ON THE HILL: Journalist Brett Forrest details time spent covering the war in Ukraine

ON THE HILL: Latest on the war in Ukraine

Journalist Brett Forrest joins the show to detail his time spent on the ground covering the war in Ukraine.

With the war between Russia and Ukraine raging on, FOX 5's Tom Fitzgerald spoke with journalist Brett Forrest during Sunday morning's On The Hill, about his time spent on the ground in Ukraine.

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Forrest, who works for the Wall Street Journal, has 20 years of experience covering the Russia and Ukraine region. He was in the Kyiv when the war began more than 2 months ago, and he recently left the country to come back to the United States.

Forrest describes being shocked after hearing about Russian forces invading Ukraine. He tells FOX 5, "I have been working in the region for 20 years and I certainly didn't expect Vladimir Putin to take this step, so when we heard the bombs going off that early morning in Kyiv, we were all very surprised of course and there were a lot of frantic moments."

Forrest said the fighting in Ukraine has calmed down since the initial invasion, and there seems to be less military activity each day. Forrest said that as the war progresses, the lines of battle across Ukraine are becoming clear. He also tells FOX 5 that bigger Ukrainian cities seem to be returning to some semblance of normalcy, but others are still desperate for help.

"Where I was, I was in Kyiv, I was in Odesa, Mykolaiv, I was in Lviv. These places you can get food, they're even restaurants are reopening. I speak with other people, for example, in Mariupol, the terribly besieged city there and there's nothing available in places like that and it's almost impossible to get any kind of aid into those people," Forrest tells FOX 5.

When asked about Ukraine's successes in the war so far, Forrest complimented Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky for his ability to raise support for his country.

"Not every leader would have stayed, the fact that he did stay and the fact that he has rallied the people has really helped the Ukrainian people bring this fight to Russia," Forrest tells FOX 5. "It's amazing to watch the job he has done, not only with his own people in Ukraine, but with the world in general rallying them to Ukraine's cause."

Forrest also detailed his time spent documenting Russian offensives in the city of Bucha, where reports say Russian forces killed Ukrainian civilians.

When asked if he believes that Russia has committed war crimes, Forrest said "It's not my position to judge, it's my position to show, and I think it clearly shows what you have just described. I mean, what I saw in Bucha, I was there for about six different days, I saw people in civilian dress all over the place murdered by Russian soldiers."

When asked if he will go back to Ukraine to cover the war, Forrest tells FOX 5 he believes it is important to go back and continue reporting on the war.

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You can watch the full interview from FOX 5's On The Hill above.