'Mariupol used to be so beautiful'

A year on from reporting on the invasion of Ukraine, ITV News editor Rohit Kachroo returned to the country to reconnect with those he met — and found many still trying to make sense of it all

- Rohit Kachroo

AS I walked the icy steps leading up to the observation deck above the Dnieper River, I could see Dr Yelizar in the distance. He had arrived at our meeting point ahead of time to take in the Kyiv skyline, the unfamiliar view of his new home city. I managed to catch his eye. Immediately he realised I had misjudged the weather: “Where is your hat? This is winter in Ukraine,” he said with a beaming smile, opening his arms for a hug. After the year he has endured it seemed surprising that he should be so concerned about my welfare.

He might not have cared so much a year ago, he conceded, but living in Ukraine during the invasion has forced people to find empathy, resilience, patriotism, love and even hatred where they didn’t know it existed. I have been in touch with Yelizar since February last year, shortly after I was sent out to cover the start of the invasion for ITV News. And I have returned to Ukraine to see how the people we encountered during those first few weeks have been shaped by the months that followed.

My colleagues and I have spent long periods in trenches, bunkers and shelled-out buildings during the past 12 months, but it is the people whose stories we have covered, like Yelizar, rather than the places, who have left the lasting memories.

He seemed less anxious than he was when we last saw him, late last summer. Back then, we drank tea together at his temporary apartment in Dnipro, a first step in the escape from the frontline for Yelizar, 31, his wife Valeria, 30, and their six-year-old daughter. He eventually moved to the capital where he has been working in a civilian hospital since autumn. But a few weeks ago he received his conscription letter — a call-up from the army. He has been told that he might have to go to the frontline as soon as next month to work as an army medic treating injured soldiers.