CNN’s chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward showed a whole lot of compassion Saturday while reporting from an area near Kyiv, Ukraine, demolished by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s assault, pivoting from her live broadcast to comfort elderly refugees.
“These people have been under bombardment for seven straight days and are only just leaving their homes — and they’re leaving them reluctantly and leaving them with the knowledge that they might not be able to go back to them,”Ward spoke before rubble from a Russian strike-damaged bridge.
A long line of people carried as much of their belongings as they could, marched up and over the embankment in front of Ward to higher ground, hoping for safer conditions. Ward stopped to speak in his native tongue to an elderly man and pointed him in the right direction.
She continued her live report: “People are so exhausted. They can barely walk. They’re having to climb this sort of twisted metal. Many of them, as you can see, are elderly, they’re visibly distressed. It’s just an awful, awful scene. And these people are the lucky ones.”
A second older woman approached her and wept. Ward spoke in her native tongue with her, touching her arm, and then stroked her back to comfort her. Ward excused herself as she signaled back to the U.S. anchor that she would help the woman carry her bag along the path. Ward spoke to her again, offering more comfort words just a few meters away.
“People are obviously incredibly affected by this situation. They’re frightened. They’re exhausted. They’re on edge. They’ve got their pets. They’ve grabbed whatever they can. And you’re right,”Ward stated, “a lot of these people have no idea where they’re going to go once they cross this bridge.”
She continued. “They know they’re in relative safety once they do it, but they don’t have any idea where they’re going to go, they don’t have any idea where they’re going to sleep tonight. They don’t have any idea when they can get all their belongings from back home. We’re still hearing the steady thud of artillery in the distance and the fear is,”She stated, “it’s just going to keep getting closer.”
The video at the top shows the unfolding events.
