The war in Ukraine has been going for almost a year an a half, since Russian troops escalated their invasion in February 2022. Charlie Sennott, founder and editor in chief of the Groundtruth Project, just returned from Kyiv and joined GBH's Morning Edition co-host Paris Alston to discuss his experience. This transcript has been lightly edited.
Paris Alston: First of all, Charlie, what took you to Kyiv?
Charlie Sennott: So I was there to attend two conferences. The first one was actually in Ukraine. It was in the city of Bucha, which all of us remember as a city that was just ravaged in the very earliest stages of the war. Many experts would say the opening chapter of an indictment on war crimes will be set in Bucha. That was where the bodies were left in the streets, many with their hands tied behind their backs. They had been killed. They had been mutilated. There were allegations of systematic rape and torture. And really, really the worst stuff that we saw right away that would come in even more depth and with even more ferocity later in the war. But this was this was that first scene.
So really, I cannot tell you what it was like to go to Bucha for the first annual, as they put it, Bucha Journalism Conference, where they brought together a lot of the journalists who cover the war for the Western media. So The New York Times was there and The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, the BBC. But also, and really importantly, it was many of the top Ukrainian journalists who were able to take a moment and pull back to Bucha. And there were 200 local reporters from Ukraine there. And it was really quite a unique gathering, a powerful gathering, a gathering, sort of, of solidarity around the role that journalism will play in actually putting forward the evidence that will be required for a war crimes tribunal or some form of bringing Putin and Russia to account for what they've done in Bucha. If we have time, the scenes there are just amazing, because it's rebuilding and it's coming back.
Alston: That sounds really profound, Charlie. And I want to talk more about the role of local journalism there. But as you were leaving, Russia launched its largest drone attack since the beginning of the war on Kyiv, just as the city was preparing to mark Kyiv Day, which celebrates the founding of the city more than 1,500 years ago. What's the mood there?
Sennott: The mood is exhausted, and the mood is a sense that this is a fateful hour. There have been large-scale missile attacks, but never until yesterday had there been so many in Kyiv. And that was what made yesterday unique. We've had 40 missile attacks on Ukraine in a single day before, but this was 50 in Kyiv. And so it was really Putin raining chaos and fear down upon the city of Kyiv.
And the stunning reality of being there is, you know, the first thing you hear at about three in the morning are air raid sirens going off, which are quickly followed by this sort of thud of the Patriot missiles going out from their positions in and around Kyiv to protect the city. And it's hard for us to know for sure, it's hard to get a lot of ground truth on whether or not those missiles are coming through. But from what the military is saying, 49 out of 50 were knocked out of the sky by the Patriot missile system. And it has been around for a long time.
We remember this missile system from the first Gulf War, when it needed improvements. And now I have to say, being there in Kyiv and seeing how effective it is, it's an amazing protective system that is guarding the city. And it appeared to be working yesterday after the sort of pre-dawn hours of typically when the air strikes came in, there were then about a dozen more missile attacks that came in, and drone attacks that came in to Kyiv. And so this was really one of the the absolute worst days.
And I thought so much of my colleagues from Ukrainska Pravda, which is one of the leading newspapers in Ukraine, and many others who were leaving that conference and would have been returning yesterday, and what they came home to and what they have to look forward to as the country braces for the counteroffensive, which will, you know, presumably be underway any moment, if not already underway. And my guess is the latter. I think it's already underway in different ways. The whole country feels just like it's bracing for what is the fateful hour in this conflict. Ukraine and the Ukrainian forces are prepared. They're ready to go. They have an arsenal and they have a plan. And the moment is now. And the next weeks, months will be critical.
Alston: We should mention that NPR has been reporting this morning that Russia may have been trying to weaken that counteroffensive even before it began.
Sennott: And to be more precise, what I think and I've heard they're doing — and it made sense to me — is they're trying to keep those Patriot missiles in Kyiv so that they don't try to move them forward to protect ground forces that will be staging the operation for the counteroffensive. They want them to stay pulled back into Kyiv. The Russians want to keep them in Kyiv, that is. They want to keep those missile systems, those defensive systems, pinned down in Kyiv so they can't be deployed for in a forward way for Ukraine. That makes sense to me.
And the surreal thing, Paris, about being in Kyiv in the days that I was there and what I've heard from people overnight is: These missiles come in, they're taken out by the Patriot, and life goes back to normal. And that's in huge air quotes, 'normal.' But you can actually feel that Kyiv is trying very hard to maintain that resiliency, to reflect who it is as a country. And the day they chose to attack yesterday is actually called Kyiv Day. And it celebrates the foundation of the city more than 1,500 years ago. And it's just a profound expression of how ancient the city is, how meaningful it is. And the way it defines that part of the world. Its history is storied and important, and the culture is beautiful and strong. And the people of Ukraine, you can feel it on the ground, are so united in defense of their country.
Alston: And really quickly, Charlie, because we're running out of time here. But I do want to hear just in the last maybe 15 seconds we have here, what is the role that local journalism is playing in spite of everything going on?
Sennott: Thanks for asking. Local journalism in Ukraine is critical. I mean, imagine if we were at war, we'd need those reports from the Midwest. We'd need those reports from the Mississippi Delta or wherever the attacks might be happening, that we don't have eyes on the ground as a people or as larger news organizations. So they play a very critical role for the local communities, to say what's happening and where things are headed and what services are available and where you need to go and what roads are dangerous, etc.
But it's important in another way, which is the local journalism becomes the way in which this country will pull itself back together, I think. And I think really having accountability reporting going forward for Ukraine as all of that money for reconstruction comes in — this is hundreds of billions of dollars, much needed. But local journalism will play an incredibly important role as eyes on the ground, making sure that money is spent the way it was intended to be spent. Corruption is an issue in Ukraine. It always has been. And I think the journalists are incredible at holding those government officials accountable. And I think this gathering was a sort of gathering of strength for journalism to say we have a role to play here on the front lines covering the war, but also in representing local communities. Report for The World, our organization, we partner with Ukrainska Pravda. We're really proud to do it. And it's important work they're doing, of course, but the local angles are as important as the big national reporting.
