Despite the threat to security, a number of journalists have travelled over to Ukraine and surrounding countries to report on the conflict with Russia as it happens.
Among them are Irish journalists working as European or political correspondents for different publications.
It comes as on Wednesday’s Morning Ireland, a BBC reporter in Ukraine joined the radio show to discuss the happenings around him.
During the call, John Sweeney told presenter Gavin Jennings about seeing blood on the ground, as well as a mass of rubble and the remains of civilians across the street.
However, the interview was interrupted when Sweeney said that he was approaching a checkpoint and may need to show his passport.
He then spoke briefly about the war, before quickly saying: "I've got to stop, hold on, there's a guy shouting at me with a gun."
The interview ended moments later, but Sweeney has continued to post updates of the situation on Twitter, assuring followers that he is ok.
So, who are the Irish journalists based on the ground as the war unfolds?
Tony Connelly
Tony Connelly is RTE’s Europe Editor. Throughout his career, he’s seen many events first hand, including Brexit negotiations, refugee crisis, terrorism and much more.
He’s travelled to the likes of Rwanda, Angola, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Georgia, Gaza among others during his time working on international stories for the national broadcaster.
His latest work brought him to Kyiv, to the height of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Connelly tweeted on Friday: “Early morning picture in Kyiv: a number of heavy airstrikes overnight, air-raid sirens going off throughout the night, people staying in shelters and in the metro system. President Zelenskiy in an early address says 137 dead so far across the country.”
Though he’s since left the country for Slovakia, during his time in Ukraine he was keeping followers updated on his Twitter account. At one stage, he and his cameraman Bram Verbeke were moved to a basement amid airstrike fears.
He tweeted: “Woken from sleep at 2am local by Radisson staff to return to the depths of -2. Another Russian air strike expected in Kyiv. They’ve provided us with duvets, pillows and (best part) bean bags.
“What sounds like heavy thuds now coming from above.”
They later decided to flee to Lviv, a city to the west of Ukraine, by car. Here, Connelly reported on how the residents were preparing for conflict by making Molotov cocktails and building defences.
Dan McLaughlin
Irish Times journalist Dan McLaughlin is currently reporting from Kyiv. He is a contributor to the publication based in central and eastern Europe.
From Ukraine on Saturday, he tweeted: “A sunny, quiet, strange afternoon in central Kyiv after hours of rolling booms from the outskirts.
“In the space of 30 mins I saw families walking dogs, people trying to find medicine, men queuing for guns, and security service officers doing a document check with pistol drawn.”
Later that day, he heard air-raid sirens over Kyiv.
This morning, he filed a report with Naomi O’Leary, who is based in Brussels, about the possibility of further strikes from Russia.
“Dead civil servants pulled from rubble of attack on regional government building in Kharki,” it said under the headline.
Paul Cunningham
Political Correspondent Paul Cunningham is currently at the border between Poland and Ukraine.
In the past, he was RTE’s Environmental Correspondent, as well as the Europe Correspondent at one point. He’s covered conflict in a number of countries including Bosnia, Lebanon, Kosovo, Algeria, Pakistan/Afghanistan, Guatemala, Nepal, Darfur, and Northern Ireland.
This morning, he has documented busses full of refugees crossing, as well as others gathering humanitarian aid to take back to Lviv.
Live-tweeting the happenings along the border, he said: “The UN refugee agency
@ChrisMelzer_NYC tells @rtenews that the number of refugees flowing out of #Ukraine now stands at 874,000, and is on course to hit 1m people shortly.”
