Russian strike destroys Dim TV, FREEDOM TV offices
Aftermath of the strike on IMBPU office. Photo by kanaldim.tv
The Russian ballistic strike on April 6 severely damaged the buildings that housed the offices of state-owned enterprise International Multimedia Broadcasting Platform of Ukraine (IMBPU) channels following the February 12 shelling, IMBPU website chief editor, deputy chief of website administration and social media, Vadym Lubchak, reported in a Facebook post.
The building that came under fire housed the offices of the following TV channels:
- FREEДОМ;
- Dim;
- UATVEnglish;
- The Gaze;
- UATVEspañol;
- UATVArabic;
- UATVPortuguês;
- the digital office.
The building also housed service departments.
“Fortunately, our employees were unharmed. Despite everything, the international broadcasting platforms continue to work,” Vadym Lubchak said.
The IMBPU website reports that the Russian missile strike destroyed the new FREEDOM TV newsroom, where the IMBPU was building an upgraded studio after the February 12 shelling strike.
The three upper floors of the business center where the international broadcasting channels were located have been destroyed, there is now a huge crater next to the building, and the lower floors also sustained significant damage and are unusable.
The IMBPU CEO Yulia Bin stressed that this is the second strike they have faced in less than two months. This time, the premises where the digital and service departments used to work and where the company had transferred part of the staff and production facilities after the February shelling strike have effectively been destroyed.
“This is where we were preparing to launch the upgraded FREEDOM studio and were doing other renovations. The State Emergency Service is working on the ground now, clearing away the rubble, and the police are investigating. Because of this, we cannot yet fully assess the scale of the inflicted damage ourselves. It is clear that this venue is now unfit for work, but we will find a solution. What matters is that no one on the international broadcasting team was injured. We continue to go on air. Thank you to everyone who is supporting and helping us,” Yulia Bin said.
As the IMI reported, the FREEDOM TV office in Kyiv was damaged by the February 12 Russian shelling strike, but the channel continued to broadcast.
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