Across television news on Thursday, the coverage included haunting overhead shots of the emptied streets of Kyiv, punctuated by the sounds of air raid sirens and occasional explosions. Some correspondents narrated the events from the safety of hotel room balconies; others were seen wearing flak jackets and helmets in more perilous situations.Clarissa Ward, CNN’s chief international correspondent, interviewed frightened Ukrainians from inside a crowded Kharkiv subway station where people had fled to hide from bombings. “Just as we arrived here there were more explosions, people came flooding down the stairs into this subway station,” Ms. Ward told viewers.The head of CNN International, Mike McCarthy, said in an interview that the network had 75 people in Ukraine, including drivers and local interpreters. The network is using the city of Lviv in western Ukraine as its base, in part to ensure that broadcasts were not interrupted by cyberattacks that may affect Kyiv. He said CNN had “six or seven” backup communications systems in case any failed.CNN’s newsroom has faced turmoil this month with the abrupt ouster of its longtime president, Jeff Zucker. On Thursday, David Zaslav, the chief executive of Discovery Inc., which is close to a merger with CNN’s parent company, WarnerMedia, said on an earnings calls that the network’s coverage of the invasion was “a proud moment.”MSNBC also went into breaking news mode, although like Fox News it highlighted its most popular opinion hosts. Rachel Maddow, who was on a two-month hiatus from the network, returned on Thursday to host prime-time coverage.
Russia’s Attack on Ukraine and the Global Economy
Card 1 of 6A rising concern. Russia’s attack on Ukraine could cause dizzying spikes in prices for energy and food and could spook investors. The economic damage from supply disruptions and economic sanctions would be severe in some countries and industries and unnoticed in others.The cost of energy. Oil prices already are the highest since 2014, and they have risen as the conflict has escalated. Russia is the third-largest producer of oil, providing roughly one of every 10 barrels the global economy consumes.Gas supplies. Europe gets nearly 40 percent of its natural gas from Russia, and it is likely to be walloped with higher heating bills. Natural gas reserves are running low, and European leaders have accused Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, of reducing supplies to gain a political edge.Shortages of essential metals. The price of palladium, used in automotive exhaust systems and mobile phones, has been soaring amid fears that Russia, the world’s largest exporter of the metal, could be cut off from global markets. The price of nickel, another key Russian export, has also been rising.Financial turmoil. Global banks are bracing for the effects of sanctions designed to restrict Russia’s access to foreign capital and limit its ability to process payments in dollars, euros and other currencies crucial for trade. Banks are also on alert for retaliatory cyberattacks by Russia.Amid the gravity of a high-stakes international conflict that has threatened the modern security structure of Europe, some viewers seized on lighter moments. Some partisan accounts on Twitter pointed out the jarring nature of an Applebee’s commercial, with a jingle about “a little bit of chicken fried,” that aired during CNN’s coverage. (Applebee’s said later that it had contacted CNN to pause its advertising on the network; “it never should have aired,” a representative for the restaurant chain said.)