A Russian FPV drone tried to attack a Suspilne Dnipro filming crew as they were interviewing a servicemember in Zaporizhzhia oblast on 23 June, journalist Antonina Chuiko reported to Kateryna Lysiuk, the Institute of Mass Information representative in Dnipropetrovsk oblast.
Chuiko said she was wearing a PRESS vest at the moment of the attack.
The filming crew including correspondent Antonina Chuiko, cameraman Oleksandr Shaldybin, and driver Oleksandr Kim were working with a Ukrainian Armed Forces unit in a Zaporizhzhia village. They were taking down the soldiers’ accounts of going out on missions. Chuiko said this had been a regular frontline filming session.
“All three of us were wearing body armor, helmets, and carried first-aid kits. We were talking and filming the soldiers when we heard the sound of a drone. A soldier who was outdoors said that it was an FPV. We hid in a building, where we continued filming. The drone hovered above us for some time, then left, and we heard an explosion,” said Antonina Chuiko.
The journalists decided to finish the interview quickly and leave the area. However, another drone was spotted shortly after. The journalists’ civilian car was parked nearby, under the trees, but they didn’t dare to run to it and decided to wait.
“We waited a little longer. Cameraman Oleksandr Shaldybin decided to go out first, but turned back because the FPV drone was hovering nearby, above the thicket we would have to cross to reach our car. The drone hung around for a few minutes and was on its way, at which point we ran to the car and left right away,” said the Suspilne Dnipro correspondent.
As previously reported, a Suspilne Dnipro filming crew was able to escape a Russian FPV drone following them thanks to being equipped with a drone detector. The incident happened in Demuryne village (Dnipropetrovsk oblast) on 17 March.