Two British journalists were shot with one wounded in an ambush by “Russian death squads” and were “under full attack” near the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.
Stuart Ramsay, chief correspondent at Sky News was shot in the lower back and Camera operator Richie Mockler was also hit with two rounds to his body armour.
The Sky News team were ambushed driving towards Kyiv on Monday and they were able to escape and were later rescued by Ukrainian police.
The whole crew, including Sky News’ Dominque van Heerden and Martin Vowles and local producer Andrii Lytvynenko, are all now safe.
The crew were given the go-ahead from a police officer to take a road to Kyiv, Ramsay said they proceeded cautiously towards an intersection.
It was then that, “out of nowhere”, there was a “small explosion,” Ramsay said a tyre burst, the car then ground to a stop, and at that moment “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,” Ramsay said.
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
“Bullets cascaded through the whole of the car, tracers, bullet flashes, windscreen glass, plastic seats, the steering wheel, and dashboard had disintegrated.
“We didn’t know it at the time, but we were later told by the Ukrainians that we were being ambushed by a saboteur Russian reconnaissance squad.
“It was professional, the rounds kept smashing into the car – they didn’t miss.”
Ramsay said they initially thought a Ukrainian army checkpoint might be behind the shooting, but their panicked attempts to explain they were journalists did nothing to deter the Russian death squad
“I do recall wondering if my death was going to be painful,” 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,” he said.
“The point is we were very lucky,” Mr Ramsay said.
“But thousands of Ukrainians are dying, and families are being targeted by Russian hit squads just as we were, driving along in a family saloon and attacked.
“This war gets worse by the day.”
The Sky News team are now safely back in the UK, Lytvynenko is now with his family in Ukraine.
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