Russian frontline reporter Denis Kulaga has been injured after the quad bike he was riding was blown up near the Ukrainian-controlled city of Chasov Yar, footage released on Monday by the Izvestia newspaper showed.
The correspondent was returning from an assignment when his vehicle was hit by a blast, as shown in the video. According to Izvestia, the reporter’s quad bike was struck by a Ukrainian First Person View (FPV) kamikaze drone.
The clips published by the news outlet include the moment of the attack and the aftermath. Kulaga received first aid in the field and was dragged into nearby bushes by Russian troops, while more explosions could be heard in the background.
The journalist was evacuated to the city of Artyomovsk (formerly Bakhmut) for initial medical treatment and then transferred to hospital. Kulaga said both of his legs were broken and his limbs and face were burned in the explosion. Doctors are yet to remove some of the deeper-lodged shrapnel from his legs, he added.
“I’d call it the least possible price for the experience. Surviving that – people say it’s a miracle, and must have been a miracle,” Kulaga said.
A number of Russian journalists have been killed while covering the Ukraine conflict, including news photographer Nikita Tsitsagi and cameraman Valery Kozhin this summer. Izvestia lost correspondent Semyon Yeryomin in Zaporozhye Region to a Ukrainian kamikaze drone strike in April.
Russian reporters have also been targeted by Kiev outside the battlefield. War correspondent Aleksandr Korobov was injured in Belgorod earlier this month in what the Ukrainian military intelligence described as a targeted assassination attempt.