Russian troops targeted the Mezhyvskyi Merydian office in Mezhova village (Dnipropetrovsk oblast) in a drone strike on 28 August, the news outlet reported in a Facebook post and on their website.
The Russian forces struck the office building with a Molniya UAV. The building also housed the humanitarian aid centre of the Novopavlivka village military administration.
“The office was hit. … The windows were broken. … The Russians don’t seem to like our news, but it’s okay: you’ll be watching them, reading them, so that everyone can see what you’re doing to us,” said chief editor Yevhen Khrypun.
The shared photos and videos show that the strike shattered the windows and the office is littered with glass shards.
The village is located on the border of the Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk oblasts. According to the news outlet, Mezhova and practically all nearby villages remain without electricity, water supply, or stable mobile connection.
Yevhen Khrypun spoke to the National Council for Television and Radio Broadcasting about the impact of the attack, saying that the strike had broken all the windows and doors, blasted holes in the walls, filled the office with glass shards. Furniture, equipment, books, and newspaper binders had been damaged.
He was not at his workplace at the moment of the attack.
“However, the newspaper is not walls: it is the people who continue to work. There are not many of us. We are a denationalized district newspaper, now there are four people in the team including me. They have been relocated, and I am staying here and keep the locals informed about what is happening, as far as circumstances allow,” Yevhen Khrypun said.
He added that drone and cluster bomb strikes occurr throughout the Mezhova community.
Regarding deliveries, Yevhen Khrypun said that Ukrposhta had stopped operations and had not been delivering newspapers to the community in recent months.
“Now I take every issue to Mezhova by myself and distribute it through shops, humanitarian aid points, and other available places. We continue to work to the best of our ability,” said the chief editor.
The newspaper Mezhyvskyi Merydian has been in print since 1930 and celebrated its 95th anniversary this year. The current print run is about 2 thousand copies.