The office of the newspaper Visti Novovorontsovshchyny was damaged in the Russian drone strike in Novovorontsovka (Kherson oblast) on 14 August, chief editor Iryna Telychko reported to Serhiy Nikitenko, the Institute of Mass Information’s regional representative.
Telychko said that a large Russian drone had exploded just a few metres away from the building housing the newsroom. No staff were in the office at the time of the blast, so no one was injured.
“We don’t know exactly what type of drone it was, but it was clearly a large one, because the explosion was incredibly powerful. It was a massive strike on the central part of the town,” Iryna Telychko said.
The blast blew out the office’s windows and doors, littering the premises in glass shards. Immediately after the strike, the team started working to salvage any surviving equipment, documents, and other things from the office.
“On the first day we quickly carried out the most valuable items, since there was a chance of a repeat strike, and today we continued evacuating the property,” she added.
Telychko said that local authorities were trying to swiftly address the aftermath of the attack. At the same time, the team is trying to find an alternative location to work from, since the damaged building has no electricity or internet connectivity.
As the IMI representative noted, Visti Novovorontsovshchyny now remains the only local media outlet in Beryslav district operating on-site on a permanent basis, and the only local print media outlet in Kherson oblast.
The safety situation in the Novovorontsovka community remains extremely difficult. Almost all municipalities in the community are within the “red zone.” Novovorontsovka is located on the bank of what once was the Kakhovka reservoir and faces daily Russian drone and artillery strikes.