Good morning.

Its eight o'clock This is the RADA TV channel.

Today marks exactly one year of the indomitable spirit of the You always think that its not going to happen to you.

It's not going to happen to peop Because... Because I don't know why.

You just think that youre lucky That, I don't know, God loves you?

Now I know how it is to be prese while you figure out that somebo I went to the funeral of my frie and this cemetery.

Now they put the flag on each gr for the soldier, and it's like, You cant see the end of those f Russia's all out invasion of the was an unprecedented moment in g shaking the foundations of the i and ushering in a new era of fea As the world watched what was unfolding in shock and I traveled into the country alon countless other journalists to d what was already the largest con in Europe since World War II.

And you can just see behind me the destruction is enormous here Massive missile strikes and combination of that and just all the way around.

I embedded with emergency medica traveling through the recently l of Bucha, Irpin and Borodianka.

Where civilians were only just c after weeks of Russian occupatio Ukraine's military, the territorial defense teams, and everyday civilians had beaten back a monster.

But a dark history was also bein War crimes, human rights violati and possible acts of genocide.

Farther east, in the kinetic Don I joined aid workers and interna on a bold rescue mission to evacuate, injured and interna displaced Ukrainians who were fleeing from Bakhmut, Mariupol, and smaller towns and villages under attack.

I embedded inside a military hos just outside Donetsk.

It was there where I documented soldiers coming in with explosiv witnessing firsthand Russia's br and the human cost of war.

Ukrainian resistance, and what w become the seeds of an all-out i began on the Maidan Square.

the site of the 2014 revolution where Ukrainians threw out pro-Russian President, Viktor Ya Although the country had legally its independence from the Soviet Ukrainians were still trying to break free from Russia's grip and chart a pro-Democratic path and greater integration with the But Ukraine was still a geopolitical flashpoint, and somehow Russia's all out invasion was a failure of our im A year into the conflict, my pur is clear eyed and simple.

Chronicle whats at stake for Uk for Europe, and the free world.

But I'm also on a mission.

I'm here to amplify the voices o who have endured life under fire with no end in sight, amidst a war that threatens global peace and security.

My journey starts with Olga Butk So today is the 23rd of February and we are on the eve of what has been the one year invas of Ukraine by Russia.

What's going on for you in your and your heart and what do you t everyone here in Kyiv and in Ukr There is so many things happened We change, like totally, 100%.

All of us.

Theres people who lost somebody There are people who lost their I still was living like really my best life because, I mean, I had a job I l I work as a news presenter and I remember that I had to work till late again on February 23, and I got home I think at 2 pm, or even 3 pm.

So I, you know, I just went to s and the next morning my boyfriend woke me up saying, “Olga, it started.” And it was like, boom, boom, you And I was like.

The buildup of Russian troops on the border with Ukraine has now turned into a full-blown invasion.

Desperation has set in across the country as families are being forced to flee their homes.

Others are going underground, ta shelter in subways and basements This is Ukraine's darkest hour.

We went to my boyfriends parent and we stayed there for some tim And I said, “I'm going to the TV And they were like, “Youre doin They were saying, like, “Olga, there is a war, where are you go I said, “This is my job.

I'm going to the TV station.” I felt that this is my time to h to bring truthful information to because no one knew what's going We saw first videos from right after the explosion.

I mean, it was all in dust.

And people were screaming like like wild screaming.

Those who were under the rubble and those who are trying to find their relatives.

How can you explain that?

This injustice?

They were living their lives, they didn't do anything bad, they didn't go and try to kill s and now they're gone.

Olga and I travel back into the liberated cities of Buc Irpin, and Borodianka, just north of Kyiv.

Its been a year since Russia's and occupation of these smaller Ukrainians have returned to dail and signs of enduring resilience but the devastation is still omn We begin collaborating on a series of interviews, captu the stories of Ukrainian citizen including my good friend Iryna K who I contacted on the opening d I mean, you realized in an insta that we all lost our jobs, all of us lost our jobs.

And all these people stayed in t Air raid alerts.

Were we supposed to just sit and No, we had to do something.

And so.

Everyone started to do something My friends started welding anti- traps called "hedgehogs".

Whoever could do it, did it.

Others started making Molotov co And we called each other, asked were any bottles, and collected We changed the recipe to make it We called the police to test it, and then we started manufacturin It's impossible to explain for a what really, war means.

In the beginning, yeah, we had t We had everything packed, and we were thinking either to go to th or to go downstairs in the basem Nobody knows what to do, you know, actually.

And we did not understand at all the army was protecting us or no Where were the battles going on?

Because there was very little in about what was happening.

And yes, we were ready, those people who did not leave were ready to defend the city and our homes.

And I realized that I would fight and die somewhere if it was necessary.

I just want them to be happy and this war is about their future, It's about the about the will to live free in modern society and democracy to be a part of the Western worl It's one, I think, one of the reasons for people to to stay and to fight.

I was a volunteer soldier withou with my own weapon, my own gun.

And, you know, and I started to go with guys from Battalion Donbas to the war.

This is 2014?

Yeah.

Yeah.

It was the summer.

Before, it was just only Donbas, but now it's a more horrible war a bigger war, with big dimension For me, I think about my kids one day, like in Dnipropetrovsk, you can shoot to our buildings and kill us.

Or if I will be in another place It's a reality of Ukrainian.

Once you leave Kyiv, you know, i starts to get a lot more rough a the farther east you go.

Kharkiv is a city that has been It's a barely functioning city.

No schools are open.

No kids are allowed to go to sch It's just husks of apartment bui blown up that, a ruined part of a swath of, huge swath of land that's hard to put into perspect unless you've been here.

I love my whole country, but your native city is somethin deep inside, your memories, your You know, everything.

And when I had to tell something about, you know, the ruins in my about people who died there, that was really difficult.

We are going to the place where We will go to the apartment wher I've been to Kharkiv last April, the end of April, but I didn't go to, to check the because it was too dangerous.

And I was afraid, you know, that something going to happen t So I decided that we will not go I don't know.

No, I start, you know, when I start talking about this, I feel that, you know, my heart beating goes really fas because I actually, I don't know My mom and my brother with his f they left.

I think it was the beginning of They were hiding in the basement And yeah, my niece was with them I was, I couldn't sleep at all b know, once you don't have a conn you don't know are they still al I never thought that I will have to face this in my l And every time, you know, you are able to talk t every time you hang up and you t “Am I going to hear my mom's voi My mom, my brother, his wife and All of them, were here?

Yeah.

Ye And then they left.

After the sh It is so empty.

That's the place I used to sleep My mom, she has all this picture First, they cut the water, then I think it was the lights.

And then no mobile connection and no where to buy food.

You know, they were surviving because of the volunteers.

They were bringing food to this And once they started really bad because I told you, they hear, you know, planes, you know, throwing bombs and exp you know, back and forth, becaus were really close to here.

I mean, there is the village which were occupied and it's rig I mean, from here you can see th the road which goes around the city.

So we are like on the almost almost on the edge of the city.

Yes.

I understand.

And right there was already Russ in that occupied village.

So they were shelling.

I mean, they were so close.

So they were shelling like all the time in this direction.

You know, they were just terrori They were just sending missiles, No strategy, just to terrorize.

No, no strategy at all.

Their strategy was to terrorize?

Yeah, yeah.

Kharkiv Oblast and Kharkiv regio from full scale invasion, more than 1,500 people were kill and 74 kids were killed.

2,638 people were injured and 204 kids were injured.

In the very first months, until May, it was a continuous s After that, then Russian, Russian army has been pushed out They were not able to hit by art but they started using their mis You know, twenty-first century, in the geographical middle of Eu Russian speaking city been hit by, you know, by missil Come on.

It's not going to happen.

I was wrong.

What I'm thinking about this?

It's definitely a war crime.

Yeah, for sure theyre hitting m but a lot of buildings are just, you know, just normal apartments Can you imagine if Russia wins?

It's a kind of Pandora's Box had been opened.

So, it says that you may, if you have the power, you may just, you know, do what So who who will be next?

It's not war, just war for Ukraine independenc It's war for democratic values.

I found that I have to be a part of resistanc Part of Ukrainian nation which r And my frontline is a hospital.

From my job, when we are working we have just one life to save, and we put all our forces to thi And they just kill a lot of peop and just don't count what they a So, it's like insane and crazy f So, you're fighting for one, eve for one person, and they just ki But you do, you know, fight for And yeah, when somebody, you know, just start killing lik It's not just unfair.

It's insane.

It's inhuman, and... That's why it's not just, you kn its not just a war, its a terr I'm pretty nervous to go out eas I've got this contact, this South African guy, his name and I'm going to meet him out in Good news, Ive got you a lift on Thursday.

Well be fine, Jordy, I promise God doesn't bring good people li just to waste us.

I catch a ride with three Ukrain They've been defending the Easte They're battle-hardened warriors We drive southeast along the war traveling deeper into the darkne finally arriving in Kostiantyniv just outside Bakhmut.

Sashas ok?

Where've you been?

Where have you been?

We were worried about you for th Can I see him?

Let me see his face.

Sasha.

Are you okay?

Beautiful.

Thank God.

Slava Bohu.

Thank you.

My name is Peter Fouché.

I'm a medic and a soldier and a humanitarian I spend ten days embedded with P Get down everybody, get down!

Muli-launch rocket systems.

Let A humanitarian and Wild West frontline medic who swaggers an He's the stuff of movies.

Our patient last night was badly wounded on his left le Russian genocidal maniacs fired a phosphorous warhead at our position last night.

It was quite painful to hear him “Am I going to live through this And it was bloody nice to be the “Yes, son, you are.” Riding shotgun in his ambulance, Pete takes us out on dawn patrol The guys on the line are taking We're going to go stand position And through the empty streets of where artillery rocks the city d and where Russian forces indiscriminately target citizens using cluster bombs.

I don't know which is more preva soldiers being killed, or war cr Schools are being bombed.

Hospitals are being bombed.

They are jets flying over daily cluster munitions on residential These cluster munition bombs where they blow up and they shoot a bunch of, you know, grenade size pieces on top of shrapnel, and it just goes and kills more Totally indiscriminate.

I mean, we basically got under attack the first day.

And I say it's been getting little bits here and there, but it felt like it was really g on and off yesterday.

And then we had hit the ground a that I've never done.

That happened this morning.

Pete was taking his walk and the whole thing just went si And we sort of, I don't know, evacuated the base That's them.

Yeah, that's another So you get the three explosions, and then you get the cassettes b Yeah.

Listen, it's only, it's only four kilometers.

Can we quickly go have a look?

Thats a Ukrainian armored ambul Yeah.

No, no Im talking... Is he dead?

I think so, he's covered him wit Oh, that's what he showed me, the sign for two, 200.

That's, when we got here, we offered assistance.

The guy w the peace sign, he wasn't saying He was saying 200... “200” is military code for dead.

It's just a humbling experience to see all these younger guys ju you know, risking their lives and dying for it and then to see like I saw this morning just kil I can't make this up.

I'm trying not to collect hate i So it's basically, it's anger because this war is... I don't know.

Its just because one country fo you know, for like more than 100 don't want us to exist.

You can call it genocide.

You can.

Deportation, it's a huge part of They start to deport children from February last year.

We're talking about 16,000.

They try to describe their decis like they do it for the human ri of Russian people, or something like that.

For children of the Donbas, etc.

But, we realize and we understan that it's bull—.

Commander, along your experience have you seen evidence of war cr committed by Russia?

Yeah.

Throughout the entire nine years I have been observing military c from the side of the Russian Fed My unit was protecting the city overwhelmed the enemy column.

Th We found local civilians who had In the Kherson region where I fo multiple local women were raped Bucha, everyone has seen; Irpin, Izium, where over 400 executed U Raping, torturing, massive grave What is this?

We have this source, I told you, General Prosecutor, so you can go and register war c If you have pictures, you know, everything you just put it there And there are more than 7000 sto These are all crimes that must b An international tribunal must t This house was hit by, I believe, a mortar round.

This village has also been attacked by tanks.

This says, “Ukraine.” Ukraina.

Its written in Cyrilli This says, “Victory for Ukraine, is what it says there.

This is nothing less than a war thats happened here.

International war crimes committee needs to be all over t There are families that are being killed here.

There are children that have been killed here.

There are farmers and wives that have been killed here, for For wanting to earn a living, to plow these fields out there?

And theyre being bombed, and sh and rocketed by rockets, and tanks and artillery?

In what?

In what way in the world is it a that people who are plowing their fields, get artilleried?

How are they a military target?

Please tell me that.

What have they done wrong to any Other than they want to come her and not live under Russian dicta That's their crime?

They want to live in a free and People are dying in the thousand Soldiers coming home without faces and limbs and hands.

Children being brutally gang-rap in front of their parents.

The West will be remembered for what they have done - and no It felt like I have a huge hole in my chest and it's bleeding all the time.

And you just, you know, you can do anything wi And every time you see something in the news that, you know, theyre shelling some cities, how many people died, what's going on in Mariupol, what have happened... You know, this wound inside of u is getting bigger and bigger.

I was so angry.

When we had pictures of dead sol Russian soldiers.

I was making it, you know, like bigger, to see th of that soldier.

And I was like, Olga, you know, I was like, Olga, what are you d I mean, I never, before I could look at the dead body.

Now I was like making it wider and trying to see the face.

And I was thinking, why am I doi And I think I was doing it becau if this, this is human, you know, who came to kill us.

It's really, you know, I was, I was looking at myself from the it was scary to see myself like that.

I realized that all this hate I had inside of me it didn't feel any better, when I was writing like, “burn i I didn't feel better after that.

So, I thought if I continue doing that, it will bring to self-destructio So, I decided that I have to foc Everything what is going on here from our side, is about love.

We are fighting because we love We are fighting because we love And they...why they are here?

Why they are dying here?

What for?

We know what we are dying for he Ukraine's quest for freedom, self-determination and European will come to represent the most important democratic movements since the French Revolution and the birth of the United Stat But the hangover from the former remains enduring and daunting.

Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine is a moment in global history, an inflection point for the West which begs the central question: What kind of world do we want to Free, democratic societies with opportunity, hope and the rule o Or do we choose to exist under t of a brutal authoritarian regime with little regard for human rig What we decide now will shape th Ultimately, the choice will be o I can tell you what I don't feel and what we don't feel anymore.

We are not afraid anymore.

And I'm not afraid anymore.