Two Ukrainian journalists were killed in a Russian drone strike on Thursday in the eastern city of Kramatorsk. The attack, which targeted a petrol station, has been condemned by Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman as a war crime.
Donetsk regional governor Vadym Filashkin identified the victims as Olena Hubanova and Yevhen Karmazin, both reporters from the state-funded Freedom television channel. The channel, which produces Russian-language broadcasts, confirmed that the pair were inside their car when it was struck by a Lancet drone. The Lancet is an advanced combat drone designed to destroy heavy military vehicles but has increasingly been used in attacks on civilian areas.
“This tragedy once again demonstrates Russia’s ongoing war crimes against civilians,” Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said in a statement on Telegram. The prosecutor’s office launched a formal war crimes investigation following the attack, confirming that another journalist accompanying the two had been wounded. Photos released by officials showed a wrecked red car and two press-labelled protective vests found in the back seat.
The deaths add to a growing list of journalists killed since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Ukrainian authorities report that at least 20 journalists have lost their lives in the conflict zone.
Earlier this month, a French photojournalist died and his Ukrainian colleague was severely injured in a similar drone strike near Druzhkivka, south of Kramatorsk. That incident marked the first known instance of a journalist being killed by a drone attack in Ukraine, according to the European Federation of Journalists.
Just last week, Russia’s state media agency RIA reported that one of its war correspondents was killed and another injured when a Ukrainian drone targeted Russian-occupied territory in the Zaporizhzhia region, underscoring the growing risks journalists face on both sides of the front line.
