Vehicle carrying soldiers, TV Channel 5 war correspondent detonates magnetic mine near Pokrovsk, all survive
A vehicle carrying a group of servicemen and Channel-5 war correspondent Olha Kalinovska struck a magnetic mine near the city of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region; the device detonated under the vehicle.
The television channel's website reported that everyone in the car survived, although the vehicle was damaged. After the vehicle was blown up, Russian occupiers began searching for the crew, so the group's task was to find the nearest dugout and hide in it. "We walked 200–300 meters for more than an hour. It was like this: we moved for 20–30 seconds, then lay down. Some lay down, some fell, some hugged a tree," Kalinovska recounted.
It later emerged that one member of the crew suffered a broken leg. "Thank God, everyone is alive and well. All four only have concussive injuries... The driver suffered the most," the war correspondent said.
Petro Poroshenko – former owner of Channel-5 (2003–2021), member of the Ukrainian parliament and leader of the European Solidarity party – called Kalinovska one of Ukraine's best war correspondents and noted that since the full-scale invasion she has been constantly at the front line, "not just filming but taking part in History herself." "I know how often you go to the 'zero' line. I know how much you do so the world can see the true face of the 'Russian world.' And I know how important this work is for Ukraine. You are true heroes," Poroshenko wrote on Facebook on Saturday.
