"Zaborona" journalists come under Russian fire near Bakhmut
On January 31, "Zaborona" filming crew came under Russian mortar fire on the road near Bakhmut, Donetsk oblast. Journalist Polina Vernyhor reported this on Facebook and gave a comment to IMI.
According to Polina, the mine fell next to their car and punctured the wheel.
"On the first day of the our trip, we went to Bakhmut and came under mortar fire a few kilometers from the city. Fortunately, it was just an ordinary mine, and not an anti-tank missile, which Russians are firing left and right around there. Fortunately, the debris did not hit the windows or the fuel tank. Fortunately, the car with a completely torn tire didn't just stop in the middle of the road," she wrote on Facebook.
Journalists were supposed to make a report about the Bakhmut children, who were forced to hide from the shelling in cellars.
In her comment to IMI, Vernyhor specified that there were three of them in the car: she, photographer Ivan Chernichkin, and cameraman Yevhen Zhulay. According to her, the shelling injured none of them, she only suffered a contusion in her right ear.
She also added that their car was marked with "PRESS" labels on the front and rear windows. At the same time, Vernyhor believes that the Russians were simply mass shelling the highway, not targeting the journalists.
As IMI reported, on January 26, the Russian military deliberately shelled a spot near Bakhmut (Donetsk oblast) where a Česká Televize crew was working together with their Ukrainian colleagues. The journalists themselves and their cars were branded with "PRESS" stickers.
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