CNNVeterans military correspondent Matthew Chance was inches away from a live grenade as he covered the aftermath of a battle outside Kyiv on Monday – his second clash with death on live television in less than a week.
The 51-year-old Chance, which reflects the conflict in Libya, the Middle East and Afghanistanhe barely flinched when he noticed that he had just leaned over a pineapple grenade and warned the operator away from the ammunition.
“I was squatting next to a grenade there,” he said, pointing to the deadly device as he surveyed the devastation. “I didn’t see that, so let’s get out of there.”
As he examines the wreckage of a Russian vehicle after a fierce battle outside Kyiv, CNN reporter Matthew Chance almost steps on a pineapple grenade.
The pineapple grenade is just steps away from where Matthew Chance was reporting outside of Kyiv
The bodies of Russian soldiers and bombed trucks and armored vehicles block the road after a heated battle with the Ukrainian resistance
Most Russian vehicles were barely recognizable. They lack tires, windows and were smashed by Ukrainian bombs
CNN reporter Matthew Chance wonders if the balance has been shifted to the Ukrainians or the Russians will redouble their strength and attack again
Dressed in a military helmet and bulletproof vest with a PRESS on his chest, Chance, who had reported from the field during the siege of Kyiv, was walking in a column of destroyed armored vehicles.
“This is one of those Soviet-era Russian vehicles that has been completely burned,” he said, pointing to crushed armored vehicles.
“The Russian column that came down here is absolutely broken,” he said. “Obviously we are still in a very exposed situation at the moment.”
Trucks and tanks lay in ruins all around him, the doors blown, the tires melted, the windows no longer existed, and ashes and debris scattered around the roadway.
The footage was taken by several others from the invading CNN team so that the group could avoid the exchange of gunfire.
Some of the vehicles he passed were still smoking.
“What ammunition is needed to do this with a vehicle,” he said, pointing to a destroyed truck.
Unexploded ordnance and grenades were everywhere.
Chance then stopped to crouch down next to an abandoned teddy bear.
“Look, it’s almost a cliché, but apparently someone brought a memory from home, now it’s burned and lying with the rubble in this failed [Russian] attack, “he said.
Chance paused for a moment to allow the cameraman to scan the body of a Russian soldier abandoned by the army when it overcame a hasty withdrawal from a dying Ukrainian force.
CNN’s Matthew Chance was seen in a bulletproof vest trying to avoid a shootout
“His column tried to enter and was thwarted,” he said of the dead soldier.
Ukrainian military and civilian authorities are “absolutely enthusiastic,” Chance said, of the victory on the Kyiv bridge.
“It’s not just here,” he said. “We have seen cases across the country where Ukrainians have really withdrawn, and that has really made them feel that they can win this war.”
As Chance pondered what the Russian response would be, he paused to bend down, and only then did he realize that the grenade was inches from his feet.
Last week, Chance and his cameraman were caught between Ukrainian and Russian forces during a shootout at an important airport outside Kyiv.
Russian and Ukrainian soldiers exchanged fire in a battle for control of Gostomel Airport, a cargo airport minutes after CNN’s Matthew Chance began talking to Russian soldiers he first thought were Ukrainians.
Russian special forces have landed at the air base to establish a bridgehead for more troops and the takeover of the airport.
Chance, shocked to learn that he was talking to Russian airborne troops, found himself in the middle of a counterattack by Ukrainian troops.
Russian troops are now advancing on Kyiv from the north and east, with US intelligence saying the plan is to besiege the city, seize an airport and launch paratroopers who will then attack the capital. The goal would be to take over the government and force them to sign a peace treaty that would regain control of the country of Russia or a Russian puppet.
The footage shows Chance and his colleague, both wearing bulletproof vests, crouched against a wall while a car stopped, and several others on his team stormed in so the group could avoid a shootout.
Airborne units are considered elite forces, specially selected for their skills and ability to parachute during the initial attack.
They attacked and captured Gostomel Airport early Thursday, and Ukraine’s leadership has promised to bring it back, according to Agence France-Presse.
“Enemy paratroopers in Hostomel have been blocked and troops have been ordered to destroy them,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video message.
Hostomel is located in the northwestern suburbs of Kyiv, which makes it vital to protect the Ukrainian capital from takeover by Russia.
Photos posted on social media show what they say are explosions in Kyiv on Friday night
Witnesses told AFP that they saw a helicopter flying low over the airport and fighter jets firing missiles at Ukrainian troops.
“There was a shooting then.” It lasted three hours. Then three more planes flew in and they started firing again, “an unidentified local told AFP.
War in Ukraine: the latest
- Ukraine’s defense ministry says Russia has lost 5,300 troops, 29 planes, 29 helicopters and 151 tanks
- Russia’s Defense Ministry admitted for the first time that it had suffered losses, but declined to say how much
- Russia’s economy falls into free fall as Western sanctions imposed over the weekend take effect, with the ruble falling to its lowest level ever
- Moscow’s central bank has more than doubled interest rates to 20 percent
- Russia orders people and companies to sell 80% of their income in foreign currency, forcing them to buy the ruble to help maintain it
- The Moscow Stock Exchange will not open at least 15:00 in an attempt to prevent a total collapse
- Zelensky allows Ukrainian prisoners to be released if they join the defense forces to “pay off their debt”
- The President of Ukraine also announced the creation of an “international brigade” for foreign volunteers wishing to join the military, after “thousands” applied
- Spanish foreign minister calls Putin’s order to bring nuclear forces on high alert “another sign [his] absolute irrationality “
- Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says his country should be open to deploying nuclear weapons
- Germany announces $ 112 million fund to rebuild the country’s armed forces, more than double its current self-defense budget
- EU announces for the first time in its history that it will send funds to Ukraine for weapons – including fighter jets
Ukraine’s leadership said it regained control on Thursday at around 8 p.m. local time.
An adviser to the Ukrainian president said on Facebook on Thursday night: “Hostomel Airport is ours” and “Russian paratroopers have been destroyed.”
Chance usually reports outside Russia, but in August 2011 he and a handful of other journalists were stranded at the Riox Hotel in Tripoli, captured by Libyan forces of General Muammar Gaddafi.
Guarded by heavily armed men and told they could not leave, 35 journalists were trapped in a luxury prison by a group of armed men just meters from Gaddafi’s besieged complex.
The situation quickly deteriorated. The food was running out, the electricity was cut off, and the “guests” were forced to settle in corridors that offered at least some protection from homeless artillery bombing the neighboring palace.
Broadcasting became more and more difficult as the batteries ran out and the phones ran out.
The armed man – a group of young Gaddafi fanatics – became increasingly aggressive and repeatedly refused to let the journalists go.
During this horrific stalemate, Chance flooded Twitter with information detailing each stage of the siege, which many feared would end in disaster.
The world outside was watching. At the beginning of the crisis Chance had 700 followers. By the end, that had risen to 22,000.
No one was more surprised than he was.
“I’ve never actually used Twitter before,” he said. “I had an account for about two years, but I didn’t write anything. I didn’t think anyone would be interested in what I had to say.
“After Rixos, I’m completely reversed. I use it all the time.
The reports, some secular, some frightening, have given a chilling picture of the last days of Gaddafi’s strangulation of the Libyan capital.
– Controlled panic in Rixos. “All the journalists wearing bulletproof vests are moving in what we hope will be a safe place,” Chance tweeted on August 21, the second day of the siege, when the situation worsened.
In the end, they were all released.
“The crisis in Rixos is over. All journalists out! ”He wrote.