Ukraine visuals document an exceptionally dark chapter of the war; intelligence says aides misled Putin
A woman walks amid destroyed Russian tanks in Bucha, in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, April 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
By Nebi Qena, Sasha Stashevsky, Vadim Ghirda, Andrea Rosa, Rodrigo Abd, Aamer Madhani, Nomaan Merchant and Jill Lawless
AP teams have again dominated coverage of the war in Ukraine on two fronts, this time in horrifying images of civilians killed in Bucha and surrounding areas outside Kyiv, and in stories out of Washington and London, where AP was first with a report that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aides have been misleading him about the war. A smart follow-up delved into the strategic value of declassifying such intelligence.
One of the ongoing mysteries of Russia’s war on Ukraine has centered on what Putin knows about his own military campaign and whether his aides are being candid with him. White House reporter Aamer Madhani, who specializes in national security, scooped the world when a reliable source came to him with a recently declassified intelligence finding that Putin was “being misinformed by his advisors about how badly the Russian military is performing.”
“The advisers are scared to tell him the truth, the intel says.”
Knowing the news was likely to be shared soon with other reporters, Madhani quickly drafted a story and flagged the reporting to Washington-based intelligence beat reporter Nomaan Merchant. The two were able to report ahead of any competitors the key intelligence finding. Their lead: “U.S. intelligence officials have determined that Russian President Vladimir Putin is being misinformed by advisers about his military’s poor performance in Ukraine,according to the White House. The advisers are scared to tell him the truth,the intel says.”
Madhani and Merchant built in important context: While the administration was hopeful that divulging the finding could help prod Putin to reconsider his options in Ukraine,it could also backfire. Not ready to rest on the news beat, London’s Jill Lawless teamed up with Madhani for a well-reported and collaborative weekend story that examined the allies’ strategy of declassifying intelligence about Putin’s ambitions and the implications. Lawless’ pitch-perfect lead: “The war in Ukraine is the conflict where spies came in from the cold and took center stage.”
AP’s story beat the competition and was a top offering for the weekend, scoring sky-high reader engagement.
A man and child ride a bicycle through the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, Ukraine, April 2, 2022, as civilian bodies lie in the street after the withdrawal of Russian troops that occupied the town. – AP Photo / Vadim Ghirda
Ukrainian soldiers on the outskirts of Kyiv, April 1, 2022, inspect trenches used by Russian soldiers during the occupation of villages north and west of the capital. – AP Photo / Rodrigo Abd
A Ukrainian serviceman takes a selfie while standing on a destroyed Russian tank, March 31, 2022, after Ukrainian forces overran a Russian position outside Kyiv. – AP Photo / Vadim Ghirda
Destroyed Russian armored vehicles are abandoned on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, March 31, 2022. – AP Photo / Rodrigo Abd
The hand of a dead Russian soldier is seen beside a destroyed tank on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, March 31, 2022. – AP Photo / Rodrigo Abd
A Russian military hat lies on the pavement after Ukrainian forces overran a Russian position outside Kyiv, March 31, 2022. – AP Photo / Vadim Ghirda
Ukrainian servicemen ride on an armored vehicle through a former Russian position overrun by Ukrainian forces outside Kyiv, March 31, 2022. – AP Photo / Vadim Ghirda
A soldier comforts Larysa Kolesnyk, 82, after she was evacuated from Irpin, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, March 30, 2022. – AP Photo / Rodrigo Abd
On April 1, 2022, Mariya Ol’hovs’ka, 33, mourns the death of her father Valerii Ol’hovs’kyi, 72, killed by a Russian missile on March 30 near his house on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine. The family buried Valerii in the garden of their home as the village cemetery was inaccessible during fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces. – AP Photo / Rodrigo Abd
A dog looks at the cars passing by on the road near a house painted with the colors of the Ukraine flag near Malaya Alexandrovka village, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, March 30, 2022. – AP Photo / Rodrigo Abd
Irina poses with her cat Alitsia after she went back into the embattled Ukrainian town of Irpin, on the outskirts of Kyiv, to retrieve the pet, March 31, 2022. – AP Photo / Vadim Ghirda
Civilians cheer with a Ukrainian serviceman as a convoy of military and aid vehicles arrives in the formerly Russian-occupied Kyiv suburb of Bucha, Ukraine, April 2, 2022. – AP Photo / Vadim Ghirda
A woman hugs a Ukrainian serviceman after a convoy of military and aid vehicles arrived in the formerly Russian-occupied Kyiv suburb of Bucha, Ukraine, April 2, 2022. – AP Photo / Vadim Ghirda
A Ukranian soldier plays with a ball in Irpin, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, April 2, 2022. – AP Photo / Rodrigo Abd
A woman walks a bicycle past a dead Russian soldier in Bucha, after Russian troops withdrew from the town on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, April 2, 2022. – AP Photo / Rodrigo Abd
Flowers are placed on a Ukrainian armored vehicle destroyed during fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces outside Kyiv, April 1, 2022. – AP Photo / Vadim Ghirda
A Ukrainian serviceman walks beside fellow troops on an armored vehicle outside Kyiv, April 2, 2022. – AP Photo / Vadim Ghirda
A Ukrainian serviceman stands on a tank with the nation’s flag, outside Kyiv, April 2, 2022. – AP Photo / Vadim Ghirda
A Ukrainian serviceman walks past the Antonov An-225, the world’s largest cargo aircraft, destroyed during fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces at the Antonov airport in Hostomel, Ukraine, April 2, 2022. Ukrainian troops manned positions at the entrance to the airport, indicating they were in full control of the runway that Russia tried to storm in the first days of the war. – AP Photo / Vadim Ghirda
Ukrainian servicemen ride a tank past a civilian vehicle destroyed during fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces outside Kyiv, April 2, 2022. The car still contained the dead body of the driver. – AP Photo / Vadim Ghirda
Ukrainian servicemen check for booby traps in the formerly Russian-occupied Kyiv suburb of Bucha, April 2, 2022. – AP Photo / Vadim Ghirda
A Ukrainian serviceman checks the dead body of a civilian for booby traps in the formerly Russian-occupied Kyiv suburb of Bucha, April 2, 2022. – AP Photo / Vadim Ghirda
A Ukrainian serviceman grimaces after using a cable to drag the dead body of a civilian while checking for booby traps, in the formerly Russian-occupied Kyiv suburb of Bucha, April 2, 2022. – AP Photo / Vadim Ghirda
The lifeless body of a man lies in the staircase of a building in Bucha, Ukraine, April 3, 2022. Associated Press journalists in Bucha, a suburb northwest of Kyiv, saw the bodies of at least nine people in civilian clothes who appeared to have been killed at close range. At least two had their hands tied behind their backs. – AP Photo / Vadim Ghirda
The body of a man with his hands tied behind his back lies on the ground in Bucha, Ukraine, April 3, 2022. – AP Photo / Vadim Ghirda
The body of a man with his hands tied behind his back lies on the pavement in Bucha, Ukraine, April 3, 2022. – AP Photo / Vadim Ghirda
A dead civilian with his hands tied behind his back lies on the ground in Bucha, Ukraine, April 4, 2022. Russia faced a fresh wave of condemnation after evidence emerged of what appeared to be deliberate killings of civilians in Ukraine. – AP Photo / Efrem Lukatsky
The lifeless body of a man lies on a dirt path in Bucha, Ukraine, April 4, 2022. – AP Photo / Vadim Ghirda
The hand of a corpse buried along with other bodies is seen in a mass grave in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, April 3, 2022. – AP Photo / Rodrigo Abd
Bodies lie in a mass grave in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, April 3, 2022. Ukrainian troops found brutalized civilian bodies and widespread destruction in the suburbs of Kyiv, sparking new calls for a war crimes investigation and sanctions against Russia. – AP Photo / Rodrigo Abd
Crosses honoring civilians killed during fightin g between Ukrainian and Russia forces stand in the forest of Irpin, on the outskirts of Kyiv, April 2, 2022. – AP Photo / Rodrigo Abd
A Ukrainian policeman walks by a pit in the village of Motyzhyn, Ukraine, April 3, 2022 where the bodies of the mayor of the village, Olga Sukhenko, her husband, son and a man believed to be an unidentified Ukrainian serviceman, were found. The pit is situated behind a plot of land with three houses where Russian forces had slept and were entrenched nearby and the killings appeared to be executions from close range in retaliation for not collaborating with the occupiers. – AP Photo / Vadim Ghirda
A woman cries while waiting along with others for distribution of food in the village of Motyzhyn, Ukraine, which was until recently under the control of the Russian military, April 3, 2022. – AP Photo / Vadim Ghirda
In the courtyard of a house in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, a dog passes the lifeless body of a dog that had been killed in the town, formerly controlled by Russian forces, April 5, 2022. – AP Photo / Rodrigo Abd
A dog drinks from a puddle beside destroyed Russian armored vehicles in Bucha, Ukraine, April 3, 2022. – AP Photo / Rodrigo Abd
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy examines the site of recent fighting between Ukrainian and Russian troops in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, Apr. 4, 2022. Russia faced a fresh wave of condemnation after evidence emerged of what appeared to be deliberate killings of civilians in Bucha and elsewhere. – AP Photo / Efrem Lukatsky
In the town of Bucha, Ukraine, on the outskirts of Kyiv, April 5, 2022, a dog stands beside the body of an elderly woman killed inside a house. – AP Photo / Felipe Dana
In Bucha, Ukraine, on the outskirts of Kyiv, April 4, 2022, Tanya Nedashkivs’ka, 57, mourns the death of her husband. – AP Photo / Rodrigo Abd
In Bucha, Ukraine, on the outskirts of Kyiv, April 4, 2022, Ira Gavriluk walks with her cat near the corpses of her husband and brother. – AP Photo / Rodrigo Abd
In the courtyard of the family’s house on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Vlad Tanyuk, 6, stands near the grave of his mother, Ira Tanyuk, who died of starvation and stress during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. – AP Photo / Rodrigo Abd
Journalists report at the site of a mass grave in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, April 5, 2022. – AP Photo / Rodrigo Abd
On the ground in Ukraine,video journalists Sasha Stashevsky and Nebi Qena,and photographer Vadim Ghirda,arrived Saturday in Bucha after Russian forces were ousted. There they caught the first glimpse of civilians lying dead in the streets. They saw seven bodies along a road and interviewed residents who said the people were killed for no reason. The team went on to cover the Ukrainian military clearing out the road for tanks,tracked the mayor of Irpin to the Antonov Airport in Hostomel,where they made images of the world’s largest cargo plane,the Antonov An-225,destroyed in its hangar. Video journalist Andrea Rosa and photographer Rodrigo Abd,meanwhile, produced powerful images of Russian military equipment destroyed in the fighting and dead Russian soldiers in Irpin and Bucha.
On Sunday,Ghirda and Stashevsky were the first journalists to record the bodies of eight men,some with hands tied behind their backs and with signs of torture,who were killed execution style in a logistics center used by the Russian army in Bucha. Joining Qena,they went on to document the discovery of the body of the mayor of Motyzhyn, executed along with her husband and son in the village 50 km (30 miles) west of Kyiv after she refused to cooperate with the Russians. Rosa and Abd also located a mass grave in the yard of a Bucha church where dozens of bodies of civilians believed killed by Russians were buried.
The grim images landed on news websites,broadcasts and front pages around the world,defining one of the darkest chapters of the war so far and raising fears of what may be unfolding in areas as yet inaccessible to journalists.
For their vital role documenting this brutal episode of the war,and for revealing reports of failures in the Kremlin’s intelligence at the highest levels,the journalism of Nebi Qena,Sasha Stashevsky,Vadim Ghirda,Andrea Rosa and Rodrigo Abd in Ukraine,Aamer Madhani and Nomaan Merchant in Washington, and Jill Lawless in London receives AP’s Best Of The Week — First Winner honors.
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