Ukraine: BFMTV’s special envoy recounts his hasty departure from Kharkiv, threatened by bombing – BFMTV

Our reporter says that, where he was, police called on the population to leave “immediately” because “there is a risk of an air attack”.

The Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, the country’s second largest, woke up to the sound of Russian shelling on Thursday morning after President Vladimir Putin announced the launch of a military operation against Ukraine. On the spot for a few days, the special envoy of BFMTV Angy Louatah had to leave the city, threatened with new attacks.

A strategic area

“We had to leave the premises because our hotel was close to strategic points, and did not seem to us to be able to ensure our safety”, says the reporter.

Located in the north of the country, near the Donbass region and the Russian border, this city is a strategic point to hit, because the Ukrainian army can manufacture tanks there.

This area is part of the territories where “most border guard units were targeted by fire”, announced the Ukrainian border guardsand where “Russian military vehicles, including armored vehicles, violated the border”.

“People started running in all directions”

Angy Louatah then went to a supermarket, where locals rushed to stock up, “before hitting the road”, but he had to leave the place in a hurry.

“Our fixer – the person who speaks the local language and helps journalists in the field – translated to us what a police car with a megaphone had just said: ‘Leave the scene immediately, there may be an air attack,'” he said. “We left the scene, like most people, who started running in all directions.”

Images of Ukrainians in Kharkiv, but also in the rest of the country, queuing in front of pharmacies or shops, or trying to flee the country, have multiplied since the first Russian attacks Thursday morning. In Kharkiv, apartment buildings have been hit by gunfire, but some residents intend to stay put.

“My family is not going to flee anywhere, because this is our home here, I hope it will be okay,” said Sasha, a young Ukrainian living in Kharkiv, on BFMTV this Thursday morning.