“These were peaceful people”: what is known about the shelling of journalists at the crossing in Kherson

On the evening of October 20, a blow was struck on a column of civilians following along the Antonovsky bridge in the Kherson region to the left bank of the Dnieper.

According to preliminary data, four people died and 13 were injured.

The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation opened a criminal case on the fact of shelling of civilians.

“Ukrainian nationalists deliberately attacked the crossing from the American HIMARS MLRS with cluster munitions for a greater damaging effect,” the IC said in a statement.

The department emphasized that "these facts once again prove the frank cynicism of the Kyiv regime, which purposefully exposes the civilian population to shelling."

Among the dead and injured there are children and representatives of local media, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation reported: “At the moment, information has been received about two dead journalists who were among the residents at the crossing.”

According to the deputy head of the Kherson region Kirill Stremousov, the column consisted of journalists and their relatives.

He believes that the shots were fired purposefully, on a tip, "to destroy those who today cover the situation in the Kherson region."

The injured journalists worked for two Kherson TV channels, Tavria and VTV Plus.

VTV Plus has existed since 2006, since May 2022 it began broadcasting in Russian in connection with the transfer of Kherson region under Russian control, and since August of the same year it has expanded Russian-language broadcasting to the Zaporozhye region.

Tavria TV channel opened on August 18, 2022, it was headed by the former director of the Donetsk television company Oplot-TV.

For work on pro-Russian TV channels, Ukraine included the director of Tavria Vladimir Abdullaev and his son on the lists of the Peacemaker.

As Vladimir Abdullayev told RT, almost the entire evacuation convoy came under fire from the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

“There were about 12 of us on the bridge.

I was sitting in the third, and a fragment had already flown into our car, wounding an elderly man, a relative of one of our employees, ”he said.

According to him, the TV channel "Tavria" has not worked since yesterday - the employees, together with their relatives, tried to go to the "mainland" by car.

“Now we are writing letters to the acting governor of the Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo, so that we will be allocated cars for transportation to a safer place where our broadcasting can be established,” Abdullayev added.

One of the dead as a result of the shelling is producer Oleg Klokov.

According to the deputy head of the administration of the Kherson region, Ekaterina Gubareva, he arrived in the city in early October to develop the Tavria TV channel.

Previously, Klokov worked, including on Channel One, in Moscow 24 and in the Moscow government, she added.

The young journalist Vlada L. was also in the shelled column.

She was injured, is now in the hospital and says that she is "already doing well."

In the video posted on his Telegram channel by Kirill Stremousov, the girl shows the fragment that the doctors took out of her: “It flew into my chest, pierced right through and came out near the ribs.”

According to Vlada, they were standing at the Antonovsky Bridge with a column of journalists and were waiting for the crossing when they heard sounds similar to fireworks explosions.

“Everyone thought it was air defense work, no big deal,” she recalls.

- I was in the back seat.

A sharp explosion, I feel that glasses are pouring on me.

Danya, my colleague, our correspondent at Tavria, simply saved me with himself.

He pulled me out of the car, put me on the side of the road, covered me with his body.

Everything is fine with him, he is great, he helped all our colleagues who were also wounded.”

The journalist emphasized that there were no soldiers in the shelled column: “They were peaceful people who wanted to evacuate the city, go somewhere safe.”

Alexander Malkevich, a member of the Public Chamber of Russia, the general director of the St.

According to him, he was at the head of a large column of 40 or 50 people, heading for the safe left bank of the Dnieper, when HIMARS hit the beginning, middle and end.

Malkevich added that the shelling was carried out "on purpose, cynically and prudently."

Malkevich's colleagues in the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation are in solidarity with his opinion about the deliberate nature of the strike.

Maxim Grigoriev, a member of the RF Civic Chamber, called the shelling of the crossing "another obvious war crime under international humanitarian law."

“Ukraine knew that there were civilians there.

It doesn't make any military sense.

This is an attempt to intimidate and destroy civilians, to punish them for evacuating towards Russia from Ukrainian strikes, ”his words are quoted in the official Telegram channel of the Civic Chamber.

In turn, member of the RF OP Nikita Danyuk stressed that a strike on civilians is a serious violation of international law, the Vienna Conventions: contains inhumanity at its core.

In a perfidious way, people who want to avoid large-scale hostilities in Kherson at night at the crossing are targeted - this is just complete game.