Russian drone targets a car carrying two freelance journalists in Pokrovsk

Freelance journalists Inna Varenytsia and Zoryana Stelmakh were targeted by a Russian drone in Pokrovsk, Inna Varenytsia reports in a comment for the Institute of Mass Information.

She says the Russian troops attacked their car at a railway crossing on January 28. However, Inna only decided to talk about it today, posting about the incident on Facebook.

Inna told the IMI that on the day before their drive to the city a lot of Russian drones had attacked civilian cars and there were already three abandoned civilian cars at the crossing.

The journalists’ car was not marked "Press". However, Inna says that on that day the Russians attacked a car with the word "People" written on it, carrying people who were leaving the city, and a few days later they targeted an armored vehicle that said “Evacuation”. Inna does not rule out that even if their car had been marked the Russians would have attacked them anyway.

Innya Varenytsia and Zoryana Stelmakh next to the car damaged by a Russian drone strike. Photo by Inna Varenytsia on Facebook

The journalists were wearing blue "Press" vests and helmets, however. Despite the amount of debris and the car being damaged, neither Inna nor Zoryana was injured.

“Miraculously, not a single piece of debris hit Zoryana or me,” said Inna. She added that the drone exploded a few centimeters away from the car, damaging the trunk, the rear brake, and the right side of the vehicle, which was scraped by debris.

The journalists managed to drive back to Kyiv in the wrecked car. The car is currently being diagnosed.

Inna Varenytsia opened a donation jar for car repairs, you can support her here:

https://send.monobank.ua/jar/81T1brkNgN.

Or via PayPal at [email protected].