A Russian strike in Pryluky (Chernihiv oblast) on 7 April damaged the city council building. Reporters with Pryluky TV, who were in the building at the time of the attack, evacuated to a bomb shelter in time and were unharmed. However, the team lost two full sets of video equipment, Pryluky TV director Iryna Pavliutina reports to Andriy Kuzhel, the Institute of Mass Information’s regional representative.
Pavliutina says that the reporter crew was in the City Council on an editorial assignment, filming an executive committee meeting; they were supposed to cover a round table discussion later, which is why they brought two sets of cameras with them to use them at the same time.
“We were at the epicenter of the events, right in the City Council. When the air raid alert went off – and as the alert was still going off – there was the first explosion, in another building. We all immediately went downstairs to the bomb shelter. The most we could do was save the people,” said Pavliutina.
The cameras, tripods, microphones, and chargers remained in the building and were destroyed in the attack. The director said that she was drafting a police statement including a list of lost property.
“The cameras were destroyed, but people were unharmed, thank God. The people are fine,” she stressed.
The team now uses mobile phones for filming. The camera at the TV channel’s studio survived, but it is not suitable for filming on the ground.
The Pryluky deputy mayor reported that the City Council have been declared unusable for the time being.
