‘We heard 3 loud explosions ...’ Former Herald-Leader staffer reports on Ukraine invasion

Former Herald-Leader staff member Frank Langfitt, now with NPR, is reporting on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on air and on social media.

NPR’s London correspondent, Langfitt covered Kentucky’s Appalachian coalfield for the Lexington Herald-Leader from 1989 to 1992 while based in Hazard.

On Thursday, Langfitt posted on his personal Facebook page, “Ukraine is under attack by Russian troops. We heard three loud explosions in the port city of Odesa little after 5 am. Then jets roaring overhead, then more explosions. By 6 a.m. there were lines at gas stations as people began to flee west towards the border to Poland and, presumably, Moldova. “

“We have now left Odesa and are heading to a safe location. ...This will be a very tough time for the people of Ukraine, who have built an independent country and democracy in 30 years. They are lovely people. Please keep them In Your thoughts.”

Langfitt elaborated on NPR’s Morning Edition:

“Just after President Putin declared war - about 5 o’clock local time - and 10 minutes later, we started (inaudible) explosions, which shook the hotel. These were clearly missile strikes. It’s no surprise because Odessa - it’s a strategic port.”

“And then jets were roaring overhead.And then just more missile strikes. Now, most people in the hotel where I was staying - some of them actually slept through this, remarkably. But there’s a father I ran into in the hallways. His name is Constantine (ph). He’s a lawyer. He was trying to get his family out...”

As Constantine stood before dawn packing his vehicle, he was saying, “I am scared. I am very scared. I am scared for my baby. And the people don’t know what do.”

“As he was saying there, people don’t know what to do,” said Langfitt. “He headed up north, as did we, out of the city because of the airstrikes. And he’s going to be driving hundreds of miles today, west to the city of Lviv, which is near the Polish border, and then be able to settle in there, a place much safer.”

“What’s really striking is the Russian military has come in from three different directions. It is pushing into the Kyiv region, according to the Ukrainian Interior Ministry. So it’s rolling along, apparently. In the Odesa region, there’s a strike on a military base. They killed 18 people... and there were also additional missile strikes in other strategic ports - Mykolaiv and Kherson - both of them in the Black Sea area.

“As we made our way north, we just saw more and more people driving north - long lines at gas stations,” Langfitt said.

He talked to one man who left his parents behind so they could join him when he found a safe place.

Morning Edition’s Rachel Martin asked Langfitt what is the sense in political and intelligence circles about Putin’s ultimate objective.

Langfitt said Ukraine was a huge country of 41 million people.

“... Ukraine shares this huge border with Russia. Ukraine has been drifting west towards NATO and the European Union for many years. And people think Putin really wants to stop this and use his army to redraw the geopolitical map of Europe.... And many of these countries, Ukraine among them, have tilted away from Russia and towards democratic countries in Europe and, of course, ultimately, the U.S.,” he said.

Later, Langfitt posted on Twitter that he was working without electricity as he covered the first day of the invasion. He wrote for a segment of “All Things Considered” from a bomb shelter on Friday.

At 3:24 a.m. Friday, Langfitt posted on Twitter that he spoke to a Ukrainian military officer trying to organize middle-age and old men in a rural village southwest of Kyiv into units to head to front to face off against the Russian army as it moves to surround the capital. The men, many unshaven with gray stubble, gathered inside an old Soviet-era cultural center.

“When I asked the officer what he wanted to say to NATO and the US, he said, ‘I wouldn’t wish for NATO nations to be in our position.’”

This story was originally published February 25, 2022 at 9:50 AM with the headline "‘We heard 3 loud explosions ...’ Former Herald-Leader staffer reports on Ukraine invasion."