2 Ukrainian journalists came under Russian fire in Kharkiv Oblast

Two journalists from the Ukrainian media outlet Hromadske came under Russian attack in Kharkiv Oblast on Nov. 25 while filming a story about volunteers evacuating abandoned horses.

Journalists Ksiusha Savoskina and Oleksii Nikulin went to film the evacuation of animals together with volunteers from Kharkiv Animal Rescue at an abandoned farm on the left bank of the Kupiansk district, Hromadske reported on Nov. 28.

The group was accompanied by a soldier, as he had spotted the horses from the Ukrainian forces' positions.

As the evacuation of the horses began, a Russian drone appeared overhead, forcing everyone inside a building. Later, an explosion occurred — the car, along with the journalists' backpack containing lenses for filming, were destroyed as a result of the attack.

"Since then, we tried not to leave the hangar. The volunteers were supposed to put the horses in a trailer, and we decided that we would not leave (the hangar) the whole day until it got dark because it was very dangerous — (the Russians) had probably already spotted us," Savoskina said.

Another explosion also set a neighboring building on fire. The journalist suggested that Russian forces might have dropped a mine on it.

"Despite this, everyone remained healthy. The horses are also unharmed — they are now in Kharkiv, then they will be transported to a children's equestrian school," Savoskina said.

Russian troops ramped up their efforts near Kupiansk in early September and approached the city’s industrial outskirts in the northeast. Earlier in November, Ukrainian forces successfully repelled Russian attempts to break into the city.

The crowd-sourced monitoring website DeepState also reported on Nov. 26 that Ukrainian forces had completed clearing Kupiansk of Russian soldiers.

Kupiansk is a key logistics and railway hub in the eastern part of Kharkiv Oblast. With several highways and five railway lines running through it, the town was briefly occupied by Russian forces before it was liberated during a successful Ukrainian counteroffensive in the autumn of 2022.

Capturing the city would widen the north-to-south supply route from Russia's Belgorod Oblast, fuelling their attempt to take the entire Donbas region.

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The Kyiv IndependentBoldizsar Gyori