A loud explosion wakes you up
in the middle of the night.
You look out the window and see a missile
hit a building across the street.
The neighborhood you grew up in,
is now covered by fire and smoke.
This might seem
like a terrible nightmare to you
but this has become a reality
for many citizens of Ukraine.
Today, we'll tell their stories
and show how they've come together
to survive the unthinkable.
The invasion of Ukraine
began in February 2022.
Since then,
Russia has bombed residential areas
and civilian infrastructure.
Russian president Vladimir Putin
claims that Kyiv is controlled by
American-sponsored neo-Nazis,
and wishes to stop
the Westernization of Ukraine
as it continues its efforts to join NATO.
Putin has said that he sees
Ukraine and Russia as one.
He also claims to be defending
Russian speakers in Ukraine.
He especially supports
those in Donetsk and Luhansk,
the self-declared republics
that broke off from Ukraine in 2014.
Many Ukrainian civilians
have joined the army,
while others are trying to escape
to safer cities or neighboring countries.
Ukraine has fought back
and launched counteroffensives,
but there still has been
a substantial loss of life
and homes destroyed.
Today we'll count down
the three most shocking stories
that show what it takes to survive
the horrors of war.
As bombs started falling on
Ukraine's residential areas,
hospital crews went into crisis mode.
Some of the most delicate areas
are NICUs,
or newborn intensive care unit wards.
In Dnipro, in eastern Ukraine,
staff had to move
about a dozen newborn babies
to the basement of the hospital.
Nurses and doctors have to take turns
holding and cradling the babies.
And some of them need to use
manual ventilators to keep
the newborns alive.
Okhmatdyt is the largest
children’s hospital in Kyiv.
It was built in the 1970s
by Soviet engineers,
with underground bunkers
designed to withstand Cold War battles.
Now, these bunkers are filled with parents
holding their children
and the doctors caring for them.
Some of the kids need chemotherapy
or heart surgery.
Oncologists are doing whatever they can
to keep their patients alive.
This includes taking plasma from parents
for blood transfusions.
These brave doctors and nurses
try their best to keep the kids' spirits up
by playing with them and singing songs.
The goal is to evacuate
and send children to another hospital
in Western Ukraine
and eventually to Poland.
This is still dangerous.
And it will take time.
British Chief correspondent
Stuart Ramsay and his Sky News team
were in a vehicle trying to get to Kyiv.
After getting directions
from a police officer,
they got to a quiet intersection.
A little too quiet.
Suddenly they felt something hit the car
and a tire burst.
The attack had begun.
More bullets kept hitting the car,
cracking the windshield
as the team ducked and huddled
inside the vehicle.
The crew scrambled from the car
one by one,
sprinting and jumping over a railing
and down into an embankment.
Camera operator Richie Mockler
was shot twice
but was saved by his body armor,
and he never stopped recording.
Next, they ran to a warehouse
where a group of Ukrainian mechanics
kept them safe until they were rescued.
All survived.
When reporting from a war zone,
it's imperative to wear protection
like body armor and a helmet.
Try to keep it covert,
so you don't look like a soldier
or police officer.
And if you're ambushed in your car,
take cover but act fast
since the car won't protect you for long.
Try your best to climb to the door closest
to a ditch or a building.
When you get out of the car,
stay as close to the ground as possible.
This makes it harder
for a shooter to hit you.
Since the first days
of the Russian invasion,
the streets of Kyiv
have been in total chaos.
The world was shocked to see footage and
photos of Russian tanks circling Ukraine.
One of the videos that went viral
was especially disturbing.
Here you see a solitary car
being driven over by a fast-moving tank,
both forwards and then in reverse.
The person recording screams in horror.
But relief would come shortly after,
as shown in a viral video
when a crowd surrounded the vehicle.
Surprisingly,
the 53-year-old man
who was driving the car was alive
and conscious.
Bystanders then used crowbars
to set him free from the twisted metal
around him.
The man's left arm and leg were broken.
The fact that the tank hit the car head-on
might have been the key to his survival.
If it had hit the side of the car
before driving over it,
the tracks would have been directly
crushing the seat.
But everything happened so fast
that reacting was almost impossible.
Chalk this one up to luck.
There's a common denominator
to our three stories.
A helping hand, or hands,
when you need it the most.
Whether it is medical professionals
assisting newborns to breathe,
a mechanic giving shelter to reporters
or bystanders freeing an injured man
from his car.
The care that Ukrainians are showing
is resulting in survival.
This invasion has directly affected
more than 12 million people
and displaced over 6 million
from their homes.
Ukrainians need all the help
they can get right now,
and you can save lives today
by clicking the link in the description.