VIDEO: Despair and Defiance: The Battle for Ukraine
Four Corners
21 March 2022
'Despair & Defiance'
SARAH FERGUSON: We encountered them first as we crossed the Polish border into Ukraine — a biblical exodus of people.
SARAH FERGUSON: Where do you come from?
REFUGEE: Ukraine, Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine.
They came on foot, in long lines of vehicles, they crowded onto trains. Women, children and the elderly. Fathers left behind. Men of fighting age forbidden to leave.
They came under fire from beleaguered, smoking towns.
VALENTYNA: Very frightening, very frightening.
MALE: The bombing was so terrible.
VALENTYNA: The stress was awful.
The oldest and sickest hauled out on stretchers.
HALYNA: There are corpses lying in the streets. There are children in basements. There's no water in hospitals. It's a humanitarian catastrophe.
JULIA (WITH BABY): We don't know if we can catch the train now, if we can find a seat. It's like this… it's scary, it's never been so scary. And really, I've never been so scared in all my life, never.
JULIA (WITH ANTON): All we have is fear. There is no hope that tomorrow things will be better.
BARTOSZ CICHOCKI, POLISH AMBASSADOR: We are witnessing a genocide. Planned, industrial killing of the civilians. They are shooting families. They're shooting elderly people. They are shooting hospitals.
The Russians have turned to siege warfare… pummelling cities from ground and air.
SARAH FERGUSON, REPORTER: How dangerous is this beyond the borders of Ukraine?
BARTOSZ CICHOCKI: Very much dangerous.
SARAH FERGUSON: Tonight on Four Corners, despair and defiance… inside the city that's become the centre of resistance to Vladimir Putin's plans to create a new order in Europe.
TITLE CARD: DESPAIR & DEFIANCE: THE BATTLE FOR UKRAINE
SHOUTING: "TURN RIGHT, RIGHT"
SARAH FERGUSON: Our journey to Kyiv began late at night with a mad rush to catch the train from the western city of Lviv.
Delayed by an air raid siren we got there with minutes to spare.
Passengers on the night train to Kyiv were going against the vast flow of refugees escaping the capital.
Headed for danger, the train was soon blacked out for safety.
Onboard: Ukrainian officers on their way to the front… And foreign fighters looking to join an international brigade.
At the first stop a group of these men grabbed the chance for a smoke…
Jack is a former British soldier.
SARAH FERGUSON: What is it that made you come? How did you reach the decision?
JACK: I was thinking about it, I was in two mindsets and then there was a video of the Russian jet that launched missiles at that civilian house. And you heard the little girl screaming and then that's what basically turned it.
SARAH FERGUSON: At 3am the wannabe soldiers saw their first action– against a troublesome drunk they thought might be a Russian spy.
The hapless fellow was bundled off at the next station. Handed over to police and gone in the swirling fog of war.
"Turn off the camera, turn off the camera".
SARAH FERGUSON: After 10 hours we were in the frozen outskirts of Kyiv. Then the sprawling city itself, home to three million people before the exodus.
Awful to imagine these apartments blocks could soon be targets for Russian artillery.
At the station a train on the next platform waits to evacuate more women and children.
They're heading west. Trying to get as far away as possible as the Russians tighten their noose around the capital.
In the station concourse, a woman in clear distress sees our camera.
HALYNA ODNOROH: I am Halyna Odnoroh, a military volunteer. My daughter is currently fighting in Mariupol. I have a sister there, I have a brother there, I have an aunt there. All my relatives are there. There have been no telecommunications there for six days. For the second day now they're not allowing a humanitarian corridor. There are corpses lying in the streets. There are children in basements. There's no water in hospitals. It's a humanitarian catastrophe. It's a city of half a million. We're pleading with the whole world to hear us.
SARAH FERGUSON: While so many others are fleeing to the West, Halyna is heading south, towards the Russians, to be with her daughter.
SARAH FERGUSON: Do you think Putin will allow people out of Mariupol?
HALYNA ODNOROH: No. We know this. They told me yesterday. He's holding them to ransom. He wants Mariupol to surrender.
SARAH FERGUSON: As snow begins to fall on Kyiv, medical supplies are unloaded onto the platform.
We move fast through the almost empty streets, skirting debris from attacks in the early days of the invasion.
FEDIR SYDORUK (OFF CAMERA): This was the missile, this was the missile, you can see it on the road. They wanted to hit the station and the tower, but they hit the tower and they hit the basketball arena.
SARAH FERUGSON: Our driver Eduard spends most of his time delivering food, medicine and clothing across Kyiv to families in need.
EDUARD: City roads has changed because many block posts on the road, and the city is without people, without cars at all. I stay here because Ukraine is my motherland. In this city lives my family, my children, my wife.
SARAH FERGUSON: He's also a volunteer at one of the many defensive positions being constructed in the city.
They don't want us to show its location.
They're worried about the Russians using geolocation data to target them.
They're also worried about fifth columnists already in the city.
KOLA: There are many saboteur groups. There are a lot being sent here.
SARAH FERGUSON: So you're worried about Russian spies infiltrating Kyiv and finding out information?
KOLA: We are not afraid of them. We identify and exterminate them.
SARAH FERGUSON: In an underground bunker they're making hundreds of Molotov cocktails …
Man in bunker: Machine oil, or old machine oil
GREGORY: You need to shake it.
GREGORY: You light it and you throw it.
GREGORY: They haven't disappeared anywhere, they're still relevant these days. Today it's an important weapon, so you're not fighting with your bare hands. It's a great weapon against technology and tanks.
SARAH FERGUSON: Kola is the commander of this checkpoint. He's a veteran of Russia's long war in Afghanistan – when Ukraine was still part of the Soviet Union.
SARAH FERGUSON: We can see the pictures of many Russian tanks, in a long line, not far from where we are. Are they just too powerful for you? Will they be able to get into Kyiv?
KOLA: No matter how mighty they are, we are united. No matter how powerful they might be, if they dare come here, we will burn them to ashes. To ashes. Not one will be left alive.
SARAH FERGUSON: For their own injured the medical supplies are rudimentary.
SARAH FERGUSON: You go, I'll follow you. Thank you you're very kind.
EDUARD: We have medicine here, all which we need.
SARAH FERGUSON: Alyona, a teacher in normal times, is preparing herself to do battlefield first aid.
ALYONA: My home is here, my children are here, my family is here. I cannot be afraid. I have no right to be afraid. I have a lot to protect.
SARAH FERGUSON: Everyone here seems to have made the same calculation.
EDUARD: In the first days of the war I really wanted my family to leave. I even quarrelled with my wife. I tried to drive her out of our home to go to a safe place. We argued, and argued, then embraced and said: Oh, we're going to defend Kyiv, we're going to be side by side with the people.
SARAH FERGUSON: Each anxious day, as the Russians creep closer, Eduard makes sure to get home to his young family before the curfew.
His wife Natalia watches for his arrival.
EDUARD: Hello! Hello! Come here.
NATALIA: Give your daddy a hug.
EDUARD: How are you?
NATALIA: Yegor, come here! Your dad's here!
NATALIA: I am very worried. Very, very, very worried. I wait anxiously for him to come home. There is no alternative for him. He needs to help people or he will lose his self-respect.
EDUARD: Good evening.
GRANDMOTHER: Good evening.
EDUARD: How are you going?
SARAH FERGUSON: Natalia's mother lives here too… Fretting about her grandchildren.
GRANDMOTHER: Of course I am worried for them! They're the most precious thing we have right now. The children and the grandchildren.
SARAH FERGUSON: For Natalia, it was a difficult decision to remain in Kyiv.
NATALIA: A lot of people have already left and when another family leaves, you ask yourself am I doing the right thing by staying?
NATALIA: There can be no peace, only victory. That's it. I can't leave my husband, my Mum… I'm afraid. That's why I'm staying here. I want to greet our victors from my window. The Ukrainian army.
EDUARD: The youngest boy still doesn't understand what war is about but the elder one hears the air-raid sirens and wants to hide in the basement.
EDUARD: When he hears something about Russian soldiers… yesterday he asked me: "Dad, you won't die, will you?"
SARAH FERGUSON: Eduard's biggest fear is for his sons.
EDUARD: It breaks my heart. I simply can't imagine, if my children are injured by someone, if some animal does something bad to them, I will transform into a wolf and will tear them apart for as long as I live.
SARAH FERGUSON: The night-time curfew brings with it a fearful beauty.
SARAH FERGUSON: What will happen to you if they come into this part of the city?
NATALIA: I pray that it doesn't happen. The army and the towns around Kyiv, although they are being destroyed, they're still standing and holding back the enemy. I pray and hope that they will not enter Kyiv.
SARAH FERGUSON: The road to Irpin on the outskirts of Kyiv.
It used to be a gateway to the capital but at the start of the war the defenders blew up the bridge here to stop Russian tanks advancing into the capital.
Smoke from the latest shelling rises over Irpin.
This satellite city of more than 62 thousand people is the frontline.
Threatened by mortar fire, the trapped local inhabitants have struggled to evacuate underneath the broken bridge.
Today some of the oldest and sickest are being carried out on stretchers.
MAN: You have to carry them head first.
MAN: Head first into the car?
MAN: One, two three, hold it, that's it.
MAN: Ok shall we lift her together.
SARAH FERGUSON: The smoke over there is the Russian front line, and the sound we can hear is mortar shells landing over there, meanwhile the evacuation of the desperate residents of Irpin continues, taking with them all they can carry and the memory of the terror of the last few days.
VALENTYNA: For two weeks we held out so bravely but we can't any longer. It is so cold, we are freezing. There's no water, no electricity, nothing. Nothing to eat.
YOUNGER WOMAN: It was frightening, very frightening.
VALENTYNA: We are headed for uncertainty. We don't know where we are going.
MALE: Tell them what it was like there.
VALENTYNA: Very frightening, very frightening.
MALE VOICE (intervenes): The bombing was so terrible.
VALENTYNA: The stress was awful. There were thunderous explosions and nothing else.
SARAH FERGUSON: They've been hiding in their basements, waiting to be rescued.
SARAH FERGUSON: What are you leaving behind?
VALENTYNA: We abandoned everything! Our houses, our apartments, and left.
MALE VOICE: Yes, we've left behind all our possessions.
VALENTYNA: It's only …
YOUNGER WOMAN: Even our pets are left behind. We left our hamster, our dog and the cat.
MALE VOICE: We grabbed our documents, and that was all. And left.
SARAH FERGUSON: You're leaving with your clothes and your documents and that's all?
MALE VOICE: Yes… the clothes…
YOUNGER WOMAN: Eh, what clothes?! Just what we were dressed in.
VALENTYNA: Just what we were dressed in.
SARAH FERGUSON: Valentyna couldn't bear to leave her pet rabbit.
VALENTYNA: We felt sorry to leave it behind.
SARAH FERGUSON: Do you think you will be able to come back?
YOUNGER WOMAN: We want to!
MALE VOICE: We hope that we can!
VALENTYNA: We hope…
GROUP: Because at our age to start a new life somewhere else, we won't be able to.
SARAH FERGUSON: Some of the older residents of Irpin have lived here their whole lives. For some of them it's just too much.
Central Kyiv, locked down and sandbagged – under heavy security in the heart of the old town, the government is still functioning.
In the fortified bunker President Zelenskyy uses to speak to the world we meet his Deputy Prime Minister, Iryna Vereshchuk.
IRYNA VERESHCHUK, DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: Kyiv is vulnerable because today the Russians are not allowing civilians, women, children to leave. I am dealing with humanitarian corridors right now.
SARAH FERGUSON: Are the Russians committing war crimes in Irpin?
IRYNA VERESHCHUK: Russians are committing war crimes everywhere. I'm responsible for the humanitarian effort, the lives and safety of our civilians. I can testify that every hour, every day, war crimes are being committed against humanity.
SARAH FERGUSON: What does Vladimir Putin want for your country?
IRYNA VERESHCHUK: Destruction, absolute total elimination. Putin is punishing us for trying to become free, democratic, European, become what we have always had the right to be, a people with their own opinion, freedom of speech, freedom of choice. We choose our own government; we cannot be told where we should go and what organisation we can join. This is what we are paying such a huge price for now.
SARAH FERGUSON: Three days in and we now had a new vehicle driven by armed police.
Eduard and his van had returned to delivering aid around the city.
Passing the endless checkpoints with these fellows, much quicker now.
SARAH FERGUSON: Since we arrived in Kyiv we've watched these defensive positions being built up all over the city with more of these metal structures being placed on the road every day. Whatever negotiations are taking place far away from here, those people who decided to stay and defend Kyiv are preparing for street fighting with the Russian army.
Many Ukrainians have returned to their homeland to fight. Tennis pro Sergiy Stakhovsky is one of them.
We last saw him competing at the Australian Open.
He's swapped his racquet for deadly weapons.
He's even been trained in how to shoot an anti-tank missile.
SERGIY STAKHOVSKY, VOLUNTEER FIGHTER: NLAW, I know how to shoot. I had training two days ago, they showed me how that works. I hope I will not have to use it, but if I need to, I know how it works. There's a sequence of things you need to do, but for an anti-tank with that high accuracy, it's pretty easy.
SARAH FERGUSON: He left behind his wife and two young sons in Hungary. He didn't tell the boys where he was going but one day he will.
SERGIY STAKHOVSKY: I'll tell them that I was standing the ground of my country, where I was raised, and for them, for their freedom, because once Russia takes over Ukraine, it's on the border with Hungary, and it's only 300 kilometres away. I mean, I just don't see why they would stop.
SARAH FERGUSON: Today at Kyiv's biggest children's hospital young cancer patients are being evacuated to the much safer city of Lviv in the west.
DR LESIA LYSYTSIA: In last day we try to treat our patients, we try to stay them here. But from day to day, we realise that this will be harder and supply are limited. They can end it in any moments. And we have serious patients with a serious disease and stop treatment for them seems the same like kill them.
VLAD: They warned us yesterday that we would be leaving today and now we are.
OKSANA: He's had chemotherapy done, and bone marrow transplant done. This was the last stage of our treatment. But we need time for the rehabilitation. And they took away that time from us.
SARAH FERGUSON: Lilia's daughter Anhelinka also had a bone marrow transplant.
LILIA: They told us to pack our bags because the children and their parents could be evacuated at any moment as we are in the very high-risk group. It's very risky to go and very risky to stay. So much has been put into the treatment of all these children. It's scary. Really scary.
SARAH FERGUSON: The families will travel in convoy with a military escort — some in private cars.
Their defiance is remarkable.
LILIA: We are very strong people. Nobody wants to run away, they want to stand firm. We will not surrender just like that.
SARAH FERGUSON: How are the children? Do they understand? Do you think they understand what is happening?
DR LYSYTSIA: They understand very clearly. They understand very clearly. Teenager, especially, they have even panic attack. They fight with the cancer every day. And now they have attacks. They realise that everything can stop, that their life depends on their treatment.
SARAH FERGUSON: 12-year-old Polina is feeling too sick to talk.
NATALIA: She has daily treatment and daily tests. She needs to be monitored constantly.
SARAH FERGUSON: So you can't have any interruption in her treatment?
NATALIA: That's right, there can be no interruptions. Even today's trip is pretty risky for us.
We weren't planning on leaving until the very last moment. We were planning on staying but now our children cannot receive treatment and the drugs they need. Today we are losing everything.
SARAH FERGUSON: 15-year-old Kate has been at the hospital for 7 months.
SARAH FERGUSON: Are you worried to leave this hospital in Kyiv and go somewhere else?
KATE: Maybe I'm afraid because the war started, and it's really scary because it's bombing here.
SARAH FERGUSON: No one here knows their final destination.
KATE: Maybe it will be Germany or Poland. I don't know. I don't know.
YURI (SOLDIER ON BUS): Hello, everyone! Your attention, please. My name is Yuri, I'm a doctor from Dnipro. One of our fighters will go with you. His name is Druzhnets. Don't be afraid, he's one of our guys. If you have any sort of problems and you need to stop, if you feel sick, please tell him.
SARAH FERGUSON: The military are waiting for the go ahead that the road out of Kyiv is safe.
A sign on the bus window says "kids" but the Russians have killed many children in this conflict – the parents know there is no such thing as safe passage.
PRESIDENT ZELENSKYY: It's been snowing. Such is spring. Spring is similar to the war. Sad. But everything will be fine. We will win.
SARAH FERGUSON: Volodymyr Zelenskyy's astonishing resilience seems to be holding his country together.
He also understands how to win global support.
When he addressed the US congress last Wednesday, he focussed on the fate of Ukraine's children.
PRESIDENT ZELENSKYY: Now, I'm almost 45 years old. Today my age stopped when the hearts of more than 100 children stopped beating. I see no sense in life if it cannot stop the deaths.
SARAH FERGUSON: Zelenskyy's speech was an appeal to hearts and minds in America.
Top of his agenda: A NATO no fly zone over Ukrainian cities and towns.
PRESIDENT ZELENSKYY: This is a terror that Europe has not seen for 80 years and we are asking for a response, for a response from the world, a response to this terror. Is this a lot to ask for? To create a no-fly zone over Ukraine to save people. Is it a lot to ask, to save people?
SARAH FERGUSON: The young man openly challenged President Biden to match his own courage.
PRESIDENT ZELENSKYY: Strong doesn't mean weak. Strong is brave and ready to fight for the lives of his citizens and citizens of the world. Thank you. Slavo U'kraini.
SARAH FERGUSON: But Biden has warned repeatedly that a military confrontation with Russia could lead to World War three.
In Kyiv the Deputy Prime Minister and former army officer, Iryna Vereshchuk echoed her President's call.
IRYNA VERESHCHUK: Their jets, bombers and other weapons significantly outnumber ours.
We must respond instantly. As we speak, people are dying. I understand that you may not care about the death of my child or my friend, but you should care about your family and your safety because this is an issue of our global security.
If we are given weapons, if we are helped to shield the sky at least partially, we will manage, for you, for us and for everyone.
SARAH FERGUSON: At the Polish Embassy in Kyiv we meet Bartosz Cichocki, the only European ambassador still in the country.
His presence is significant since Poland is the European country pushing hardest for stronger action from NATO.
SARAH FERGUSON: Why did you decide to stay?
BARTOSZ CICHOCKI, POLISH AMBASSADOR: Because my president, my prime minister, my minister of foreign affairs promised that we will not leave the Ukrainians. And for me, myself, if I may allow myself a personal comment, it's a source of pride to stand arm to arm with the bravest nation in the world.
SARAH FERGUSON: Do you think there is any other, any circumstances, under which that could, where there could be a no-fly zone?
BARTOSZ CICHOCKI: I'm afraid it would take another genocide in Ukrainian cities.
SARAH FERGUSON: Is that the tipping point that it turns into something more extreme than that which we are seeing already?
BARTOSZ CICHOCKI: I don't think there may be anything more extreme than what happened to Kharkiv, Irpin, Bucha, but there are still many cities left untouched. And from what the interviewed prisoners say, Russian pilots, they were ordered to bomb the civilians. So, it was not a mistake.
SARAH FERGUSON: What are the circumstances under which Poland could approve, could be part of supporting a no-fly zone? What would it take?
BARTOSZ CICHOCKI: NATO consensus.
SARAH FERGUSON: Unlike some of its NATO partners, Poland is not afraid to risk Putin's retaliation.
BARTOSZ CICHOCKI: I think we don't care anymore. Because this is our security. If Ukraine falls, we will be in a big trouble.
SARAH FERGUSON: Whatever happens, he says Putin's invasion of Ukraine will force a major rethink of European security.
BARTOSZ CICHOCKI: I believe that we'll now make further steps within NATO, within the United Nations to adjust. And I believe those systems, the United Nation systems will have to change. NATO, as well, OSCE, and others. I think the EU would be completely different after whatever happens.
SARAH FERGUSON: In Kyiv's maternity hospital number two the doctors and nurses stop work to watch a broadcast from their President.
Nearly two million people, mostly women and children, have fled the capital and become refugees … but there are some who simply couldn't leave.
DR SALNIKOV (to staff): Hello.
SARAH FERGUSON: The women here, heavily pregnant when the war started, had no choice but to remain.
Hospital director Sergiy Salnikov has set up makeshift birthing suites in the basement for air raids.
SARAH FERGUSON: This is no place for a baby.
DR SALNIKOV: Yes, yes, no place for birth.
SARAH FERGUSON: After seeing the bombing of hospitals in other cities, Salnikov is preparing for the worst.
DR SERGIY SALNIKOV: This is not how children should be born, like this in a room without windows. Babies can be born prematurely as a result of stress. Babies can experience long-term issues with their central nervous system and blood circulation.
SERGIY SALNIKOV: Today there was a premature birth at 29 weeks. The baby was unwell. That happened today, but the delayed reaction and indirect effects we have yet to see.
SARAH FERGUSON: Salnikov introduces us to the new mothers.
Olena has a baby girl, Amelia, born just a few minutes earlier.
OLENA: Sorry, I'm half asleep and I can't put my thoughts into English.
SARAH FERGUSON: Are you worried to take her home in this situation?
OLENA: Yes. I want to take her home and the situation … I don't know what we will do in future because the situation will change maybe every day and every hours. And I don't know what I will do it.
SARAH FERGUSON: Alyona has a baby boy called Alla.
ALYONA: Of course, I wanted him to be born in peace time and not to the sound of explosions.
SARAH FERGUSON: Did you think about taking your wife out of Kyiv?
FATHER: Well, firstly, the due date was approaching. And secondly, it's really unsafe to travel out of the city. They're blowing up roads, people are disappearing without a trace, it's safer to be here.
SARAH FERGUSON: Viktoria is waiting for her husband to collect her and her new baby and take them home.
SARAH FERGUSON: How are you?
VIKTORIA: So-so.
SARAH FERGUSON: Baby Ivan was born the previous day.
VIKTORIA: Last night the explosions were really loud. The baby was sleeping beside me. Mum moved into the next room and honestly, it was scary. I was hugging him all night, he was right next to me.
NATALIA: Yes, I am very worried for my daughter, for my son and for my grandson because this time is terrible, I think. It's very terrible. But we believe. We believe in our country, in our people, in our son, because he defends our city.
SARAH FERGUSON: The baby's father has been given leave to come and collect his wife and the son he still hasn't seen.
Pavel is a member of Ukraine's special forces Alpha group… he keeps his mask on, even for the baby photos.
PAVEL: We're not going anywhere. We're staying in Kyiv.
This is our capital. We were born here. We don't want to be refugees.
SARAH FERGUSON: And, in one of the more unlikely scenes of this or any war, Pavel's special forces team-mates join him with baby Ivan on the hospital steps.
We head north, out of the city, through a series of checkpoints, to meet a mother and son who have just escaped from the village of Kozarovychi.
It was overrun by Russian troops in the first days of the war.
On the way a soldier tells us this area is still under Ukrainian control.
SOLDIER AT CHECKPOINT: We are holding the upper territories for now. Our job is just to greet them here.
SARAH SERGUSON: And what does "greet" mean?
SOLDIER AT CHECKPOINT: "Welcome them with bread and salt" as we always do…
SARAH FERGUSON: Ok, thank you. And stay safe.
Lilia and her son Yaroslav arrive with their few belongings.
We've offered to take them to the railway station. They'll tell us their story on the way.
It began for Lilia on the 24th of February when she finished her shift as a shop assistant.
LILIA: When I was getting home and walking from the highway, there were Russian helicopters flying above me. It was very scary. Then I got home, and it all started, all this shelling.
We were hiding in the basement, as it was not safe to remain in the house. When I came out of the basement and stood outside, a Russian helicopter also flew right over my head.
It was incredibly hard to get through all this.
SARAH FERGUSON: How long did you spend in the basement?
LILIA: We were sitting for 11 days.
YAROSLAV: Thank God my family is alright, but our village suffered a lot from the Russian occupants. There were lots of Russian military there. My friends sent me videos of their movement around Kozarovychi.
SARAH FERGUSON: Yaroslav shows us what his friends filmed.
YAROSLAV: What I saw were armoured personnel carriers and tanks. I also personally saw soldiers.
Often I heard shelling from the Russian side. There were missile strikes from their tanks on our military. I saw fighter jets flying, and I heard the stories of civilians being shot by the Russian occupants.
LILIA: We heard shelling. It was very scary when these missiles were flying, houses were on fire.
We saw it all when the black smoke came from the direction of our cemetery. There were fires on another side as well. We heard these explosions every day. Bombings, lots of times. Very scary. Very scary.
SARAH FERGUSON: After 11 days Yaroslav and Lilia took the risk to walk south through the Russian lines.
YAROSLAV: We had our things packed in the morning. We took white handkerchiefs and the like with us so that our military would understand that we are refugees and want to leave Kozarovychi.
LILIA: My husband stayed at home at Kozarovychi. We worry a lot about him. We're in touch over the phone. The shelling continues, but he is holding on.
YAROSLAV: I am extremely worried. I tried to persuade him to come with us, but he didn't want to leave our property and our village.
SARAH FERGUSON: At Kyiv railway station the crowds have thinned out now that so many have fled the city.
Yaroslav and Lilia are told what train to take. They're heading west, out of the conflict zone.
We've driven seven hours from Kyiv to Ukraine's Black Sea coast and the critical port city of Odesa.
Armoured vehicles are heading towards the frontline city of Mykolaiv.
Our military escort spells out what's at stake.
EUGENE: It's very important to hold Mykolaiv right now because it's the main gate to Odesa. If Mykolaiv falls, Odesa is going to face big problems. These are the evacuation buses. They're evacuating people to the safest regions like the Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and all that.
SARAH FERGUSON: What does it say on the front?
EUGENE: Children. It says children.
SARAH FERGUSON: Putin's strategy in the south of Ukraine is clear.
His forces have targeted a string of port cities. Some they've occupied, others are under siege.
And further to the west, the biggest prize of all, Odesa.
EUGENE: Right now, we got a message that the Russian group, around 1,000 men is storming the Mykolaiv with the attempt to move further to Odesa from the eastern side.
We're expecting them by the land and by the sea.
SARAH FERGUSON: Eugene comes from Mariupol where siege conditions worsen daily under the relentless Russian bombardment.
He hasn't spoken to his family since the Russians took out the cell tower.
EUGENE: A friend of mine just called me, she told that the Russian tanks are in front of my house in Mariupol right now.
SARAH FERGUSON: In your hometown?
EUGENE: Yeah, in front of my house!
SARAH FERGUSON: Which of your family is in the house?
EUGENE: My mother, my grandmother and grandfather and my pet cat.
Basically there are street fighting right now for Mariupol and the ring is getting smaller.
SARAH FERGUSON: Do you want to be there?
EUGENE: Yes definitely.
And we're going to the positions right now. We're on the outskirts of the Odesa region. We're going to the military positions.
SARAH FERGUSON: At the local base we don't have long to wait until the Commander arrives.
Senior Lieutenant Ivan and his men will be expected to hold the line here if the Russians move on from Mykolaiv.
We're soon on the road again.
EUGENE: Right now we're going to the frontline positions where the trenches are, to the guys who are covering the seaside and they are gonna be first who will meet the enemy from the sea.
SARAH FERGUSON: We enter an abandoned resort town.
EUGENE: And here were the shops, and on the second floor it's like a motel.
SARAH FERGUSON: Filming of the defensive positions here is prohibited.
In recent days Russian naval ships have shelled targets in the suburbs of Odesa.
LT IVAN: Odesa is one of their main targets, because it is the access point to the sea, one of the few of the big ones left in Ukraine. They want to take over the entire Black Sea. And this will cut off all supplies to Ukraine via the Black Sea. Everything delivered by sea from all over the world will be cut off.
So Odesa is that way. We are expecting the enemy from the front, but he's located more to the right. We're hearing constant shelling of Mykolaiv … So, we're waiting for them to land, we'll turn …. we'll turn the Black Sea red.
SARAH FERGUSON: Like many Ukrainian soldiers Ivan and his men fought for years against Russian separatists in the Donbas region so the army has a core of hardened veterans.
It's one of the reasons they've done so well against the Russian invaders.
IVAN: Most of our military units are already experienced in combat. It's like in the Middle Ages: the novice who is just learning to fence, will never beat the master swordsman. Our people are experienced fighters, and they have the guts to pull the trigger.
SARAH FERGUSON: In a defensive position on the frontier of Odesa we're shown another reason for their confidence.
A supply of US-made Javelin anti-tank missiles… which have been used with deadly effect in battlefields across Ukraine.
EUGENE: These are the rockets for the javelins, here's a javelin launcher.
SOLDIER: This is the position, here is the opening and this is where the rocket is attached.
It is taken from the case and attached here. Then we launch it.
EUGENE: These are gonna be used against the armoured vehicles, tanks and against helicopters.
SARAH FERGUSON: Does Ukraine, do you have enough of javelins like these and other similar weapons?
SOLDIER: I think we have enough. We also have our own anti-tank weapons.
SARAH FERGUSON: As the soldiers prepare to face the anticipated Russian assault, Odesa's musicians stage a concert in front of the opera house.
The musicians are calling on NATO to close the skies over Ukraine.
Fear of what's to come has emptied the city of most of its people.
A scant few pray for salvation in its fine Russian Orthodox cathedral.
This elegant city, founded by Catherine the Great, has sandbagged its precious statues.
Odesa cannot escape its Russian heritage, nor the obsession of a deluded modern-day Tsar, desperate to draw it back into his longed-for empire.
SARAH FERGUSON: Is this the biggest crisis that Europe has faced since the Second World War?
BARTOSZ CICHOCKI: I believe so. I still think that Yugoslavia conflict was local and, of course, cruel and criminal. But still, it was different. It was without the direct engagement of a nuclear superpower. And, at any time, it did not put a risk of a global war, while this is the case.
SARAH FERGUSON: How dangerous is this beyond the borders of Ukraine?
BARTOSZ CICHOCKI: Very much dangerous. I think the inner circle of President Putin should take care that the red button is nowhere close to President Putin's fingers.
SARAH FERGUSON: Vladimir Putin has overturned the old order. The stakes for Europe and the world are immense.
The toll in human lives is mounting by the day and by the hour.
In Odesa, as in many other cities, desperate survivors are at the railway station waiting to escape a world they no longer understand.
JULIA (WITH BABY): We have just arrived today from Mykolaiv. After two weeks of shelling, just this night they were firing right at the city. We decided to go. Where we are going, we don't know. We are just going somewhere, and we don't know where. We don't know if we can catch the train now, if we can find a seat. It's like this… it's scary, it's never been so scary. And really, I've never been so scared in all my life, never.
JULIA (WITH ANTON): I simply can't describe these feelings for you. They're something else.
Our life is completely different now. Before the 24th we lived, since then we have just been existing. We wake up… we don't know what will happen tomorrow, or in an hour.
Despair and Defiance: The Battle for Ukraine
“We’re pleading with the whole world to hear us.” Military volunteer
On Monday, Four Corners takes you into a city under siege - Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine.
“The Ukrainian army and the Ukrainian spirit prevail. We are highly motivated, but Putin's number of jets, bombers and other weapons significantly outnumber ours.” Ukrainian member of parliament
With the city enduring indiscriminate bombing, and with Russian forces attempting to encircle the capital, Sarah Ferguson reports on the despair and defiance of the Ukrainian people resisting the Russian invasion.
“Putin only responds to force. He only responds to power. This is why Ukraine is still standing. Remember, nobody was giving us more than 24 to 48 hours.” Ukrainian member of parliament
In the centre of the city, inside the heavily fortified compound where the Ukrainian government is holed up, the Deputy Prime Minister gives a fiercely defiant interview.
“They will not succeed. Kyiv will not be taken by the Russians. Otherwise, we will all die here, together with the Russians.” Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister
All over the city there are checkpoints and military volunteers who only a few short weeks ago had been living quiet civilian lives.
“My home is here, my children are here, my family is here. I cannot be afraid. I have no right to be afraid. I have a lot to protect.” School teacher/military volunteer
Joining them are foreign fighters who say they cannot sit back and watch as Russia tries to remake the map.
“I'm a long way from home, but obviously no one likes to see genocide and civilians killed and it's wrong … Putin has shown that he doesn't care about it and it needs to be stopped.” British military volunteer
With the intensifying attack, the Four Corners team filmed powerful scenes near the front line where Russian forces have been firing at civilians trying to escape.
“The smoke over there is the Russian front line and the sound we can hear is mortar shells landing over there. Meanwhile, the evacuation of the desperate residents of Irpin continues, taking with them all they can carry and the memory of the terror of the last few days.” Sarah Ferguson
Surreal scenes play out across the city. In one maternity hospital a mother hands her newborn son to his father. The special forces soldier, dressed for battle, still finds joy in the moment and a determination to live.
“No matter what, it’s the best day of my life.” Special forces soldier & new father
The message over and over again is that the people of this city will fight to the end.
“If they dare come here, we will burn them to ashes. To ashes. Not one will be left.” Volunteer fighter
The battle for Kyiv is strategic and deeply symbolic, but it’s only one part of this massive Russian invasion. The Four Corners team travelled south to the famous port city of Odessa, to meet the commanders and soldiers on this new front line as Russia seeks to control the Black Sea.
“It’s hard to say what the plan is. But our plan is to defend our country. We don’t need to second guess Putin’s plans.” Mayor
As Vladimir Putin seeks to create a new order in Europe, one of the few diplomats left in Ukraine says the consequences of this war are terrifying.
“My imagination is almost limitless...If Ukraine falls, we will be in a big trouble.” Ambassador
Despair and Defiance, reported by Sarah Ferguson goes to air on Monday 21st March at 8.30pm. It is replayed on Tuesday 22nd at 11.00pm and Wednesday 23rd at 10am. It can also be seen on ABC NEWS channel on Saturday at 8.10pm AEDT, ABC iview and at abc.net.au/4corners.