BBC's Clive Myrie reflects on reporting from Kyiv in atmosphere of 'rumour and dread'

BBC News reporter Clive Myrie has been reflecting on his time reporting from under-siege Ukrainian capital Kyiv, describing the city as "awash with rumour and dread".

The seasoned foreign correspondent spent two weeks updating BBC viewers on the Ukraine crisis from the frontline of attacks by Russia, at various points having to shelter underground and don a flak jacket mid-report.

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On Sunday, he began the long journey out of Ukraine as the broadcaster began to pull its reporters out of the conflict zone and is now headed back to London via Moldova and Romania.

Myrie, 57, wrote for the BBC: "There was a real fear foreign saboteurs were moving among the population and anyone caught outdoors would have been arrested."

He added: "You could see the nervousness on the faces of the soldiers and partisans manning checkpoints, despite the black balaclavas shielding them from the cold. Their eyes told stories of apprehension, concern, worry and existential threat."

Myrie himself was staying in a basement car park in the centre of Kyiv which had become a make-shift bomb shelter.

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Reflecting on the constant threat of attack from Russian forces, Myrie wrote: "The city was awash with rumour and dread. Who might that be in the bomb shelter next to you, who is listening in to your conversation in the bread queue? Best stay indoors and observe the curfew."

He continued: "Villages, towns and cities across the land saw a vanishing, as citizens descended underground to subterranean worlds of refuge."

The reporter recalled a woman he had seen feeding birdseed to pigeons after the lifting of a weekend-long curfew.

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He wrote: "I can’t get the image of the woman feeding the pigeons out of my head. She was risking bombs and missiles to feed the pigeons.

"For me, she represents strength and courage – the indomitability of an independent state, not the cowering fear of the colonised."

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