"The Russians were hunting us down. They had a list of
names, including ours," an AP journalist recalls.
By HALEY COHEN
Published: MARCH 22, 2022 01:13
Two Associated Press journalists documenting the siege of
Mariupol in Ukraine said on Monday that they were on a Russian hit list.
Before fleeing, Mstyslav Chernov and Evgeniy Maloletka were
the last two international journalists in the port city, which has been
barraged by Russian forces since they invaded in late February. Dozens of
people have been left dead, injured, or missing in Mariupol, a focal point of
Russia's assault.
"The Russians were hunting us down. They had a list of
names, including ours, and they were closing in," Chernov, an AP
videographer who spent 20 days in Mariupol, said in a first-person account of
his experience covering the war alongside Maloletka, a photographer.
Chernov said during his time reporting in Mariupol he had
witnessed mass graves, bodies in the streets, and people dying at hospitals.
Their harrowing escape was aided by Ukrainian soldiers ordered to help the
journalists.
"We had been documenting [the] siege by Russian troops
for more than two weeks," Chernov said. "We were reporting inside the
hospital when gunmen began stalking the corridors. Surgeons gave us white
scrubs to wear as camouflage.
"Suddenly at dawn, a dozen soldiers burst in: 'Where
are the journalists, for f***’s sake?' I looked at their armbands, blue for
Ukraine, and tried to calculate the odds that they were Russians in disguise. I
stepped forward to identify myself. 'We’re here to get you out,' they
said."
Chernov recalled crossing 15 Russian checkpoints to evacuate
the city before reaching safety.
Russian spy chief arrested, officials split over Ukraine invasionForeign reports have indicated that Russian authorities are bickering over their invasion of Ukraine.JPost - International
"We were the last journalists in Mariupol," he
said. "Now there are none."
Prior to the war, Foreign Policy magazine reported
that US intelligence services had obtained information that there was
a list of Ukrainian politicians, activists, and Russian and Belarusian
dissidents that Russia would target if they invaded Ukraine.
The Kremlin denied US media reports that Moscow has drawn up
a list of Ukrainians to capture or kill in the event of an invasion, Reuters
reported on February 21.
Michael Starr contributed to this report.
https://www.jpost.com/international/article-701960
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