Thread by @timkmak

Good morning from Ukraine. It’s the first day of Spring.

One Ukrainian told me in response to possible food shortages, “It will be spring.. We will grow something”

That’s the dry determination we have witnessed from many residents over the last few days across this country

Kyiv remains in Ukrainian hands, defying initial predictions. Major Russian military and logistical blunders have helped

Across Kyiv, billboards are going up in Russian. One reads: “Russian soldier, stop! How can you look your children in the eyes? Leave! Stay human!”

Another billboard in Kyiv reads, in Russian:

"Russian soldier, stop! Do not kill your soul for the sake of the oligarchs and Putin. Leave without blood on your hands"

(Photos by Kate Ianiuk, a resident of the city)

But satellite imagery from Maxar shows that despite Ukrainians holding Kyiv, a miles-long column of tanks/artillery/logistics vehicles approaching..

..Giving you a sense of the peril that residents of that city will face over the coming days if that full power is brought to bear

The capital city remains under also through "hundreds" of saboteurs have been sent to undermine defense there.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky says they are working to "neutralize" these saboteurs.

The very presence of saboteurs has added to an already v tense atmosphere

But is Kyiv 'encircled' with no hope of civilian evacuation?

No, we are hearing of people of people leaving the city every day. I just spoke to two who have just arrived. It is a frightening ordeal -- but very doable.

The train is more viable/smooth than car b/c no checkpoints

In Kharkiv, less than 30 miles from the Russian border, some very violent images of bombardment are emerging.

NPR geo-located one video, finding that this was a residential area, filled with a shopping mall, a bank, and a sushi/wine shop.

Olha Shutilova, a resident of Kharkiv, told us this: "Dead and injured are lying in the streets... fragments of bombs and shells are found in playgrounds and country yards where thousands of civilians sleep."

Kharkiv’s mayor says that dozens of civilians have been injured. Nine deaths, four killed when as they left a bomb shelter to get water

Here’s a video of a rocket hitting a govt building. An advisor to internal affairs ministry said it was meant to kill the governor

In Mariupol, a port city in the far southeast of Ukraine there are widespread power outages, and heating plants are damaged as Russian strikes increase.

The U.N. refugee agency now estimates that more than half a million people have left Ukraine… many more are struggling to find their way out.

The logistics of leaving -- especially by car, where days of waiting at the border is the only way out, have been daunting.

I went to the train station in Lviv, which has become a hub for refugees seeking to push further west into Poland

Here you see the train station, and refugees gathered in the cold

I spoke To Pavlo Titko, a humanitarian group leader here in Lviv, who is feeding refugees on the ground here

He is worrying about basics like flour and thinks people in western Ukraine will face serious food shortages in the next 3-4 days

Indian & African citizens have found it especially difficult to evacuate, and have faced racism

I spoke to Clement Akenboro, a 27yo Nigerian living in Kyiv. He was traveling alone and said he was dragged off a train he had boarded/had a ticket for. He said he was nearly in tears

What was difficult to understand, Akenboro said, was that he had a ticket and was ALREADY sitting on the train when local authorities came and said "all of black guys off the train."

He said they wanted only Ukrainian men, women and children on board the train to Poland.

Very similar situation for Indians who are stuck in Lviv, who say they have been denied boarding trains all over Ukraine...

These civilians have been forced to make last-second arrangements for shelter, with an uncertain future about how to get out of this country at war

Air raid siren ‘all clear’ where we are in Ukraine includes a long rambling introduction by the head of the local civil defense, who explains who he is and the need to be prepared, until (while sirens are still blaring) he finally gets to the point which is that it is all clear

“Dear citizens!”
**alarm rings**
“I am XXXX the civil defense administrator of the XXXX oblast!”
**alarm rings**
“Be prepared for air strikes! Keep your medical gear prepared!”
**alarm rings**
//long speech here//
**alarm rings**

Then finally an all clear is announced

Talked to the spokesperson for one of the largest supermarkets in Ukraine: "there is a problem with baby food, because its usually an import."

Imported food will be a problem, he said.

But stores of canned goods/buckwheat/staples like that are good.

Possible food crisis in Ukraine not just due to roads, which are clogged; but also a shortage of hands: they lack the loaders/drivers/staff to keep grocery stores at normal capacities.

Staple goods are still available in Ukraine. It's getting to customers that is the challenge

I've been asking people what they would say to Putin and the Russian military.

The spokesperson for the grocery store chain said:

"Our soldiers from Snake Island have already said everything."

A Ukrainian from Kyiv relays: an ex had treated her terribly, and radio silence since.

Hours after Russia invades, he reaches out after two years w/a LONG block of text apologizing for how he treated her.

"Look at what the Russians made him do!" she quipped to her girlfriends

Slovenia says its consulate was among the offices damaged by Kharkiv attack, which the Ukrainian govt said was aimed at killing the governor

https://twitter.com/SLOinUKR/status/1498716537477373953