Three people, including two working for the Russian TV channel NTV, were seriously injured on Thursday in the Donbass city of Gorlovka as a result of a Ukrainian attack.
Journalist Aleksey Ivliev and two others were rushed to hospital after being injured during a work assignment in the settlement near the regional capital, Donetsk, Ivan Prikhodko wrote on social media.
NTV said in a statement on Telegram that the crew was working in a small settlement called Golmovsky just northeast of Gorlovka, when they were wounded. The other victims were cameraman Valery Kozhin and a Russian military officer who was accompanying them, it said. Earlier, the mayor’s report had erroneously said all three were members of the press.
TASS news agency, citing doctors, reported that the three remained unresponsive and were all undergoing surgery.
The reports would not immediately detail the circumstances of the incident, but Mayor Prikhodko had reported earlier in the day that Golmovsky had come under Ukrainian fire.
Gorlovka is located roughly 30 kilometers north of the Russian region’s capital, Donetsk.
56-year-old Ivliev is a veteran journalist working in media since the 1990s. Most of his career has been with NTV, which he joined in 1993. He specializes in coverage of armed conflict and in environmental issues, according to his profile on the channel’s website.
The city has not been under Kiev’s control since 2014, when communities in eastern Ukraine opposed the government that assumed power in the wake of a Western-backed coup. The new authorities tried and failed to quash these rebellions by military force.
The Russian Federation incorporated the Donetsk People’s Republic as a new member after a referendum in 2022, amid continuing hostilities with Ukraine. Moscow had cited Kiev’s refusal to reconcile with communities in the east, and continued attacks against Donetsk and other settlements, as key reasons for the escalation of conflict.
In April, regional officials accused Ukrainian forces of striking a hospital and a blood-donation center in Gorlovka using a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), which is supplied by the US.