London, September 8, 2026—A Russian drone strike on a building housing two TV channels in Kyiv wounded six people and seriously damaged the newsroom on Tuesday while the team was on air.
Three employees were taken to hospital following the attack on the premises of We are Ukraine and We Are Ukraine+ TV channels, according to the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU). Others suffered cuts and minor injuries, and the newsroom, make-up rooms and offices were also significantly damaged in the blast.
“We are horrified to see such a serious and shocking attack on media premises in Kyiv, timed while journalists were doing their jobs,” said Fiona O’Brien, CPJ’s regional director for Europe and Central Asia. “A newsroom is a civilian facility, and journalists are civilians under international law: they should never be a target. This latest attack underlines yet again how dangerous it is to cover the news in Ukraine, whether near the frontlines or in Kyiv.”
According to NUJU, the channels’ reporters had just finished a staff meeting and were live on air when the strike took place. It was the second time the We Are Ukraine building has been hit in recent weeks: damage from a previous strike on August 20 was still being repaired.
Writing on X, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the strike on We Are Ukraine and called for an international response to Russia’s use of drones against journalists and media outlets. In recent months, Ukrainian media have reported a number of attacks targeting media outlets across the country, damaging equipment and premises.
Tuesday’s attack was part of a broader assault, which news reports said killed five people in the Ukrainian capital.
“A Russian drone striking during a live broadcast, media workers injured and workplaces destroyed – this is an attack that demands strong international condemnation,” Sergiy Tomilenko, NUJU president, told CPJ from Kyiv.