Many Kyiv residents who sought to flee the city on February 24 faced massive traffic jams.
Foto:Sergey Dolzhenko / epa
"We Are Not Going To Give Up" Ukraine's Never-Ending Day
With the invasion of neighboring Ukraine, Vladimir Putin not only brought violence to the country and destroy a fragile peace. February 24 marked the end of an era for Europe. A new one has now begun.
The article you are reading originally appeared in German in issue 7/2023 (February 10th, 2023) of DER SPIEGEL.
DER SPIEGEL journalists and staff spent several weeks interviewing witnesses and those involved in the events to reconstruct that fateful day. Diplomats, politicians and members of the business community shared with us what they experienced on February 24. We have corroborated their statements to the extent possible. Some of the eyewitness accounts, such as that of the soldier Sergey, are based on what they told DER SPIEGEL in interviews. The settings include Kyiv, where President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is holding down the fort, Mayor Vitali Klitschko is distributing weapons and Bruno Kahl, the head of Germany's foreign intelligence service, the BND, finds himself involuntarily stuck. The Hostomel airfield, where Russia's boldest move fails. The Kharkiv region in the north, where the Russians meet fierce resistance, a settlement in the south, where they advance unhindered. And an island in the Black Sea, where a radio message becomes the slogan of the Ukrainian resistance.
The people we spoke with had no idea on the morning of February 24 whether they and their country would survive the attack by the Russian army. By the evening of that longest day in the independent state's history, at least one thing was clear: Ukraine would not give up.
The Evening of February 23, 2022
Kyiv, after 5 p.m.
It's early evening when President Volodymyr Zelenskyy once again sets out to do what he has been doing for weeks: reassure his people. Only this time, he has gathered a special audience: the richest of the rich.
The most powerful people in Ukraine's business community have come together for a meeting at the Presidential Office Building on Bankova Street. Some have traveled from abroad just to attend, including the Ukrainian billionaires Rinat Akhmetov and Viktor Pinchuk. Some have close ties to Moscow – Vadim Novinsky, for example, who knows the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church. Black luxury sedans line the streets. Inside, people crowd around a large round table waiting for the president.
There is plenty of reason for concern: Two days earlier, Vladimir Putin unilaterally shifted Ukraine's borders. He took the step of officially recognizing the two "People's Republics" of Donetsk and Luhansk, which Moscow has controlled in Ukraine's Donbas region since 2014, and to which he has deployed troops. By this point, gunfire has already erupted in the Donbas. Putin, meanwhile, has spent the preceding months stationing more than 100,000 soldiers on the border in the north, east and south.
Those present at the meeting are expecting an assessment of the situation from Zelenskyy. But the president hasn't yet arrived.
Berlin, late afternoon
BND President Bruno Kahl climbs into his official jet, a Dassault Falcon 8X. He has accepted an invitation from his Ukrainian counterpart, one which the head of Ukrainian intelligence had urged him to accept a short time before at the Munich Security Conference. A visit, Kahl was told, would be "an important show of solidarity."
Kahl would later claim that he embarked on the journey "fully aware of the risks." But it is clear that Kahl's people are not expecting an invasion that very night. Germany's foreign intelligence service is lagging behind events. For months, it has been delivering to the Chancellery the words that the German chancellor's team wants to hear. German intelligence officials have been arguing that Russian troop movements could also be interpreted as maneuvers, and that Putin is merely exploiting this threat scenario to strengthen his negotiating position.
For the last several days, though, intelligence analysts have been deeply concerned. They have discovered a Russian command post, not something you need for a simple maneuver.
Russian troops preparing to invade Ukraine in Mozyr, a Belarusian city near the border, on February 22, two days before the attack.
Foto: Satellite Image © Maxar Technologies Provided by European Space ImagingKyiv, 6 p.m.
The president joins his audience from the business community. At the table are his advisers and almost all the members of the National Security and Defense Council: the prime minister, the ministers of defense and the interior, the heads of the army, border police and intelligence services and Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of the council.
"It is very important to me that you stay in Ukraine," Zelenskyy warns the rich. "The message: The situation is difficult, but under control," recalls one of the participants, adding that the only person to make a truly nervous impression was the young chief of military intelligence. The president, on the other hand, appeared "calm and confident," says Vlada Molchanova, a building contractor and co-owner of a large supermarket chain. When she leaves the meeting, she is calmer than when she arrived. Others, though, are still alarmed: "It's starting at 4 a.m. tomorrow!" one participant hears from neighbors at his table.
Berlin, 6:53 p.m.
Wolfgang Schmidt, the head of the Chancellery and Chancellor Olaf Scholz's closest aide, receives a text message from Ukraine. A confidant informs him that American and British intelligence agencies have warned of an imminent attack in hastily scheduled briefings. The information is apparently based on intercepted radio messages. Officials in the Chancellery are now expecting the worst.
Kyiv, 9:30 p.m.
Oleksiy Danilov is the secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council. For years, he warned that neighboring Russia could infiltrate Ukrainian society. But he long played down the threat of an invasion. He says he did so to avoid sowing unrest.
Foto: Julia Kochetovaa / DER SPIEGELOleksiy Danilov appears before the Ukrainian parliament. The secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, a man with a carefully sculpted crew cut, has spent years warning about the infiltration of the country by its neighbor. But like most of Zelenskyy's team, he has tended to downplay the threat of an outright invasion. As recently as the end of January, he has said that the troop movements on the border were "nothing new." But now Danilov has also received disturbing information. The Security Council has decided to request that a state of emergency be called. For that, he will need the approval of Ukraine's parliament, the Rada. Danilov is frustrated that it took all day to organize the vote.
Kyiv, 10:45 p.m.
At the five-star Premier Palace Hotel, BND head Kahl is briefed by German Ambassador Anka Feldhusen over a late dinner. Feldhusen's mobile phone rings with a call from the head of the Crisis Response Center at the German Foreign Ministry. Feldhusen is asked to leave the country with the remaining embassy staff. She asks: It's dark out, the roads are bad – might it be safer if we left in the morning? But her colleague insists. Does the Foreign Ministry have insights that Bruno Kahl doesn't have? That would be hard to imagine, since intelligence is provided by the BND. At the same time, Twitter is already full of speculation about an imminent invasion. Kahl decides not to join the evacuation – he has meetings he wants to attend the next day.
Russia, the Kursk region, late evening
A convoy of 150 Russian military vehicles makes its way through the fields in western Russia toward the Ukrainian border. The vehicles, which don't have any license plates, belong to a rifle brigade stationed hundreds of kilometers to the east. Sergey, who does not want to be quoted in DER SPIEGEL by his real name, is sitting in an ambulance truck. The lean, pale lieutenant in his early twenties, has just finished his medical studies at a military academy.
The men have been holding out in tents in a pine forest for almost two weeks. Officially, they are taking part in an exercise, according to Sergey's military papers, which DER SPIEGEL has viewed. Sergey doesn't know where he is – he was required to leave his smartphone behind in the tent camp. He writes to his parents using a simple push-button phone. "Everything's OK. Don't worry. I'll be in touch." Later, he is also ordered to throw away even this mobile phone.
Chuhuiv, in the Kharkiv region, late evening
Commander Pavlo Fedosenko, combat name "Maestro," at his command center near the front in the Kharkiv region. Fedosenko commands the 92nd Mechanized Brigade. He became the recipient of the "Hero of Ukraine" honor for his defense of Kharkiv.
Foto: Fedir Petrov / DER. SPIEGELPavlo Fedosenko, 47, combat name "Maestro," has his last meeting. The commander of the 92nd Mechanized Brigade is responsible for protecting one of the most important sections of the border: the area around Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city. He has been watching for days as Putin has moved to concentrate his troops on the border. On the afternoon of February 23, he saw Russian Grad rocket launchers in position at the Hoptivka border crossing. Fedosenko, too, has been making preparations. He has cleared the barracks, emptied the camps, and stockpiled ammunition in the forest, where he has spread out the troops. In the evening, he declares the highest level of alert. Although the country's political leadership has long downplayed the threat of an invasion, the Ukrainian military has been preparing for an invasion.
A short night
Kyiv, 12:47 a.m.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaking early in the morning of February 24 to the Russian people. He had tried in vain to reach Vladimir Putin.
Foto: Ukrainian Presidency / REUTERSVolodymyr Zelenskyy gives quite possibly the best speech of his life. It is directed not at his own people, but at his Russian neighbors. Zelenskyy says that he tried in vain to reach President Putin, so now he is turning to all Russians. Point by point, he refutes the Russian propaganda that defames him and the Ukrainian leadership as fascists. "How can I be a Nazi? Explain it to my grandfather, who went through the entire war in the infantry of the Soviet army, and died a colonel in an independent Ukraine." He speaks powerfully, with carefully placed pauses, in that simple tone that he commands so well. He appeals for peace without trying to ingratiate himself. "If you attack, you will see our faces, not our backs," Zelenskyy says, jutting his chin resolutely. The speech ends with a well-known Soviet antiwar song: "Do the Russians want war? I would very much like to answer this question. But the answer depends only on you, the citizens of the Russian Federation."
Kyiv, 1:30 a.m.
A convoy of 12 cars leaves the city. Among those in the vehicles are German Ambassador Feldhusen and her remaining embassy staff. The streets are still clear. They drive west toward Zhytomyr. BND chief Kahl spends the night in Kyiv, his plane flew back to Germany right after dropping him off. It wouldn't have been of any help to him now, anyway, because the airspace over Ukraine will be closed before the night ends.
Kyiv, 3:00 a.m.
Vitali Klitschko, mayor of Kyiv since 2014, worked to organize the city's defense by taking steps to assist the Territorial Defense Forces and by distributing weapons. His brother Wladimir has constantly been at his side.
Foto: Johanna Maria Fritz / Agentur Ostkreuz / DER SPIEGELVitali Klitschko's alarm clock goes off. The Kyiv mayor has only slept briefly, having just returned from his last meeting at around midnight. In recent weeks, he has reactivated the city's air raid shelters and organized the Territorial Defense Forces. His brother Wladimir also joined this home defense force in early February. Unlike the country's leadership, the mayor has been warning of an invasion for some time. He has learned from the intelligence service that the attack is imminent and will begin at 4 a.m. Everything is still quiet.
Snake Island, around 3 a.m.
Maksym Kruchok has been asleep for two hours when he is awakened by shouting: "Alarm! Get up! To your battle stations!" He climbs down from his bunk bed.
Maksym Kruchok served as a member of the marines on Snake Island. After the Russians captured the strategic isle, they held him as a prisoner of war for nine months. He says he was tortured.
Foto: Alina Smutko / DER SPIEGEL
Snake Island is located off the coast of the Danube delta, and it can be used as a strategic site for controlling passage through the maritime route to the ports of southern Ukraine. Russia occupied the island on February 24. It is back in Ukrainian hands today.
Foto: Andrey Nekrasov / imagebroker / IMAGO
A satellite image of Snake Island after what is believed to have been a Ukrainian drone attack on a Russian position
Foto: Planet Labs PB / dpaThe 21-year-old serves with the 88th Marine Infantry Battalion, which works with the Border Patrol troops to protect Snake Island, essentially a barren rock 600 meters in diameter in the Black Sea. There are no trees, but it does have a lighthouse – and strategic importance. It is possible from here to control the mouth of the Danube River and the maritime route to Odessa, and to complicate landing operations. Eighty soldiers are stationed on the island. Kruchok grabs his AK-74 assault rifle and hurries through the darkness to his guard post. What he doesn't know is that the reason for the alarm is an intercepted radio message. A Russian warship warned a civilian Ukrainian vessel against approaching the island, saying sea mines had been laid.
The Kherson region, at night
Rodyka Yuskova, 42, is awakened by an explosion. Her hometown of Chaplynka, population 16,000, is located in the southern Ukrainian steppe. Only 20 kilometers away, Russian troops have been stationed on the annexed Crimean Peninsula since 2014. As Yuskova steps outside, she feels the blast wave of another explosion. The Russians are shelling a Ukrainian base and a gas station in the village. "Why aren't our people shooting back?" she wonders. Helicopters are flying overhead, and Yuskova gets her nine-year-old daughter Arina out of bed and packs a backpack with documents, medicines, clothes and a stuffed animal dog. They hide in the neighbor's basement. Yuskova's husband is on a business trip and he tells her over the phone that she should leave. It's not possible, she says. "The Russians are everywhere."
Rodyka Yuskova, the owner of a store and a local politician from Chaplynka. The Russians occupied her village, located near Crimea, on the first morning of the war. Yuskova fled after a few weeks with her husband and daughter. She is now living in Kyiv, but her mother stayed behind in Chaplynka.
Foto: Alina Smutko / DER SPIEGELKyiv, 4:30 a.m.
Zelenskyy's security adviser Danilov tells his wife: "It's war. Pack your things, our son will get you out." He has just learned about the Russian invasion. The first news of the invasion comes from the eastern part of the country, where the border village of Milove was already shelled at 3:40 a.m. Later, such messages begin pouring in from all directions. Contrary to Danilov's expectations, Putin is targeting the whole country – precisely what the U.S. government has repeatedly warned about.
His wife is furious: "Why didn't you warn me?" Looking back today, Danilov says: "I was a keeper of secrets. If you go around saying, 'There's a war,' it only spreads chaos." This is also the answer he will give to all those who lodge the accusation that Zelenskyy's team underestimated the danger of an invasion. "We knew everything. We just weren't allowed to say it," he claims. Danilov sets off for the Presidential Office Building. It's raining.
Moscow, 5:00 a.m. Kyiv time
Vladimir Putin declared war against Ukraine on the morning of February 24, but he called it a "military special operation."
Foto: Alexei Nikolsky / SPUTNIK / APVladimir Putin declares war on Ukraine in a video message. However, he doesn't call it war, but rather a"special military operation." It sounds cleaner, more manageable. The Russian president looks as though he hasn't left his desk since his previous speech on the Donbas. The same dark suit, the same dark red tie, even the way he positions his hands is the same as it was on Monday. Putin cites the protection of the residents of the Donbas from an alleged "genocide" as the goal. "To this end, we will seek to demilitarize and de-Nazify Ukraine," he adds. To "de-Nazify" meaning: Putin isn't only targeting the Donbas – he's targeting the capital city of Kyiv and aiming for the overthrow of the Ukrainian government.
The Kharkiv region, after 5 p.m.
The war has also started for Brigade Commander Fedosenko. At 4 a.m., he heard two big explosions. A Russian missile has struck the warehouse of artillery ammunition that was previously cleared out; a second attack has hit the military airport of Chuhuiv. An hour later, his battalion commanders report that the Russians have crossed the border. Army head Valeriy Zaluzhny calls and Fedosenko gives him a report. "Make the decisions. You know everything. Fight!" Zaluzhny tells him. Of all the brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Fedosenko says proudly, his was the first to take up the fight.
Snake Island, early morning
As the fog lifts, Kruchok and his comrades see two warships a few kilometers away: the Vasily Bykov patrol ship and the guided missile cruiser Moskva, the almost 200-meter-long flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. An hour later, the Russians address their first radio message to the defenders of Snake Island. They offer to allow the soldiers to transfer to the service of the Russian army. Kruchok calls his mother Olha in the village in western Ukraine from the base a little later. "Mom, the war has begun,"he shouts. She doesn't believe him. "Turn on the TV," Kruchok tells her.
Kyiv, 5:30 a.m.
Oleksiy Danilov, Zelenskyy's top security adviser, enters his boss' office. Zelenskyy, wearing a white shirt, says: "Well then! We will just fight." One by one, other members of the National Security and Defense Council arrive. A state of war has yet to be declared. While still in the car, Danilov telephoned with the speaker of the parliament to arrange a meeting of the Rada.
Zhytomyr, Central Ukraine, 5:30 a.m.
Ambassador Feldhusen and her convoy have stopped for a break in Zhytomyr, about two hours by car to the west of Kyiv. Her military attaché reports that a cruise missile has just flown over the hotel, part of the Russian attack an airbase near the city. An hour later, the convoy of German diplomats continues west toward the Polish border.
The Russian-Ukrainian border, early morning
Russian military doctor Sergey's ambulance and its convoy have driven for hours up and down a border fence. The idea is to intimidate the Ukrainians. As dawn breaks, Sergey spots the outlines of tanks on the other side of the fence: "They were ours, they were already over there." Suddenly, a few armored personnel carriers break away from his convoy and steamroll the border fence. Sergey's ambulance also rumbles over what is left of the border structure. Later, Sergey recalls what he thought at the moment: This is the first time I have been out of Russia.
Hostomel airfield, 6.30 a.m.
When Sasha, 40, combat name "Krava," arrives at his unit's post, a cruise missile has just hit the base located right next to Hostomel's Antonov airfield. Krava is an instructor with the 4th Rapid Reaction Brigade, an elite National Guard unit.
What Krava doesn't know is that Hostomel will be one of the most important sites of this invasion. The Russians view the airfield as the gateway to Kyiv. His elite unit is severely weakened, as a large part of it was sent to the Donbas in January. Around 250 men, mostly inexperienced recruits, stayed behind. Krava grabs two assault rifles and a pistol and assigns two squads to the two decades-old SU-23 anti-aircraft guns. They have a total of only 40 rounds of ammunition.
Kyiv, 6:42 a.m.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks to his people in a video address on the morning of February 24. At this point, the Ukrainian president is still wearing a suit rather than his trademark olive-green military shirts.
Foto: Volodymyr Zelensky / Facebook / AFPZelenskyy releases the first video message since the beginning of the invasion from his office. In a selfie video, he points the camera up at himself from an angle. He's still wearing a shirt and suit, not the olive-green military shirts he will later don. He speaks not of an invasion, but merely about Russian air raids, explosions and artillery fire. He issues a call for calm, not one for battle. At this point, the peace president still hasn't made the transformation to war president.
Kyiv, in the morning
Olaf Scholz talks on the phone with President Zelenskyy. The only thing that leaks out is that the chancellor has expressed his solidarity with the Ukrainian president. It doesn't seem to be a conversation that resonates much with either side. Zelenskyy's phone call with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, though, is a different story. He has a close and friendly relationship with him. Zelenskyy's advisers say that Johnson's encouragement is hugely important to Zelenskyy. "We will fight, Boris! We are not going to give up!" he shouts into the receiver in English.
Kyiv, just before 7 a.m.
Members of the Rada receive a WhatsApp message: A specially convened session has been called for 8 a.m. – not in the Rada building, but instead a few kilometers south in the World War II Museum under the colossal Motherland statue. The move is a security measure. The Rada must approve the declaration of a state of war, but what would happen if the country were to lose its entire parliament in one fell swoop due through a Russian air strike? The leaders of the different party groups in parliament oppose the move. Looking back, one member of parliament says that the image would have raised questions. "The Russians would have claimed that the Rada was meeting in Krakow, Warsaw or Paris - that the parliament had fled."
Kyiv, 7:00 a.m.
Mayor Klitschko has arrived at the city's administrative offices. "We first checked the functions of the fire department, hospitals and critical infrastructure," he says. At this point, no missiles have hit the city, only the outskirts. The arterial roads to the south and west are jammed with cars packed with people fleeing. "Everyone was looking to me and asking what they should do. But I didn't have any answers because we could not reach the government or the Presidential Office." What he does have, though, is his brother at his side. Together, they put their mother and Vladimir's daughter in a car and send them to Hamburg.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko in his office in Kyiv's City Hall
Foto: Johanna Maria Fritz / Agentur Ostkreuz / DER SPIEGELChaplynka, early morning
Rodyka Yuskova decides to open her grocery store. She figures people are going to need basic provisions like pasta and flour for the war. Yuskova used to be engaged in local politics. Tanks and troop carriers stop in the center of the town, while Russian soldiers masked with balaclavas and googles are standing in front of Town Hall. "What you doing here?" some elderly residents shout.
Yuskova wonders: How were the Russians able to invade so quickly? The Ukrainian army has ceded the strategically important isthmus to the Crimean Peninsula without a fight. The same day, Russian units will reach the Dnieper River, around 100 kilometers to the northwest, and threaten the regional capital of Kherson. While the Ukrainian defense appears to be holding in the east and only wavering in the north, the south seems to be completely open.
Kyiv, 8:00 a.m.
At 8 a.m. sharp, security adviser Danilov is back in front of parliament. The deputies are meeting in the domed hall of the Rada building, though only a few are wearing suits. "Today at 5 a.m., the Russian Federation effectively declared war on our independent country," he begins. His will be the only speech given today. It takes less than 10 minutes for parliament to approve the state of war. Satisfied, Danilov sends the result to Zelenskyy at 8:08 a.m. Two-thirds of parliament are in attendance, and all 300 present vote yes.
Kyiv, 8:48 a.m.
Zelenskyy releases a new video message. You can almost sense the initial surprise giving way to anger. "Putin wants to destroy my country, our country. Everything that we have built." He issues a demand of the West that doesn't have the slightest chance of success: He wants the airspace over his country to be closed militarily to Russian aircraft. But such a no-fly zone would be tantamount to war between Russia and NATO.
Kyiv, 9:00 a.m.
Inside the president's Situation Room, security adviser Danilov confers with regional leaders. It's clear that the Russians are advancing from many sides, even through the radioactively contaminated zone around Chernobyl. Danilov is unable to reach the regional boss in Kherson, which is under particular threat. He curses.
The heads of the political parties in the Rada are sitting in the room as they wait for Zelenskyy. "Our primary task is to maintain the legitimacy of power," Zelenskyy says as he arrives. He suggests evacuating the chairmen of the Rada to the west of the country. But they decide against it.
After a half hour, bodyguards storm into the room and take Zelenskyy to the bunker. Russian saboteurs are said to have infiltrated the government quarter, and there is a threat of an aerial landing operation. It turns out to be a false alarm.
Hostomel, in the morning
Russian helicopters on approach to the Hostomel military airport near Kyiv
Russian helicopters from Belarus fly low over the Dnieper River toward Hostomel. The Russians are aiming to take control of the Antonov airfield with airborne troops to use it as a springboard to quickly attack the government quarter in Kyiv, some 35 kilometers away, and eliminate the Ukrainian leadership. It's a audacious plan. CIA Director William Burns had warned of such an attempt during a mid-January visit to Kyiv. "Why didn't they at least mine the runway?" one prominent Kyiv politician asks in retrospect.
Commander Krava counts 25 Russian helicopters in the sky firing at anything that moves, including civilians. The smoke of the launched rockets fills the air. "Shoot as much as you can – and then fuck off!" Krava shouts to his soldiers.
The Ukrainians hit two Russian helicopters. An hour after the start of the battle, Krava retreats with his men. For the time being, the airport is under Russian control.
Kyiv, morning
Kahl, the head of Germany's BND, has awoken in a capital city at war. He calls his Ukrainian counterpart wanting to know what has taken place during the night. The Ukrainian secret service is also no longer able to ensure Kahl's safety. Kahl makes his way to the empty German Embassy to help close the BND's branch office in Kyiv. He shreds documents together with his people on site.
They load some of the electronics into vehicles before departing toward Poland. But the BND chief is unable to get out of the city. The roads are jam packed with the cars of all the people trying to flee the city. In the end, Ambassador Feldhusen asks the head of the police in Ukraine for help. It will take Kahl's convoy 36 hours to reach the Polish border, some 600 kilometers away.
Kyiv, morning
Vladyslava Molchanova, the head of a construction company in Kyiv: She had the foundations of her new mansion torn apart to provide the cement blocks needed to prevent Russian tanks from entering the capital city.
Foto: Alina Smutko / DER SPIEGELEntrepreneur Vlada Molchanova receives a call from the Presidential Office at her mansion. She is told that she should not close the stores of her Novus supermarket chain under any circumstances. People across the country have begun hoarding groceries and other essentials. Molchanova sets up a WhatsApp group with the country's top 100 retailers. They agree to keep the stores open.
The Sumy region, morning
The Russian military convoy that includes Sergey's ambulance creeps westwards toward Kyiv, stopping repeatedly. Sergey is nervous: The convoy is traveling through foreign terrain without tanks, and their radio connections are poor. He sees people looking out from their homes. Some are telephoning frantically – are they reporting the convoy to the enemy? An elderly woman makes the sign of the cross. An old man gives the soldiers the middle finger. "The deeper we went into the country, the worse people reacted to us, and the more scared we were," Sergey recalls.
Snake Island, noon
Russian Su-27 and Su-34 fighter jets start bombing the island, for three hours. Maksym Kruchok sees the Moskva traveling in a circle around the island. It also fires on the isle with its 130-mm naval gun. The soldiers take cover near the lighthouse.
Marine Maksym Kruchok was freed in a prisoner swap. He is now in therapy and doesn't want to talk about his time in captivity.
Foto: Alina Smutko / DER SPIEGELChuhuiv, noon
The Russians also attempt a helicopter landing at the Chuhuiv airport. Pavlo Fedosenko's 92nd Mechanized Brigade fends them off. Fedosenko's goal is to at least slow down the Russians' movement. He is tasked with defending a section of the border that is 300 kilometers long with only 4,500 fighters, 100 infantry fighting vehicles and 30 T-64 battle tanks. "It was nonsense to take on such a superior force with a single brigade," he says.
Fortunately for Fedosenko, the attackers advance in columns on the street as if they didn't expect any resistance at all. Fedosenko sends forward mobile battle groups, each of which destroys only the first and last vehicle of a column. Artillery is used to take care of the rest. The Russian tanks nevertheless reach the Kharkiv ring road in the early afternoon. But the city refuses to fall.
The burning military airport in Chuhuiv in the Kharkiv region
Kyiv, 1:05 p.m.
Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov addresses the nation on Facebook. He issues a plea for anyone who can take up arms to do so. All that is now needed to join the Territorial Defense Forces is a passport, and weapons will be issued immediately. Resnikov, like Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, has stayed in Kyiv. A large part of the government departs for the west of the country on special trains in the afternoon. "We had already decided with the president early in the morning to split the government into two governments," recalls Prime Minister Shmyhal.
The Sumy region, afternoon
At around 1 p.m., the engine of Sergey's old ambulance truck fails and the vehicle has to be towed away. Suddenly Sergey, the Russian military doctor, sees vehicles ahead turning around. He hears gunshots, grabs an assault rifle and takes cover behind some rocks. It's only now that he understands that he is in the middle of a war. Two hours later, he sees drones above his convoy. Heavy mortar fire follows, and the first wounded are brought in. Sergey estimates that 40 percent of his unit's 1,500 soldiers were killed or missing in action by the time he returns to Russia a month and a half later, at which time he resigns from the service. He later learns from an acquaintance at the military registration office that his records now read: "Prone to treason."
Snake Island, around 5 p.m.
The Russians continue to call for surrender over the radio. They threaten: "Snake Island, I, Russian warship, propose you put down your arms and surrender to avoid bloodshed and unjustified deaths. If not, you will be bombed. Do you understand? Do you copy?" – After a pause, one of the Ukrainians radios back: "Russian warship, go fuck yourself."
The guided missile cruiser Moskva threatened the soldiers on Snake Island on February 24. "Russian warship, go fuck yourself," they reply by radio. The flagship of the Russian Black Sea fleet was sunk two months later.
Foto: DENIS SINYAKOV/ REUTERSUkrainian soldiers on the mainland record the radio message. Oleksiy Danilov sends the audio file from his iPhone to Zelenskyy. The slogan of Ukrainian resistance is born. It will be painted on barricades and printed on T-shirts. The soldiers defending the island gain an almost mythic status. It is first reported that 13 died heroically. "All of them will receive the 'Hero of Ukraine' award posthumously," Zelenskyy announces in the evening.
But the defenders of Snake Island aren't killed. As Russian landing craft approach the island, Maksym Kruchok and the other soldiers lay down their weapons and approach with their hands in the air. They are searched and then sent back to their barracks. It's not until the next morning that a ship takes them into captivity. Kruchok will be held as a prisoner of war for nine months.
Paris, 5:30 p.m., Kyiv time
The French president telephones with Zelenskyy from Élysée Palace for the second time today. Emmanuel Macron already called once before early in the morning, at 5:30 a.m. Paris time. Now, before his departure for a specially convened European Union meeting of heads of state and government in Brussels, he anxiously inquires about Zelenskyy's condition.
"Are you in security?"Macron asks. "I think nobody is in safety in Kyiv now, because we are encircled by the Russian army," Zelenskyy says. In fact, there can be no question of Kyiv being surrounded at this point. "Emmanuel, it is very important for you to speak to Putin and to make an antiwar coalition. We are sure that European leaders can get together with Biden and call Putin and say: 'Stop' and he will stop. He will listen to you," Zelenskyy says. Macron asks: "Are you ready to sit down at the table and start negotiating?" – "Of course. We have to," Zelenskyy replies.
The French have not yet fully withdrawn their embassy staff in Kyiv. Macron wants to reserve the rooms of the diplomatic mission as a place of refuge for Zelenskyy.
Kyiv, 6:01 p.m.
In the briefing room of the Presidential Office Building, Zelenskyy appears in front of the camera for the first time wearing a khaki shirt. From this point on, he will appear almost exclusively in a military outfit, even at meetings with heads of state. He has even found a metaphor for the day: "What we hear today is not just rocket explosions, fighting, the roar of aircraft. It is the sound of a new Iron Curtain lowering and closing Russia away from the civilized world. Our national task is to make this curtain pass not through our Ukrainian territory, but the home of the Russians. "He then raises hopes: The first Russian advance has been stopped," he says, an "operational pause" has been effected. In the south, though, the situation is very difficult.
Kyiv, in the evening
A blocked street in Kyiv's government district: Many feared on February 24 that Russian saboteurs or ground troops would penetrate the city.
Foto: Umit Bektas / REUTERSMayor Klitschko finally makes some headway in his hunt for contacts and directions. At noon, he has reached General Oleksandr Syrskyi, the man in charge of Kyiv's defense, via WhatsApp. In the evening, the two meet to discuss the situation. It is clear to both men that they must prevent Russian tanks from entering Kyiv. "It was a huge surprise that the Russians would already arrive at the Kyiv city border in one, two days at the most," the mayor recalls. "We knew that many Russian soldiers were in Belarus, but we thought it was a tactical maneuver."
Concrete blocks are needed – pushing buses together to form roadblocks won't do the job, the military warns. Klitschko's team seeks help and finds it with Vlada Molchanova, the building contractor. In the southern part of the city, Molchanova is currently busy having a new mansion built for her family near the banks of the Dnieper River. The foundations have been laid with concrete blocks. Molchanova rounds up drivers to move the load, which weighs tons. The concrete blocks will be used as barricades.
Moscow, 8:00 p.m. Kyiv time
One success story follows the next on the evening news on Russia's Channel One. Viewers are shown the kind of war Putin wanted: a masterful, shock-and-awe attack that cripples the enemy and spares the civilian population. The news reports that the Ukrainian air defense and air force have been destroyed on the ground. Ukrainian soldiers "are leaving their positions en masse and laying down their arms," a military spokesman says. Russian armored personnel carriers are shown crossing the Dnieper River at Nova Kakhovka, east of Kherson, while fleeing Ukrainian civilians are stuck in traffic jams. The TV reporter alleges that the imposition of martial law has caused panic. "The hysteria-filled video message from Vladimir Zelenskyy wasn't convincing at all."
Brussels, 9:36 p.m. Kyiv time
A special meeting of the EU heads of state and government begins. All participants have been required to turn in their mobile phones before the meeting for security reasons. German Chancellor Scholz debates the war with his counterparts into the early morning hours of February 25. The most emotional moment is provided by Zelenskyy, who is connected by video. "He told us he didn't know if he would be able to speak to us again," recalls Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel.
Brussels, 10:30 p.m. Kyiv time
At the special meeting of the European Council, Macron calls Putin, making him the first representative of the West to contact the Russian president since the start of the hostilities. Macron demands an immediate halt to Russian military operations and threatens massive sanctions. The conversation proceeds as Élysée Palace had feared: inconclusively. The Kremlin press department writes: "Vladimir Putin provided exhaustive clarifications of the reasons and circumstances of his decision on conducting a special military operation. The parties agreed to stay in touch." For Macron, it is a disappointing follow-up to the two-hour conversation he had with Putin just four days earlier. Macron had proposed a meeting between Putin and Biden in Geneva to ease the situation. Putin had seemed to agree in principle.
Friday, February 25
Kyiv, 03:00 a.m.
Throughout the day, Mayor Klitschko tries to keep the city functional and defendable. Thousands of Kalashnikovs have already been given to volunteers, the city has a total stockpile of 50,000. Klitschko visits a weapons distribution point in the middle of the night. He sees a line extending several kilometers in the freezing cold. It's an image that will be deeply etched in his mind. The readiness of the people of Kyiv to fight back is greater than their fear.
Klitschko won't sleep tonight. Nor will most of the protagonists in this story. Most of them don't have any real memory of February 24 ever ending. For them, it is still continuing today. Or, as Prime Minister Shmyhal puts it: "This is the day in which everything else came to a halt for all Ukrainians and myself. We focused on the war. The year that has passed since then feels as if it has flown by like one single day. A long, hard day, full of loss and suffering."
