BBC’s Clive Myrie leaves Ukraine with message for those trying to flee war

‘They all pray they’ll be welcomed in other countries as human beings,’ says journalist, ‘that’s all they ask’

BBC broadcaster Clive Myrie has left Ukraine after reporting on the front line in Kyiv for the past several weeks.

Myrie had been updating viewers on the Russian invasion alongside the BBC’s chief international correspondent Lyse Doucet.

“After 17 or so hours drive in all from Kyiv, heading south then west, then into Moldova to the frontier, we arrive at the queue to cross from Moldova to Romania,” he wrote on Twitter on Sunday 6 March.

“This was to become a long night. We are less than 2miles from the crossing…”

In another tweet, he said: “A full 8hours later, we travel the less than 2miles to cross into Romania with the leaflet saying ‘if you are Ukrainian you have the right to enter Romania and you will be protected!’”

Myrie expressed his empathy for the Ukrainian families fleeing the conflict.

“It was a long, day of driving and queuing to get out of Kyiv. Imagine having to leave all you know in a hurry because you’re being shelled,” he tweeted.

“What do you pack? Do pets come too? It’s freezing cold and you pray those in neighbouring countries will welcome you, not despise you!

“My thoughts are with the 1million who’ve fled #Ukraine because they might be killed. The millions who fled #syria and many other millions escaping repression, poverty, war.

“They all pray they’ll be welcomed in other countries as human beings. That’s all they ask.”

Last week, Nadine Dorries fought back tears as she thanked journalists in Ukraine who are risking their lives to cover the invasion by Russia.

The Culture Secretary had to pause to compose herself as she paid tribute in the House of Commons.

She told MPs the audience for the BBC’s Russian language news website has “gone up from 3.1 million to 10.7 million in the last week”, adding: “Despite his best efforts to censor reporting in Russia, [Vladimir] Putin’s own citizens are turning to factual, independent information in their millions.

“At this point I’d just like to offer my heartfelt thanks and admiration to all of those journalists working for the BBC, the ITV and other news outlets who are risking their lives to bring us unbiased and accurate news from a live warzone.”

Labour former minister Chris Bryant offered words of encouragement to Dorries on the “tears she was pouring out over the journalists, Clive Myrie and people like that, who are doing an absolutely fabulous job”.

Read live updates on the war in Ukraine here.

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