CNN’s Clarissa Ward stops reporting to help elderly in Ukraine

CNN chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward paused on-air during her reporting Saturday to help elderly residents in Ukraine, even helping carry their belongings for a few moments. 

“These people have been under bombardment for seven straight days and are only just leaving their homes, and they’re leaving them reluctantly. And they’re leaving them with the knowledge that they might not be able to go back to them. And you can see many of these people are elderly,” Ward said before she started speaking to civilians in Kyiv, helping some navigate the unstable ground as they walked.

During another part of the broadcast, she stopped again to help a woman carry her bag.

“I’m just going to help her carry this bag a second, excuse me John,” she told CNN’s John Berman as she moved a few feet away from the camera to help move the bag. 

She returned it to the elderly woman and comforted her. Within less than a minute, the journalist returned to the camera to pick back where she left off.

“So people are obviously incredibly affected by this situation. They’re frightened. They’re exhausted. They’re on edge. They’ve got their pets. They’ve grabbed whatever they can,” she said.

Ward received widespread attention last year for her reporting in Afghanistan amid the Biden administration’s chaotic evacuation of U.S. troops  from the country. 

During the Taliban takeover, she reported in the streets around the airport in Kabul asking members of the insurgent group questions.  

“It’s been a pretty mind-bending trip, honestly,” Ward told The Hill in an exclusive interview in August. “It certainly felt like we had a front-row seat to history and it’s an extraordinary moment to witness.”

The CNN correspondent has also previously reported in the Syrian city of Aleppo, in Iraq and Beirut, Lebanon.