TV news outlets delivered live breaking news coverage of the Russian invasion into Ukraine late Wednesday—and will continue to do so on Thursday.
CBS News is planning to air a special report on Thursday (at approximately 12:30 p.m. ET) with President Joe Biden‘s remarks. CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell will anchor from Washington D.C. with Face the Nation moderator Margaret Brennan also in D.C. and CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reporting from his usual perch at the Pentagon. CBS News White House correspondent Nancy Cordes is reporting from the White House and CBS News foreign correspondent Charlie D’Agata is reporting from the capital city of Kyiv.
CBS News also has rolling coverage Thursday on CBS News Streaming and more coming up on CBS Evening News.
ABC News will break into regularly-scheduled programming with a special report carrying President Biden’s remarks also at approximately 12:30 p.m. ET. World News Tonight anchor David Muir will lead coverage, with reports from ABC News foreign correspondent Ian Pannell in Kyiv and ABC News senior White House correspondent Mary Bruce at the White House, among others.
ABC News will offer special reports throughout the day on Thursday as news warrants.
Additionally, NBC Nightly News’ Lester Holt will anchor an NBC News Special Report when President Biden makes remarks about Ukraine. He will be joined by NBC News chief White House correspondent Kristen Welker from the White House, NBC News chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel and NBC News correspondent Erin McLaughlin from Ukraine, NBC News senior international correspondent Keir Simmons from Moscow, NBC News correspondent Courtney Kube, and NBC News senior business analyst Stephanie Ruhle.
Over on MSNBC, Rachel Maddow will return from hiatus tonight to cover the breaking news situation in Ukraine from 8-10 p.m. ET.
Fox News will continue to present live breaking news coverage surrounding the Russian invasion of Ukraine. For the second consecutive night, Fox News @ Night with Shannon Bream will preempt Gutfeld! at 11 p.m. ET on Thursday with a special two-hour live report on the latest developments. Breaking news anchor Trace Gallagher will take over live coverage from 1-4 a.m. ET. Fox & Friends First will follow at its regularly scheduled time live from 4-6 a.m. ET.
CNN’s senior international correspondent Matthew Chance is in Kyiv covering the latest developments from Kyiv, while chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward and senior international correspondent Sam Kiley report from Kharkiv.
CNN’s international security editor Nick Paton Walsh is in Kherson and senior national security correspondent Alex Marquardt reports from Mariupol.
In Lviv, CNN anchors Erin Burnett, Michael Holmes and chief national security correspondent Jim Sciutto anchor their respective shows across CNN/US and CNN International. They are joined by journalist Atika Shubert.
In Russia, CNN’s international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson and journalist Jill Dougherty cover the latest updates from Moscow, while senior international correspondent Fred Pleitgen reports from the Belogrod region.
CNN international correspondent Scott McLean is reporting from the Poland-Ukraine border.
Over at Bloomberg, Surveillance extends till noon ET (with Tom Keene, Jonathan Ferro, Lisa Abramowicz). Bloomberg: Balance of Power is with David Westin in New York and Joe Mathieu in Washington. Bloomberg: The Close airs from 1-5 p.m. (starting an hour earlier than usual) with Romaine Bostick, Caroline Hyde and Kailey Leinz.
Hitting the rewind button to Wednesday, Anderson Cooper, who has been on paternal leave with his newborn for the past couple of weeks, returned to anchor AC 360. CNN’s chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward reported live from Kharkiv, Ukraine, close to the Russian border, and told Cooper that “this feels like a city—indeed, a country—that’s really just holding its breath.” Ward remarked that the shift in tone from Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky was especially notable.
After Cooper, Don Lemon took on anchor duties for CNN from 10 p.m.-1 a.m. ET. Lemon passed the baton to CNN International anchor and correspondent Michael Holmes, who anchored from the ground in Ukraine during the overnight hours, before Brianna Keilar took the baton at 5 a.m. ET.
Ali Velshi anchored MSNBC’s live breaking news coverage of the invasion Wednesday from 11 p.m.- 2 a.m. ET, and Katy Tur took the overnight shift, anchoring live from 2-5 a.m. ET. Hallie Jackson followed from 5-6 a.m. ET, leading into Morning Joe.
Fox News @ Night’s Shannon Bream preempted Gutfeld! last night with a special two-hour live report on the latest developments in Ukraine. Bream was joined by Special Report anchor Bret Baier. Fox’s breaking news anchor Trace Gallagher took over live coverage starting at 1-4 a.m. ET, while Fox & Friends First followed at its regularly scheduled time live from 4-6 a.m. ET.
Fox News correspondent Steve Harrigan reported from Ukraine in the early hours of Thursday, local time, telling Fox News @ Night’s Shannon Bream, “You know, I think in the short term, Ukraine has no chance at all. But in the long term, I think they have every chance in the world. It really depends how this war goes. But I remember a war nobody heard of 25 years ago in a place called Chechnya and the Russians boasted. They said we are going to take Chechnya, population 1 million in two hours. Ten years later, the Russians were still fighting in Chechnya. It is easy to take a city. It is hard to hold the city. The Russians can come in and take Kyiv. They can carry out regime change, they can decapitate the leadership here and whatever brutal form they choose. They can do that. But they can’t hold on. I think if you ask me my opinion, which I’m glad to give, if this is a major war, this is the downfall of Vladimir Putin. This is the downfall of his Russia, this is the downfall of an autocracy, because they can win in the short-term but they cannot win in the long term. Ukraine, Europe is not going to stand for it.”
Fox’s foreign correspondent Trey Yingst is also reporting from Ukraine. Here’s what he had to say late Wednesday (early Thursday, local time) on Laura Ingraham‘s show:
“We are hearing explosions in the capital of Kyiv right now. This is that coordinated attack for weeks western intelligence analysts warned could take place. The explosions in the Ukrainian capital started shortly after reports were coming in of explosions in the east and after those what appeared to be taped remarks by Russian President Putin finished up in Moscow. One of the places in the eastern part of Ukraine that we know took a direct hit during these initial air strikes was a small town Kramatorsk. It was a town that we actually landed in over the weekend when we were on the front lines with Ukrainian troops. There is a lot of military equipment there and it was used as a base in this part of, very close to the front line. The fact though that there are explosions in the Ukrainian capital escalates this event and this Russian invasion into Ukraine to a level that analysts feared could expand to a much larger conflict between the two sides.”
Back over on broadcast news, CBS News foreign correspondent Charlie D’Agata was live on CBS’ special report in primetime, anchored by Norah O’Donnell, when explosions broke out behind him in the city of Kyiv. D’Agata said he could hear fighter jets and loud explosions overhead, as air and missile attacks have been reported across much of Ukraine. He reported that one official told him more than 40 Ukrainian soldiers are dead.
Live on the ground in Kyiv, @charliecbs says he can hear fighter jets and loud explosions overhead, as air and missile attacks have been reported across much of Ukraine.
One official said more than 40 Ukrainian soldiers are dead. pic.twitter.com/E3LwaEYwKv
— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) February 24, 2022
Holly Williams reported for CBS from Kharkiv, Ukraine, and said there are “grave fears that this could end up being the biggest land war in Europe since World War II,” after the city was rocked by possibly “dozens” of “loud explosions” overnight.
Reporting from the ground in Kharkiv, Ukraine, @HollyMAWilliams says there are “grave fears that this could end up being the biggest land war in Europe since World War II,” after the city was rocked by possibly “dozens” of “loud explosions” overnight. pic.twitter.com/SWD485PiaU
— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) February 24, 2022
World News Tonight anchor David Muir anchored an ABC News special report in the 10 p.m. ET hour. Tom Llamas did the same for NBC News, and Norah O’Donnell led CBS News’ primetime special report. Llamas anchored another NBC News Special Report again at 2 a.m. ET. Richard Engel was among the journalists on the ground in Ukraine for NBC News, and CBS News broke into regular programming at around 3 a.m. ET with a CBS Overnight News update.
ABC News chief global affairs correspondent Martha Raddatz (Lviv), chief White House correspondent Cecilia Vega (Washington, D.C.), chief foreign correspondent Ian Pannell (Kyiv), senior foreign correspondent James Longman (Moscow) and ABC News contributor Retired Col. Stephen Ganyard (Washington, D.C.) all contributed to the ABC News primetime special report, anchored by Muir.
ABC’s Nightline also covered the invasion live in the 1 a.m. ET hour, with Byron Pitts at the anchor desk. Muir anchored another ABC News Special Report later in the 1 a.m. ET hour and again at around 3 a.m. with Raddatz and Pannell two ABC News correspondents reporting from Ukraine. ABC’s overnight newscasts also presented live coverage of the invasion before local news and eventually GMA took over Thursday morning.