Russian strike on Kyiv damages the office of the Crimean Tatar channel ATR

Russian missile strike on Kyiv on February 12 damaged the building where the office of the Crimean Tatar TV channel ATR is located, reports Ayder Mujdabayev, journalist and the channel's deputy CEO.

He says that a missile fell down near the channel’s building. He posted a video of the interior. The windows and doors in the offices are either broken or blown open.

The office of the channel’s editor-in-chief is badly damaged; the furniture and equipment in the studio is broken or overturned. There are a lot of glass shards on the floor.

“I have no doubt that they were aiming for the TV channel. Such incidents do not happen just like that. So I believe that the ATR was the target,” Mujdabayev emphasized.

He recalled that in 2014, Russian special forces stormed the channel’s office in Crimea. After that, the editorial team was forced to leave the peninsula. For a while, the TV channel had support from the state, but eventually lost it. Mujdabayev suggested that this happened under the influence of pro-Russian forces.

“And now we have nothing. Our only luck is is that no one was physically injured here. Everyone is alive,” said the ATR deputy CEO.

As reported earlier, the FREEDOM TV office in Kyiv was damaged by the February 12 Russian shelling strike, but the channel continues to broadcast.