Anadolu reporter Davit Kachkachishvili and photojournalist Özge Elif Kızıl, who were on duty at the Park Hotel at the time of the attack on 10 January, were able to leave the hotel with minor injuries, Anadolu reports.
According to IFJ/EFJ affiliate the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU), the Ukrainian fixer Violetta-Anastasia Pedorych, working for French TV channel France 2, was also injured in the strike, resulting in cuts on her face and her hands.
The Turkish journalists, whose team’s car was also severely damaged, were ordered to evacuate the area. Media confirmed that both journalists are in good health with only minor injuries, and that they were taken to the hospital for further checks.
The strike damaged not only the hotel, but other infrastructures in Ukraine’s second largest city, including two apartment blocks and vehicles near the hotel.
This is yet another attack among many that Ukraine is suffering, as the pace of Russian air strikes continues to increase and becomes more intense. Three hotels where teams of journalists were staying have been hit in recent weeks in what appears to be deliberate attacks "to limit the coverage of the war in International media," declared the President of NUJU Sergiy Tomilenko.
IFJ Turkish affiliate, DİSK Basın-İş commented on the missile attack and declared that “targeting journalists, healthcare workers and civilians is a war crime.”
IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger and EFJ General Secretary Ricardo Gutierrez said: “In times of war, journalists must be protected as civilians and be able to report on the ground. Targeting journalists in crisis areas is an obstacle to press freedom. We stand in solidarity with all journalists on front lines in Ukraine and with all those injured. As the sad anniversary of the war in Ukraine approaches, we call for the horrors we witness daily to cease and for journalists to be able to carry on their work safely.