Several major explosions rocked Kyiv in the early hours of the morning, and a CBS News reporter was a little too close for comfort.
CBS international correspondent Charlie D’Agata was just finishing a live report from Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, when the sky behind him lit up a bright orange, perfectly illuminating the buildings and skyline.
“What the hell was that?” he asked in shock as he turned around to look. “It was almost like lightning, there was this big flash.”
Of course, he is in an effective war zone, so his first assumption probably shouldn’t be lightning. D’Agata continues to look around with his back to the camera for a few seconds, before he witnesses another flash and realizes what was going on and he and his crew dive for cover.
As soon as they go out of frame of the camera, a massive explosion can be heard, apparently stunning the CBS News reporter and his crew into silence.
“That was close,” D’Agata said after several moments of quiet. “Close enough to see the flash.”
CBS News tweeted video of the explosion afterwards, captioning it:
“Just as CBS News’ Charlie D’Agata was coming off the air tonight in #Kyiv Ukraine, the sky lit up behind him ‘almost like lightning’ and booming explosions shook the city.”
Just as CBS News' Charlie D'Agata was coming off the air tonight in #Kyiv Ukraine, the sky lit up behind him "almost like lightning" and booming explosions shook the city pic.twitter.com/8WbLkxhjUE
— CBS News (@CBSNews) March 3, 2022
The Washington Post reported on Thursday, March 3rd that an area west of Kyiv had been hit by a massive explosion, but it remains unknown at the time of this reporting whether the blast was the same one that was caught on CBS’ video report.
The Post’s report stated that the blast, which was captured by video cameras in Kyiv’s southeastern neighborhoods, “took place in a region to the west of Kyiv and appeared to have struck an area far from the city center.”
“Between late Wednesday night and Thursday morning, air raid sirens have sounded at least six times, urging residents to take shelter, according to messages in the official municipal government Telegram channel,” the outlet added. “Russian forces remain stalled on the outskirts of the capital. Unable to substantially push through Kyiv’s defense in the north, they have moved westward to further encircle the city. But a senior U.S. defense official warned that these troops also have accelerated the pace of missile and artillery attacks targeting the capital.”