Two local TV journalists from Lilly Broadcasting stations cross into Ukraine dodging missiles and eating in the dark at a cat café. The team reported live from locations in London, Poland and Ukraine and sent back stories about life there.
On their way to Ukraine, when Nick Quattrini and Rachel Knapp, journalists for Lilly Broadcasting’s WICU Erie, Pa., and WENY Elmira, N.Y., arrived in Poland in mid-November, it appeared as if they might be witnesses to Armageddon.
A missile exploded in a town in Poland, part of NATO, just as the two were trying to get some sleep to be ready the next day to travel across the Polish border into Ukraine.
“We were in a dangerous situation,” Quattrini says. “We thought we’re going to have a front row seat to World War III.”
The two spent 11 days in London, Poland and Ukraine reporting on conditions there.
Knapp says at the time of the explosion, people didn’t know if Russia had sent the missile to Poland.
“It was all over the news in Poland,” Knapp says. “People were frantic. You could feel the tension.”
That tension was worldwide. A Washington Post headline asked: “After the explosion in Poland, will NATO go to war with Russia?”
Within hours though, it was reported that the missile strike likely was fired by Ukrainian forces defending against a barrage of Russian strikes, and the incident appeared to be an accident.
“It definitely was a reminder of what we were getting ourselves into,” Knapp says.
The missile strike derailed the team’s original plan to enter Ukraine for at least a day while they assessed the situation, Knapp says.
Expect plans to change when covering news near a war zone, she says.
“You have to roll the dice. Just go with it,” Knapp says.
Knapp and Quattrini are likely the only local American broadcast TV journalists to report from the conflict.
For Knapp, it was her second trip to the area. In March, Market Share wrote about her exploits covering the Ukrainian refugee crisis on the Polish border.
It’s an expensive proposition for any broadcast company to send journalists to war-torn Ukraine. But to do it twice in a year, it’s especially so for a broadcast company of Lilly’s size.
“We wanted to tell unique and powerful stories about the people of Ukraine,” says Brian Trauring, Lilly’s EVP. “Ukrainians were forced, through no fault of their own, to flee their country and everything they knew and loved. They serve as examples of bravery, which our viewers now better understand and appreciate, thanks to the great reporting by Rachel and Nick.”
Knapp and Quattrini’s itinerary had them in London for a few days, then on to stops in Poland then finally into Ukraine.
The first leg of the trip began on Nov. 11, when Knapp and Quattrini arrived in London to check on a Ukrainian mom and her son whom Knapp had met at the Krakow train station on her first trip back in March.
“They were fleeing the country for safety, and they were going to stay with strangers in the U.K. who had basically said, we have a place to stay if you all can make it here,” Knapp says.
After a few days in England, it was on to the border town in Poland where Knapp, back in March, had reported on the thousands of people pouring into Poland from Ukraine.
“Last time around, it was chaotic,” Knapp says. “This time around, it felt like a ghost town.”
Luckily, and by chance, Knapp and Quattrini were able hire a car with a driver/translator, a volunteer driving into Ukraine to make a donation run.
The team got wheels and local connections who knew the ins and outs of the region which is invaluable.
“We really trusted her because she knew so much about the region,” Quattrini says. “We wanted to cover the news not be a part of it,” he says. “So, we made sure that we always listened to whatever our guide said, and we kept our heads on a swivel.”
Quattrini says no matter what plans they had, “our coverage was going to be shaped by what the guide/translator said we could and could not do.”
On Nov. 17, Knapp and Quattrini were driven across the Polish border into Ukraine, stopping at Lviv, the largest city in western Ukraine, just about a half-hour’s drive from the border.
“I wanted to know was what life is like in Lviv during this war,” Knapp says. “What is normal?”
Normal was unreliable power all over town.
Knapp says they were lucky to find a hotel in Lviv that had a generator, but even that blinked on and off.
“We were working on our stories at night and then all of a sudden all of the power goes off for like a minute and then next thing you know it switches right back on,” she says.
Finding warm meals was very random, Knapp says. They found a cat café that was open but they had to eat in the dark. The cats took advantage, helping themselves to tidbits of food from the table.
Knapp and Quattrini were able to report live from anywhere and both had laptops for editing packages.
Overall, what did Knapp and Quattrini take away from their trip to Ukraine?
“The Ukrainian people are some of the toughest that I have met,” Knapp says.
Quattrini says “they want the world to know that despite all of the hardships, they are coming together. They want people to remember them and they appreciate the help.”
CLICK HERE to watch all the stories from Knapp and Quattrini’s trip.
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