‘HIT LIST’

AP Journalists Tell of Dramatic Rescue From Ruins of Mariupol

The last two international journalists in Mariupol described how the Ukrainian army made them leave the ruined city before they became pawns in Putin’s propaganda.

Two journalists who documented the devastation of Mariupol by its Russian besiegers have told how they were rescued by Ukrainian soldiers and told to leave before they were captured by the Russian invaders. Mstyslav Chernov, an Associated Press video journalist, and his AP colleague Evgeniy Maloletka, a photographer, were the only international journalists left in the strategic port city when the Russians attacked on Feb. 24 and have captured ever more grim scenes of death and destruction. They carried on working despite being told they were on a Russian “hit list” and were reporting from a local hospital on last Tuesday when 12 Ukrainian soldiers burst in, asking: “Where are the journalists, for fuck’s sake?” Bundled out of the hospital, they were taken to a darkened basement where a policeman they knew told them they had to leave the city. “If they catch you, they will get you on camera and they will make you say that everything you filmed is a lie. All your efforts and everything you have done in Mariupol will be in vain.”