News Enigma

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Who is CNN’s Matthew Chance and how old is he?

February 24, 2022

MATTHEW Chance’s broadcast from Ukraine went viral on February 24, 2022 after TV viewers witnessed his reaction to a missile attack in the capital city of Kyiv live on air.

The CNN reporter was covering the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Don Lemon Tonight when explosions could be heard.

Matthew Chance/Twitter

CNN senior international correspondent Matthew Chance is based in Moscow, Russia[/caption]

Who is Matthew Chance?

Matthew Chance is a British senior international correspondent for CNN who is based in Moscow, Russia.

He worked for BBC World Service and was a freelance correspondent in London, Bangkok and Sri Lanka from 1996 before joining CNN in 2001.

His first job for the network was reporting from northern Afghanistan and he was one of the first Western correspondents to arrive in Kabul, entering on foot as the capital fell to the Northern Alliance forces.

Other major stories he has covered include the December 2004 Thailand tsunami tragedy, July 2005 London bombings and subsequent investigative reports on the terrorists who attacked the capital.

How old is he?

Chance was born in the UK’s Midlands region in March 1970 – making him 51 years old.

He got his Bachelor of the Arts degree in Archaeology and Art from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London.

What happened to Matthew Chance in Ukraine on February 24, 2022?

Chance was reporting from a roof in Kyiv when a loud explosion was heard during his correspondence with CNN anchor Don Lemon.

“Tell you what, I just heard a big bang right here behind me,” he told viewers in the earlier hours of the morning on Thursday February 24, 2022.

“We probably shouldn’t have done the live shot here. There are big explosions taking place in Kyiv right now,” he continued.

Chance commented on how it was a “remarkable coincidence” the broadcast captured some of the early strikes shortly after US intelligence warned there could be attacks from land, air and sea.

Chance was reporting from a roof in Kyiv, Ukraine on February 24, 2022 when Russia launched missiles[/caption]

“I can’t see where they’re taking place from this vantage point on top of the hotel, and I can’t explain what they are,” he explained.

“I’ve got a flak jacket here, just let me get it on,” Chance told viewers as he retrieved body armor from a bag.

Prior to the startling bangs, Chance had told Lemon the situation was “relatively safe at the moment.” Chance shared that the city had been silent before he “heard four or five explosions.”

Viewers praised Chance for his bravery and thanked him and other reporters for risking their lives to give the world insight into the conflict.

Has Matthew Chance reported from Russia before?

He covered the Moscow theatre hostage crisis in October 2002 when nearly 800 people were held captive by Chechen rebels. Chance also covered the 2004 school siege in Beslan where 344 civilians died.

The journalist reported from the frontlines of the 2008 Russia-Georgia conflict and was the only TV correspondent to cross from Georgian territory to Russia.

He went live from Tskinvali, the capital of South Ossetia’s war zone and interviewed then-President Dmitry Medvedev when the conflict came to an end.

Chance also got the network’s first interview in eight years with then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.