While the military was preparing everything necessary to repel Russian attacks from several directions simultaneously, the state apparatus was involved in making decisions on the security of the country's top officials and wartime legislative decisions. One of the most important thing to be decided at the moment was the introduction of martial law in Ukraine and the announcement of mobilisation. In order for Zelenskyy's decree to be put into effect, it had to be approved by members of parliament, who were gathering for an extraordinary session.

Ukrainska Pravda publishes the second episode of the podcast "24.02: The Invasion Reconstructed". In this episode, some of the people who were most directly involved in these events recall how the Ukrainian government in Kyiv tried to maintain control of the country, how the first wartime session of the Verkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian parliament) took place, why the government left and where they went, and why the speaker of the parliament and the president spent a month avoiding each other.

Credits:

Authors: Roman Romaniuk and Fedir Popadiuk

Narrator: Ben McBride

Producer: Alina Poliakova

Co-producer and AI-editor: Dmytro Volkovynskyi

Soundproducers: Yevhenii Klimuk and Oleh Labynskyi

Assistant: Anna Khivrenko

Translators: Yelyzaveta Khodatska, Elina Beketova and Olya Loza

Editor: Susan McDonald