The camera crew for the Dnipro based TV company Channel 11 came under a Russian GBU (guided bomb unit) strike while carrying out an editorial assignment in Pokrovske village (Synelnykove district, Dnipropetrovsk oblast). None of the crew members were injured, reports war correspondent, “War Reporter On Channel 11” host Yevhen Koptev to Kateryna Lysiuk, the Institute of Mass Information representative in Dnipropetrovsk oblast.

The incident occurred on 14 October. The project’s filming crew arrived at the scene together with volunteers who were evacuating the locals away from the constant Russian shelling. “’War Reporter On Channel 11′ goes like this: the first segment is a story about civilians, then an expert discusses the DeepState map, and then a story from the battlefield. This time we were assigned to report on the evacuation of civilians from Pokrovske in Synelnykove district, Dnipropetrovsk oblast. We took off, everything as usual, they evacuated people, domestic cats, even puppies… everything was normal. We don’t really follow what messages are coming in as we work. We saw the reports that guided bombs had been fired at Synelnykove district, that’s it. We hurried up, but it all happens very quickly, you can’t really make sense of your surroundings…” says Yevhen Koptev.

A guided bomb hitting its target caught on video. Screenshot from Channel 11 by IMI

Yevhen says that their crew always wears full gear when going to combat areas: bulletproof vests with shoulder pads, helmets, first aid kits. But this time the team was in a different car.

“We usually drive another car, but it’s in repair right now. And this one is small, squat, you have to take off your helmet when you get in. And I had just taken off my helmet, I was getting into the car, and here it was… the first bomb! It hit about 200 meters away from us. Of course, there should be no one in the car, because it would become a coffin… We hopped out of the car, I ran to the gate, the helmet was still in my hands… It was very loud! I won’t be heroic, I won’t say that I’m better than everyone. It’s very scary! They’re really loud! Then the second one, then the third one… The volunteers turned around in their car and quickly drove away to get farther from it. We jumped into the car after them and also drove away. We drove away, then got one more person on board. […] Just another day working as a war reporter,” said Yevhen Koptev.

“War Reporter On Channel 11” crew urgently evacuating. Screenshots from Channel 11 by IMI

Yevhen Koptev has been making trips to the frontline areas since 2015: first as a volunteer, then as a journalist. This is the second time that he has come under fire over the past two years. The first time was on 13 August 2025, when the filming crew’s car was hit by an FPV drone while departing from Pokrovsk (Donetsk oblast). Yevhen says he and his colleagues were lucky: they only suffered minor concussions, the crew’s car took the full brunt of the blow.