LONDON: A UK news crew covering the Russian invasion in Ukraine came under fire on Monday in an ambush carried out by a suspected Russian death squad.
The crew, reporting for Sky News, were trying to enter a town near the capital Kyiv when they were attacked.
Two of the five-person team, Sky News chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay and cameraman Richie Mockler were hit, the former wounded in the lower back and the latter struck on his body armour.
“We knew we had to get out to survive, but the incoming fire was intense,” Ramsay said.
“I do recall wondering if my death was going to be painful. And then I was hit in the lower back. ‘I’ve been hit’ I shouted…but what amazed me was that it didn’t hurt that bad. It was more like being punched, really.”
The crew took cover in an abandoned factory while their vehicle continued to be shot at, and were later evacuated by Ukrainian police under the cover of darkness.
“It was strange, but I felt very calm. I managed to put my helmet on, and was about to attempt my escape, when I stopped and reached back into a shelf in the door and retrieved my phones and my press card, unbelievably,” he said.
“Richie says I then got out of the car and stood up, before jogging to the edge of the embankment and then started running. I lost my balance and fell to the bottom, landing like a sack of potatoes, cutting my face. My armour and helmet almost certainly saved me.”
Ukraine was invaded by Russian forces on Feb. 24, in what President Vladimir Putin claimed was a “special military operation” to “demilitarize and de-Nazify” Ukraine.
