--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Good morning. It's Thursday, March 3rd. I'm Duarte Giraldino. And I'm Shamita Basu.
--:-- Shamita Basu: This is Apple News Today. Each morning, hear about some of the most fascinating stories in the news and how the world's best journalists are covering them.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Kursan is now the first major Ukrainian city to be occupied by Russian forces. Russian airstrikes kept people up throughout the night in Kiev and Kharkiv. Satellite imagery shows the extent of the damage across Ukraine. Images of rubble, homes completely destroyed.
--:-- Shamita Basu: As of early Thursday morning, Ukrainian officials estimate at least 2,000 civilians have been killed in the invasion. The UN says one million people have fled.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: There's a link between Ukrainians under attack from Russia and Syrians who are watching from about 1,000 miles away. It wasn't too long ago that Putin sent his military to back Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during the country's civil war in 2015.
--:-- Shamita Basu: NPR takes a look at the shared history of these two countries targeted by Russia and the similar tactics we're seeing the Russian military use. Some of Russia's most intense bombing in Syria took place in 2016. This was during the battle for Aleppo when Russian and Syrian forces rained down aerial missiles.
--:-- Renda Slim: According to Human Rights Watch, those airstrikes killed more than 440 civilians, and at least one medical facility was targeted. HRW said the attacks amounted to war crimes and described the airstrikes as, quote, recklessly indiscriminate.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The same type of brutality played out in a northwest province of Syria called Idlib. Russian military forces repeatedly targeted places like schools, hospitals, and markets. NPR describes a series of airstrikes on one market that killed at least 43 civilians.
--:-- Renda Slim: Investigators from the UN concluded that Russia was responsible for multiple war crimes for what they did in Idlib.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Renda Slim is a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute. She told NPR that the Russian army's targets on civilians was, in part, intended to break their morale, to break Syria's spirit. She says it appears that's what they're trying to do in Ukraine, too.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Another Russia analyst told NPR that for the most part Russia faced no real consequences for committing what amount to war crimes in Syria.
--:-- Shamita Basu: We've been hearing some leaders including Ukraine president calling for investigations into Russia actions describing attacks on civilians including children, as criminal. Just yesterday, the International Criminal Court, the ICC, formally opened its investigation into Russia.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: But USA Today spoke to several war crimes experts, including people who've argued before the ICC. And many say they're skeptical this will have any real effect on Putin.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The article describes the international community as having a spotty track record at best when it comes to holding despots accountable. As one expert put it, the wheels of international justice turn slowly.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: An international coalition has mobilized to back Ukraine. A number of countries are imposing sanctions, they're closing their airspace to Russian planes, and sending weapons and humanitarian aid.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is asking the West and NATO to do more, to impose a no-fly zone, which would restrict aircraft from flying over Ukraine.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Enforcing it would mean shooting down Russian planes that violate the no-fly zone. The West has said that would amount to a declaration of war and is a non-starter.
--:-- Shamita Basu: On Wednesday, I sat down with Ukrainian journalist and activist Daria Kalinyuk. She's the co-founder and executive director of the Anti-Corruption Action Center. It's a Ukrainian advocacy organization that promotes transparent democracy.
--:-- Daria Kalinyuk: I'm in Poland where the air defense systems of NATO are being placed, and they can provide the protection of our sky in Ukraine. They can hit Russian missiles. They are saying, well, we don't want to hit Russian troops, we don't want to hit Russian planes. But these missiles are over the territory of Ukraine the sovereign nation and the sovereign nation is begging help with hitting these missiles.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: That was what I begging for. And I begging for this protection of our skies to evacuate at least children. You know when we are talking I have text messages from my friend who is now in Irpin, nearby Kiev, in a car with three newborn babies, trying to evacuate these three newborn babies from Kiev.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And it's just one of many, many examples of what's actually happening on the ground and what kind of suffering and miserable situation created for Ukrainians on the ground because of all these missiles.
--:-- Daria Kalinyuk: So it is inhuman. It is non-Christian. It's against any humanity. And we are begging the West to protect our sky, to be able to evacuate these children. Is it too much we are asking for?
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: The pushback from the West has been that declaring a no-fly zone over Ukraine would essentially amount to a declaration of war. Now, that move could trigger a nuclear response from Russia.
--:-- Shamita Basu: What do you say to that when we talk about the risk of a nuclear event?
--:-- Daria Kalinyuk: I'm saying that the risk of nuclear event can happen any moment now when Russians are shooting their missiles. The most heavy fighting which are happening now in Ukraine are in Energodar, Zaporizhia region, which is near one of the largest nuclear power plants in Ukraine. And any second missile can hit that nuclear power plant.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: So it is immediate risk for NATO now and for the entire world. If NATO will not protect Ukrainian sky, the most devastating consequences can happen.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The West is saying, well, we can't, we are afraid of World War III. But I want to say that the World War has already started, just not everybody realized that yet.
--:-- Daria Kalinyuk: What does the world look like if Putin wins? It is the end of democracy. It's a different world. Forget about rule of law. It ceased to exist at the moment when Russia started bombarding Ukraine.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: There will be no way to return democracy as an idea if Ukraine will fail.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You can hear my full conversation with Daria on this week's episode of Apple News' In Conversation.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: On tomorrow's Apple News today, you'll hear some of my conversation with Vox reporter Zach Beecham. We spoke about why at this point the West is so adamantly opposed to a no-fly zone.
--:-- Shamita Basu: So people often misunderstand what a no-fly zone is, right? Like one analyst that I seen pointed it out to people describing it as like a magical umbrella that prevents planes from flying there.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: That's not how it works. It is innovating in the conflict on Ukraine side basically declaring war on Russia. That carries all sorts of different risks of nuclear escalation. And nuclear weapons have the potential to annihilate the planet.
--:-- Shamita Basu: That's tomorrow on Apple News Today.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: This next story comes to us from The Wall Street Journal. It looks at President Volodymyr Zelensky's rise and how the former actor with no political experience became the face of Ukraine's resistance against Russia.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The 44-year-old started out his career as a sketch comedian. In 2006, so before he was president, Zelensky got into the Ukrainian version of the show Dancing with the Stars. And he won.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: But what really planted the seed for politics was his TV show called Servant of the People. It first aired in 2015. And in the show, Zelensky played a schoolteacher who goes viral for a video rant about corruption in Ukraine. And his character rides that notoriety all the way to the presidency.
--:-- Shamita Basu: It sounds far-fetched. But the themes on the show are what laid the groundwork for his real-life political campaign. His political party is even named after the show, Servant of the People.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: Since the start of the Russian invasion last week, Zelensky has captured the attention of global media, world leaders, and the people of Ukraine.
--:-- Shamita Basu: He shares videos that show him patrolling the streets of Kiev in a ballistic vest. He's using his platform to scold the West and to get them to ramp up their sanctions against Putin and Russia.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: During one video call, Zelensky warned Western leaders that it might be the last time they saw him alive. One EU official described the moment saying, the silence in the room was impressive. Shortly after, the EU moved to significantly expand the actions it would take against Russia.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Zelensky has won a lot of popular support in Ukraine for refusing to leave while the country is under attack. His allies have offered to help him and his family leave the country to set up a government in exile. But Zelensky has vowed to stay and fight.
--:-- Duarte Giraldino: You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And when you're in the app, keep listening to hear narrated articles from our News Plus partners.
--:-- Shamita Basu: We'll talk with you again tomorrow.
