LONDON: A team of French journalists was within a few meters of an explosion following a Russian airstrike during a live broadcast from Druzhkivka, in eastern Ukraine, on Monday evening.
Paul Gasnier, who was on the ground with colleagues Heloise Gregoire and Theo Palfray, was shown reporting live for the French TV channel TMC when an explosion occurred just behind them.
Following the blast, dismayed staff in the studio were shown on TV screens, but Gasnier and his crew managed to reestablish their connection and continue their broadcast to Paris following the break.
The journalists admitted being scared, but said no one among the team was injured.
However, two other people were injured and the Altair ice hockey arena was destroyed in the airstrike.
The attack also damaged the MAN Hotel, the bus station, a church, a residential building and outbuildings in the city, according to reports.
A missile exploded a few dozen meters from a #French journalist who was in #Kramatorsk.
Video: TMC pic.twitter.com/A4Z9Uy38Ge
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) January 2, 2023
The Ice Hockey Federation of Ukraine said on its Telegram channel on Tuesday: “Since the start of the war, the Russian occupiers have destroyed five ice stadiums,” naming them as the Druzhba venue in Donetsk, arenas in Mariupol and Melitopol, and the Ice Palace in Sievierodonetsk, along with the Altair arena.
Donbas ice hockey club started using the Altair site in 2014, and said that the arena had been destroyed “as a result of rocket fire.”
Russian forces have intensified their raids against Ukrainian cities following devastating setbacks on the battlefield in the second half of 2022.
Casualties among members of the press and media have increased in the wake of more frequent raids.
More media workers were killed covering the war in Ukraine last year — 12 in total — than in any other country, according to the International Federation of Journalists.
Bjorn Stritzel, a German journalist from Bild, was slightly injured near the contact line in Ukraine on Monday.
A journalist from Japan was injured during a missile attack on Kyiv on Dec. 31, while Italian journalists earlier came under fire near Kherson.
