On March 1, 2022, Russian military forces shelled a television tower in Kyiv, Ukraine, killing five people including camera operator Yevhenii Sakun.
Sergiy Tomilenko, head of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine, a local professional union, told CPJ via email and posted on Facebook that Sakun, 49, was working as a camera operator for the Ukrainian television station LIVE when he was killed.
Tomilenko said that Sakun was covering Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at the time of the attack, and his body was identified by his press card. Sakun’s former colleague, EFE Noticias reporter Olga Tokariuk, posted a photo of that press card and news of the journalist’s death on Twitter.
Tomilenko told CPJ and wrote on Facebook that the Ukrainian National Police had confirmed Sakun’s death to the journalist’s union.
Shortly before the attack, the Russian Defense Ministry warned that Russian forces would strike Ukrainian security service infrastructure and a psychological operations center in Kyiv “to thwart informational attacks against Russia,” according to Russian state news agency TASS.
Four other people were killed in the March 1 shelling of the TV tower, according to reports. The following day, Russian forces also shelled TV towers in the eastern Ukrainian cities of Kharkiv and Lisichansk, according to news reports.
CPJ emailed the Russian Defense Ministry for comment but did not receive any response.