has revealed that he opted to stay in as a reporter after the BBC gave him the option to return home the day after ’s invasion began.
The broadcaster and foreign correspondent had flown out to Kyiv the day before the invasion on a £29.99 flight and admitted that he didn’t expect Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, to invade as he ‘didn’t see what he could hope to gain from it’.
However, on February 24, Russia attacked its neighbour in a massive escalation of the conflict that had been simmering since 2014.
Myrie’s BBC News at 10 broadcast was praised as he reported live on events, with – which he has since said was due to
In a new interview, the veteran presenter shared that the BBC offered the chance to him and any crew members to return to the UK following the invasion, but he .
He told the Daily Mail’s : ‘I made it clear I wanted to stay but I said to Kate Peters, our bureau chief, who had been in Moscow before, “Look, you know the Russians, if they come in here, are they going to kill us?”
‘She said she didn’t think so. I said, “OK, that’s good enough for me.”’
The 57-year-old also spoke about his fans from appearances on , as well as Mastermind – which he has hosted since last August – becoming worried after seeing him in Kyiv.
‘People forgot what I had done before and were like, “Oh my God, Clive, get off the roof! What are you doing there?”, and saying to the BBC, “Why are you sending him out there?”
‘They were thinking, “What’s the guy from Mastermind doing in Ukraine?” It’s like Magnus Magnusson covering the fall of Saigon!’ he joked.
Myrie also admitted to being ‘prepared but also scared’ while out in Ukraine, as he spoke about the ‘element of hypertension and stress’ in a situation where ‘a missile could be fired from Russian soil and land anywhere’.
‘But I like to think I know what I’m doing,’ he added.
The TV star was at the 2022 Tric Awards in July for his Ukraine coverage.
A classical music lover, he is currently presenting alongside Katie Derham.
