you have not been able to tell that much during the last year because of the war, about the fact that this country has a rich and distinct culture? i was standing in between two great cathedrals. one cathedral is behind you, saint sophia of the 11th century. and this, one st. michael s cathedral, was ruined by the way, by bolsheviks insurgents, and was fully rebuilt. but this is the great square, it shows how rich the ukraine history is, and russia right now, they are robbing artifacts from museums, so they steal also our history, because ancient kyiv started from here the place where we are standing right now. and russians all the time or trying to take this on their behalf, the rich history of ukraine. but going back to the 30s, this has been a struggle for ukrainians. they have always felt that association with russia is meant to diminish the cultural heritage. vladimir putin said it on the night he declared the special military operation, that it is not a place of
second we ve been in the square, the saint michael square, i told you about the cathedral, in the monastery, but what stands in front of it are these tanks. these are rusted out russian tanks. these were captured in the battle of kyiv. and this is a very important gathering place for a lot of ukrainians. it s sunday night. now all weekend, all day, people come here, they look at these tanks, they take pictures on them, they actually climb on them. you ve probably seen it in the background of some of my shots. there are zahl sorts of tanks here, various types of armored vehicles, personnel carriers, and battle tanks. these are a symbol of the fact that while this country is still at war, there were parts of this particular city that were both hit by missiles and where russian troops actually invaded eight miles from where i stand they d almost take in the city of kyiv. they sort of occupied the
been standing for 1100 years. those are russian rested tanks on the site, on the, grounds of saint michael square. good morning. it is sunday, february 26th, day three 68 of russians war on ukraine, nearly a year ago, russian troops rolled into the town of bucha. weeks later, the world was exposed to the horrors. for several days now, and for several reasons, we ve been hearing that we are approaching a turning point in this war. and now it seems we are there. that is how i open this show on april 3rd of last year. it was the turning point i was referring to, bucha, a town on the outskirts of kyiv. only 15 miles from where i am today. days earlier, ukrainians had liberated the town from russian forces. that weekend, the world saw the first images and dispatches of the brutal massacre that happened there. civilian residents were killed indiscriminately, hands were tied behind their backs, and bodies left to rot on the side of the road for weeks.