Watch: Sky News crew forced to take cover from ‘rocket fire’ in Ukraine

Missile fire has been reported in both Kharkiv and Kyiv
Bill McLoughlin25 February 2022

A Sky News crew was forced to take cover following Russian rocket fire on Friday morning.

Sky News reporter John Sparks’ report was cut short after hearing rocket fire from the top of his hotel in what he described as the “drumbeat of war”.

As air raid sirens sounded, he said: “We were meant to speak to you earlier but were delayed due to rocket fire which sounded very close to the centre.”

Mr Sparks then paused his broadcast.

He added: “It feels very close to the centre of the city, and we’re taking a position close to the wall of our hotel. It’s coming from a northerly direction, where we think the bulk of the Russian troops are.

John Sparks was forced to take cover from the ‘rocket fire’
Sky News

“The streets are deserted. If a reminder were necessary that this city is being encircled by Russian troops, this serves as an excellent one.

“It’s still going on. It’s like the drumbeat of war reminding everyone that the Russians are close and moving in. It could be rocket fire, it’s quick and intense and we’re going to move inside.”

Fellow Sky News correspondent, Alex Rossi, was also forced to scramble for cover due to mortar fire in the south-eastern town of Berdyansk.

Russian forces launched rocket fire on Kharkiv and Kyiv in the early hours of Friday.

Residents in both cities fled to underground metro stations in order to see refuge from the missile strikes.

Russia invades Ukraine - In pictures

Airstrikes hit Kharkiv, Ukraine
1/56

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in