On February 2, a film crew from Suspilne Dnipro came under Russian drone attack while working in the frontline town of Ternivka in the Dnipropetrovsk region. The journalists were documenting the aftermath of a Russian strike on a bus carrying miners that had taken place the day before.
The film crew arrived in the city where a Russian drone struck a bus carrying DTEK civilian workers. Another drone struck people who were injured and trying to help each other out of the damaged vehicle. Journalists were working on site, documenting the aftermath of the attack on civilians. As they were preparing to record the correspondent, they heard the sound of gunfire and saw a Russian drone.
“The cameraman was setting up the camera, and I was rehearsing the text for the stand-up. Then we heard shots in the distance and realized that a mobile fire group was probably at work — the military was trying to shoot down the drone. The shooting was getting closer and closer to us, and eventually we heard the sound of the drone itself, and a second later we saw it. The black “Shahed” was flying in our direction,” said Anton Sirenko, a correspondent for Suspilne Dnipro.
To protect themselves, the film crew ran to a nearby fence.
“We crouched down and waited. As we ran, we noticed that the drone changed course for a moment, and two seconds later it struck. There was an explosion. Immediately afterwards, we jumped into the driver’s car and quickly left the area. Five minutes later, we saw another drone flying very low, almost above the roofs of five-story buildings, and then it struck again in roughly the same place as the previous one,” the correspondent added.
The film crew, correspondent Anton Sirenko and cameraman Oleksiy Korenev, were working in full protective gear—bulletproof vests and helmets marked PRESS, as required by safety regulations for working in areas of increased risk to life. The driver, according to protocol, waited for his colleagues in the car. There were no injuries or damage.
Despite the threats, Suspilne continues to work in frontline and border regions, documenting the consequences of Russian attacks against civilians and informing the public about the events of the war.
Breaking news from the Suspilne Dnipro team—on the Suspilne Novyny website and on social media:
Suspilne Ukraine is an independent media company with a strong presence across all platforms: the TV channels Pershyi, Suspilne Kultura, Suspilne Sport, and a national network of local channels; the radio stations Ukrainske Radio, Radio Promin, Radio Kultura, Radiotochka. Find only verified news on suspilne.media, as well as on our national and local digital platforms. We broadcast in minority languages, represent Ukraine at the Eurovision Song Contest, develop the children’s platform Brobaks, and train media professionals through the Public Media Academy. Our Suspilne Mediateka platform offers unique video and audio archives dating from the 1920s to today. Defending freedom in Ukraine.
