is closed. The closest working station is Shulyavska, 2.5 kilometers away. I stroll quick. On the best way, I meet lots of our troopers and gear. To me, this can be a stunning sight. They’re so well mannered and well-coordinated. The extra I see them, the calmer I really feel.
There can be fierce combating on this space the very subsequent evening.
1 p.m.: The subway has been serving as a bomb shelter. There are households with kids and their cats and canine. Regardless of the hardship, folks appear calm. Many sit on unfolded blankets. As I cross them, I can really feel tears welling up in my eyes however I haven’t got the capability to cry.
1:19 p.m.: I am on the prepare station, filled with folks. Free evacuation trains are introduced, which had not been on the schedule. The primary such prepare is to Lviv, in western Ukraine. I wish to ask if it’s going to Vinnytsya, my house city, however it isn’t doable to strategy any of the prepare officers. The group is dense, and individuals are screaming, and pushing in shut. There are lots of girls, kids and international college students. There’s such panic on the automobile closest to the doorway to the station {that a} policeman shoots his gun into the air to get the group’s consideration. I go away with out even attempting to strategy the automobile.
1:45 p.m.: A daily prepare, which I often use to journey to Vinnytsya, seems on the digital board. After I arrive, boarding is already in progress. We aren’t requested for tickets.
All of the seats within the compartment are occupied. I ask somebody to let me into one of many high berths; there are already six folks sitting on the decrease ones. A younger couple joins me, and ultimately 14 folks journey in a single small compartment. The hallway can be full of individuals and their belongings. An aged lady crosses herself earlier than departure.
One of many males tells folks that our military is shedding, and makes use of a tone that sounds acquainted to me. Lastly, I can not stand it any longer and ask him the place he’s getting his data? The reply does not shock me — it comes from an nameless Telegram channel. I clarify that the objective of those channels is to sow panic. One other younger man helps me, however my opponent is certain that he is aware of the reality.
Aged folks simply sit silently and hear. I am hoping to reassure them.
7 p.m.: I attain house in Vinnytsya and a cheerful reunion with my mother and father and household. Due to an air raid alert, the prepare was delayed nevertheless it nonetheless arrives solely an hour late.
11:30 p.m.: Maryna lastly arrives. What is often a four-hour drive to Vinnytsya has taken 12. She stays at my place for the evening and makes plans to go away for Slovakia tomorrow.
Feb. 26: Little or no meals and a worry of saboteurs
I fall asleep at 1 a.m. For the primary time in three days, I sleep not two hours, however seven. It has appeared like one unending day.
However all day, I discover it exhausting to do something. International journalists write to me, however due to the stress of all that has occurred, I can’t keep in mind English phrases and have a tough time replying. It is not possible to focus.
This afternoon, my sister, Olena, and I’m going buying. The butcher outlets are closed, and there’s nothing within the grocery store besides croissants and the most costly canned seafood. Once we ask when the meals will arrive, the clerk says Russian saboteurs try to grab vans carrying items from Kyiv.
On the streets, we hear air raid sirens on a regular basis. We go to a bomb shelter. This one is in a taking pictures gallery within the basement of a neighborhood college. A lot of households reside right here now.
Feb. 27: ‘It is all of your authorities’ fault’
With our colleagues, we work exhausting to refute the pretend Russian propaganda. New narratives are rising — together with this whopper: Ukrainians have staged a video of the devastation attributable to the Russian assaults.
As if anybody would consider that we’re bombing ourselves.
As if we’re those who’ve virtually worn out the gorgeous inexperienced enclaves of Irpin and Bucha close to Kyiv.
My mom calls my aunt in Russia. She warns her to withdraw cash from her accounts as a result of it might be frozen by the sanctions. She tells her that we’re being bombed.
My aunt replies: “Be affected person, you may be launched quickly, it is all of your authorities’ fault.”
Outraged, my mother hangs up.
We watch from a window as a police automobile drives up. We be taught that residents had observed a stranger and mistook him for a saboteur. It turned out, although, that he had been renting an house right here for 2 years.
Amid all of the chaos and uncertainty in neighborhoods like ours, the Ukrainian military continues to combat selflessly and defend us.
Feb. 28: Mother by no means thought the Russians would do that
At breakfast, my mom says that she want to make Molotov cocktails to assist the Ukrainian military. It is higher than simply being afraid and ready, she says. Mother is Russian by nationality, has spoken Russian all her life and by no means thought, proper to the final, that Russia would assault Ukraine. I am crying as she speaks, in ache due to the injustice.
Later, I’m going to a grocer. Lastly, meat and fish has proven up within the meat circumstances, and I handle to withdraw some cash from an ATM. Within the queue, the lads are speaking about going to the draft board tomorrow.
March 1: ‘It snowed, so we may have water’
My mom and I’m going to a college, now briefly closed, which has been transformed right into a reception middle for humanitarian help. We be taught that the wounded being delivered to Vinnytsya from Mykolaiv want mattress linens, mattresses and heat garments.
In the meantime, yet one more recent narrative is rising in Russian propaganda: Ukrainian refugees misbehave overseas, they’re writing. We noticed the identical tales circulating in 2014. Then, about 1 million folks from the occupied territories moved to the government-controlled territory of Ukraine.
A buddy, Natalya, writes to me from the town of Dymer, close to Kyiv, which is surrounded by the invaders. She is a lecturer on the Institute of Worldwide Relations, the place I additionally as soon as lectured. There is no such thing as a electrical energy, no water, no meals within the metropolis. I attempt to contact the volunteers, however they are saying there isn’t any entry to Dymer.
The subsequent day, Natalya writes to let me know: “It snowed, so we may have water.”
A day later, I write to Natalya. She doesn’t reply.
March 2: ‘The reality has grow to be clear to the world’
Kharkiv is bombed. Town of 1.5 million is closely broken; a photograph of the burning college was circulated around the globe. A prepare of people that have been evacuated, together with many kids, are transported to Vinnytsya.
International journalists nonetheless write and name — from Belgium, Italy, Brazil, america. Each time, I would like time to focus to reply them however focus stays very exhausting.
11:30 p.m.: To get my thoughts off the horrible information swirling round me, I take a look at a few of my Fb recollections and am reminded that StopFake turns 8 immediately. We have now been telling Ukraine and the world concerning the true face of Russia for eight years. Some folks listened; some did not.
However now, the reality has grow to be clear to the world.
Each minute in Ukraine, individuals are dying. Every single day, Russian pilots are bombing civilians. Each hour, we grow to be much less protected in our personal nation.
At one time, Ukraine gave up nuclear weapons in alternate for safety. Now we’ve got no weapons and no ensures. It’s an phantasm to suppose that solely Ukraine is at risk. Except swift and harsh punishment follows for breaking the principles, Russia will break them repeatedly. It has executed so many occasions: in Chechnya, in Transnistria, in Georgia, in Crimea and the Donbas.
We’re grateful to our worldwide companions for navy assist and humanitarian help, nevertheless it’s not sufficient. Civilians proceed to die in Ukraine. In a number of cities, the invaders are holding 1000’s of individuals hostage with out meals or water. Our military is combating effectively, however from the primary day we’ve got requested NATO to shut the sky above us from enemy air raids. If a missile hits a nuclear energy plant, horrible penalties await all of Europe.
Unprecedented conflict crimes require an unprecedented response. We’re ready with hope. Russia’s conflict crimes should finish right here — and we should proceed to withstand.
Tomorrow, my mom and I’ll carry heat kids’s garments to the volunteer headquarters for refugees from Kharkiv. My house is right here now. My obligation is right here, too. I will keep so long as it’s doable however my baggage are packed.
This text initially appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Ukrainian journalist Olga Yurkova recounts her escape from Kyiv
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