Reporters Notebook Ukraine Petro's Story USAGM
Metadata
- Reporters Notebook Ukraine Petro's Story USAGM
- July 19, 2022
- Content Type Package
- Language English
- Transcript/Script English USAGM SHARE ((PLAYBOOK SLUG: REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: UKRAINE PETRO’S STORY HEADLINE: 88-Year-Old Man Recalls Harrowing Escape from Russian Occupation TEASER: Most people’s lives are settled by the time they reach 88, but that’s when Petro Borodenko’s took another sharp turn. He will never forget the moment. PUBLISHED AT: 07/18/2022 BYLINE: Anna Chernikova CONTRIBUTOR: DATELINE: Kyiv VIDEOGRAPHER: Eugene Shynkar PRODUCER: SCRIPT EDITORS: LR, MAS VIDEO SOURCES: VOA ORIGINAL PLATFORMS: WEB __ TV _X_ RADIO __ TRT: VID APPROVED BY: TYPE: TVPKG NOTES: Anna’s email is: anna.pyatetska@gmail.com)) ((INTRO)) [[Since fierce battles destroyed 85 percent of the Izium in March, the city in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region has been occupied by Russian forces and is now a key command post for the Russian army. Many of its residents were trapped behind enemy lines and few have managed to escape. One person who did is the 88-year-old grandfather of VOA's Kyiv reporter Anna Chernikova, who has the story. ((VIDEO: FOOTAGE OF DESTROYED AREA IN THE KHARKIV REGION; FOOTAGE FROM THE CAR ON THE GO; PETRO AND ANNA TOGETHER)) ((NARRATOR)) Izium, at the crossroads of Ukraine’s Kharkiv and Donetsk regions is a strategic prize for the Russians in their fight to control Donbas. For the residents of this city of 45 thousand people, (pause) it is a living hell from which escape is next to impossible (carefully read this powerful sentence. Enunciate each word. Slow down a little) For me, the town is very special. I spent a lot of time there as a child visiting my grandparents during the summer holidays. (slow down on this graph too. It’s getting personal, like you are telling a friend a powerful story.) ((VIDEO: PETRO SITTING ON A CHAIR IN NATURE, FOOTAGE OF DESTROYED AREA IN THE KHARKIV REGION, PETRO CLOSE UPS)) ((NARRATOR)) 117 days, my 88-year-old grandfather Petro Borodenko lived the nightmare of occupation, (pause) without critical heart medications, electricity, or running water. With much of his home destroyed, he lived in the same cellar my great grandparents used as a shelter during World War Two. (slow this graph down) ((VIDEO: PETRO WITH HIS FAMILY, PETRO SITTING WITH HIS FISHING ROD, PETRO CLOSE UPS WITH A FISHING ROD, PETRO TALKING, PETRO’S FACE CLOSE UP)) ((NARRATOR)) Now, in the relative safety with his family in Kyiv, my grandfather is still in shock and exhausted, but glad to be alive. With the help of volunteers and the Ukrainian army, we managed to get him out of Izium. He spent two emotionally and physically difficult days in cars and buses with no food, getting past Russian troops who tried to get him to go to Russia, humiliating him by calling him old and weak. He had to walk a long distance across a dam that had been hit. (slow down on this graph. Tell the story, do not read it. ) The memories of devastation haunt him. ((Petro Borodenko, War Survivor - MALE IN UKRAINIAN – VOA)) “I remember missiles firing, and one of the missiles hit my garage…The neighbor's house was on fire. A house across the street was also on fire. And the neighbor's garage was destroyed. I saw it all. It was very scary.” ((NARRATOR)) Most people’s lives are settled by the time they reach 88, but that’s when my grandfather’s took another sharp turn. He will never forget the moment. ((Petro Borodenko, War Survivor - MALE IN UKRAINIAN – VOA)) “The plane flew over. We ran out of the house to the cellar. The pilot illuminated us, and I think, well, now he will throw a bomb. But he flies past my house and flies on. And drops the bomb. The plane threw such a (large) bomb. I don’t know if there were five tons or how much. The crater from it was large. One house was gone, and the second house was gone. There were a lot of wrecked houses on our street.” ((NARRATOR)) As a young man, he served in the Soviet army, side by side with those who would now be the grandparents of troops killing Ukrainians in this war today. ((Petro Borodenko, War Survivor - MALE IN UKRAINIAN – VOA)) “They (Russians) are bastards, forgive me for this word. They broke everything so that it can no longer be broken. To destroy the life of the city.” ((NARRATOR)) Russia denies targeting civilians in Ukraine, but my grandfather is sure the opposite is true. He recalls one of the bloodiest Russian missile attacks in Izium. ((Petro Borodenko, War Survivor - MALE IN UKRAINIAN – VOA)) “Most of the dead were (from when) the bomb hit the bomb shelter in a residential building. 260 people died immediately. Direct hit. Nobody could escape.” ((NARRATOR)) The shadow of war has dominated (let me here the “d”) his life. He was seven when the Soviet Union entered World War Two and here, (pause) at twilight, (pause) war (let me hear you clearly pronounce war) surrounds him once again. This little bag and a photograph are everything he has left. The main treasures he stores in his heart and memories. ((Petro Borodenko, War Survivor - MALE IN UKRAINIAN – VOA)) “I am offended and hurt that my life is broken. I would like there to be no war, and to live a free life.” ((VIDEO: B-ROLL PETRO FISHING, PETRO DEMONSTRATES FISH HE CAUGHT, PETRO WITH HIS FAMILY DRINKING TEA, NATURE)) In Kyiv, he is slowly recovering, spending time with his family. ((slow down on the graph below, take your time so you can give each word meaning and feeling. Powerful last sentence.)) He still dreams of peace, (pause) of going home to be buried (clearly enunciate “buried”) next to my late grandmother (enunciate grandmother) –(pause) his wife, (pause) and my late uncle – his younger son, (pause) never to experience war again. (pause, please read you sign out a little more slowly too) ((ANNA CHERNIKOVA, FOR VOA NEWS, KYIV, UKRAINE))
- Transcript/Script USAGM SHARE ((PLAYBOOK SLUG: REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: UKRAINE PETRO’S STORY HEADLINE: 88-Year-Old Man Recalls Harrowing Escape from Russian Occupation TEASER: Most people’s lives are settled by the time they reach 88, but that’s when Petro Borodenko’s took another sharp turn. He will never forget the moment. PUBLISHED AT: 07/18/2022 BYLINE: Anna Chernikova CONTRIBUTOR: DATELINE: Kyiv VIDEOGRAPHER: Eugene Shynkar PRODUCER: SCRIPT EDITORS: LR, MAS VIDEO SOURCES: VOA ORIGINAL PLATFORMS: WEB __ TV _X_ RADIO __ TRT: VID APPROVED BY: TYPE: TVPKG NOTES: Anna’s email is: anna.pyatetska@gmail.com)) ((INTRO)) [[Since fierce battles destroyed 85 percent of the Izium in March, the city in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region has been occupied by Russian forces and is now a key command post for the Russian army. Many of its residents were trapped behind enemy lines and few have managed to escape. One person who did is the 88-year-old grandfather of VOA's Kyiv reporter Anna Chernikova, who has the story. ((VIDEO: FOOTAGE OF DESTROYED AREA IN THE KHARKIV REGION; FOOTAGE FROM THE CAR ON THE GO; PETRO AND ANNA TOGETHER)) ((NARRATOR)) Izium, at the crossroads of Ukraine’s Kharkiv and Donetsk regions is a strategic prize for the Russians in their fight to control Donbas. For the residents of this city of 45 thousand people, (pause) it is a living hell from which escape is next to impossible (carefully read this powerful sentence. Enunciate each word. Slow down a little) For me, the town is very special. I spent a lot of time there as a child visiting my grandparents during the summer holidays. (slow down on this graph too. It’s getting personal, like you are telling a friend a powerful story.) ((VIDEO: PETRO SITTING ON A CHAIR IN NATURE, FOOTAGE OF DESTROYED AREA IN THE KHARKIV REGION, PETRO CLOSE UPS)) ((NARRATOR)) 117 days, my 88-year-old grandfather Petro Borodenko lived the nightmare of occupation, (pause) without critical heart medications, electricity, or running water. With much of his home destroyed, he lived in the same cellar my great grandparents used as a shelter during World War Two. (slow this graph down) ((VIDEO: PETRO WITH HIS FAMILY, PETRO SITTING WITH HIS FISHING ROD, PETRO CLOSE UPS WITH A FISHING ROD, PETRO TALKING, PETRO’S FACE CLOSE UP)) ((NARRATOR)) Now, in the relative safety with his family in Kyiv, my grandfather is still in shock and exhausted, but glad to be alive. With the help of volunteers and the Ukrainian army, we managed to get him out of Izium. He spent two emotionally and physically difficult days in cars and buses with no food, getting past Russian troops who tried to get him to go to Russia, humiliating him by calling him old and weak. He had to walk a long distance across a dam that had been hit. (slow down on this graph. Tell the story, do not read it. ) The memories of devastation haunt him. ((Petro Borodenko, War Survivor - MALE IN UKRAINIAN – VOA)) “I remember missiles firing, and one of the missiles hit my garage…The neighbor's house was on fire. A house across the street was also on fire. And the neighbor's garage was destroyed. I saw it all. It was very scary.” ((NARRATOR)) Most people’s lives are settled by the time they reach 88, but that’s when my grandfather’s took another sharp turn. He will never forget the moment. ((Petro Borodenko, War Survivor - MALE IN UKRAINIAN – VOA)) “The plane flew over. We ran out of the house to the cellar. The pilot illuminated us, and I think, well, now he will throw a bomb. But he flies past my house and flies on. And drops the bomb. The plane threw such a (large) bomb. I don’t know if there were five tons or how much. The crater from it was large. One house was gone, and the second house was gone. There were a lot of wrecked houses on our street.” ((NARRATOR)) As a young man, he served in the Soviet army, side by side with those who would now be the grandparents of troops killing Ukrainians in this war today. ((Petro Borodenko, War Survivor - MALE IN UKRAINIAN – VOA)) “They (Russians) are bastards, forgive me for this word. They broke everything so that it can no longer be broken. To destroy the life of the city.” ((NARRATOR)) Russia denies targeting civilians in Ukraine, but my grandfather is sure the opposite is true. He recalls one of the bloodiest Russian missile attacks in Izium. ((Petro Borodenko, War Survivor - MALE IN UKRAINIAN – VOA)) “Most of the dead were (from when) the bomb hit the bomb shelter in a residential building. 260 people died immediately. Direct hit. Nobody could escape.” ((NARRATOR)) The shadow of war has dominated (let me here the “d”) his life. He was seven when the Soviet Union entered World War Two and here, (pause) at twilight, (pause) war (let me hear you clearly pronounce war) surrounds him once again. This little bag and a photograph are everything he has left. The main treasures he stores in his heart and memories. ((Petro Borodenko, War Survivor - MALE IN UKRAINIAN – VOA)) “I am offended and hurt that my life is broken. I would like there to be no war, and to live a free life.” ((VIDEO: B-ROLL PETRO FISHING, PETRO DEMONSTRATES FISH HE CAUGHT, PETRO WITH HIS FAMILY DRINKING TEA, NATURE)) In Kyiv, he is slowly recovering, spending time with his family. ((slow down on the graph below, take your time so you can give each word meaning and feeling. Powerful last sentence.)) He still dreams of peace, (pause) of going home to be buried (clearly enunciate “buried”) next to my late grandmother (enunciate grandmother) –(pause) his wife, (pause) and my late uncle – his younger son, (pause) never to experience war again. (pause, please read you sign out a little more slowly too) ((ANNA CHERNIKOVA, FOR VOA NEWS, KYIV, UKRAINE))
- NewsML Media Topics Arts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
- Network VOA
- Embargo Date July 19, 2022 08:08 EDT
- Byline Anna Chernikova
- Brand / Language Service Voice of America