“Suspilne Donbas” film crew attacked by Russian drone in the Donetsk Oblast

A film crew from “Suspilne Donbas”, including editor-in-chief Andriy Kramchenkov and journalist Vladyslav Ukolov, came under fire from Russian forces in Donetsk Oblast. An enemy drone attacked the journalists in the town of Rodynske, Pokrovsk district, just 14 km from the front line. Andriy Kramchenkov shared details of the incident on his Facebook page.

Journalist Vladyslav Ukolov of “Suspilne Donbas” running for cover during a drone attack in Rodynske, Donetsk Oblast, May 25, 2025. Screenshot from Vladyslav Ukolov’s video

“While we were recording a soundbite with a local woman, I saw a fixed-wing drone directly above the building, already approaching its target. I managed to shout that there was a drone above us, and we ran for cover wherever we could,” Kramchenkov wrote.

He added that the drone crashed between two houses and did not hit anyone. At that moment, he and his colleague ran into the building’s entrance.

“Several more drones appeared, and they were being engaged with small arms fire. Explosions. We tried to make short dashes to reach the car, hoping it was intact, because how else would we get out of there? There was no communication as there had been no electricity for months,” Kramchenkov explained.

Fortunately, the car was undamaged, and the “Suspilne Donbas” team managed to leave the area.

Vladyslav Ukolov posted a video on his Facebook page showing the drone circling in the sky and the journalist running for cover. Ukolov stated that the drone attacked while they were interviewing a local resident.

“It flew out from behind the trees and disappeared just as quickly. I thought, ‘We got lucky, it didn’t see us.’ But no — a moment later, it returned, flying directly at us, swaying as it tried to stabilise, heading straight for our position. We were really fortunate — it lacked the angle to hit us. We were actually rushing towards it at that moment,” the journalist wrote.

In a comment to the Institute of Mass Information (IMI), Andriy Kramchenkov, editor-in-chief of “Suspilne Donbas”, clarified that the film crew was wearing black bulletproof vests with the word “Press” marked on them. Kramchenkov also said that the drone changed its flight path when it spotted him and Ukolov and attempted to attack them.

“We were saved by the fact that it was a fixed-wing drone and not as maneuverable as quadcopters,” Kramchenkov added.

This incident is not isolated. Previously, Russian forces used an FPV drone to attack a film crew from the Polish national television “Vot Tak” in the Pokrovsk area.

Similarly, a film crew from TSN and “1+1 Marathon” – journalist Oleksandr Motorny and cameraman Pavlo Borysko – came under Russian shelling while filming a report on the front line.

Additionally, in the Zaporizhzhia direction, Russians used a drone to attack a car carrying the film crew of the YouTube project Ukrainian Witness – Marharyta Potapova and Oleksandr Davydenko.

Earlier, a “Radio Svoboda” film crew was caught in a missile attack in the Donetsk Oblast.