[imagesource: Sky News]
Many of the world’s premier news sites and agencies have reporters on the ground in Ukraine.
They have brought us heartbreaking stories from across the country, as Ukrainian women and children flee, leaving the men behind to continue the resistance.
Russia’s leaders are bereft of all morality at this point so it was only a matter of time until we saw journalists coming under fire.
Last week, five members of a Sky News team headed for Bucha, where a Russian convoy had been destroyed by the Ukrainian army.
Sources told them that the town was quiet although the drive there featured a heavy military presence. It was suggested by soldiers en route that they turn around, and a detour to Kyiv was suggested.
Chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay tells the story:
We set off, but it was deadly quiet, and it’s fair to say we were concerned. But we travelled slowly forwards towards an intersection. There was rubble in the road, but that’s normal now. There were no soldiers, it all seemed deserted.
And then out of nowhere a small explosion and I saw something hit the car and a tyre burst. We rolled to a stop.
And then our world turned upside down.
The first round cracked the windscreen. Camera operator Richie Mockler huddled into the front passenger footwell. Then we were under full attack.
Footage captured by Mockler shows the assault:
This is absolutely terrifying – Stuart Ramsay and his Sky News team were targeted by a professional Russian hit squad in Ukraine.
Amazing that cameraman Richie Mockler managed to film this despite being under heavy gunfire.
They’re safely back in the UK. https://t.co/Rs4xVuNukw pic.twitter.com/gKyIzbRNwN
— Tim Gatt (@TimGatt) March 4, 2022
At the time, the team didn’t know who was firing at them.
Ukrainians later said the Sky team was being “ambushed by a saboteur Russian reconnaissance squad”.
Producer Dominique van Heerden, who was born in South Africa, posted to Instagram that she has no idea how the team survived:
View this post on Instagram
In the moments after they first came under fire, van Heerden opened the car door and dropped to the ground, “crawling towards a motorway barrier and then dived down a 40-foot embankment, rolling to the bottom”.
Ramsay was shot in the lower back and camera operator Richie Mockler took two rounds in his body armour.
Eventually, they managed to find an open gate and hid inside a factory. After initially being told they would have to spend the night, Ukrainian police arrived under the cover of darkness and drove them back to Kyiv.
You can watch extended footage of the attack here.
As fortunate as the Sky journalists were, attacks like this are now an everyday occurrence for Ukrainian residents.
[source:sky]
