A group of Russian assassins ambushed a team of journalists from Sky News while they were headed towards Kyiv. The incident left Chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay and one of his crew members injured.
The incident took place on Monday. They were later rescued by the Ukrainian police from a factory unit, where the crew took shelter from the assault.
Video Shows Harrowing Footage of Assault
The footage shows the crew members traveling in a car on the empty roads of Kyiv when suddenly a bullet is fired at the moving car. "That was a bullet. That was a bullet," says a crew member as another responds, "NO it wasn't a bullet, something blew up under it."
Seconds later, a hail of bullets is showered on the car as it comes to halt. The members are heard shouting as one of them tries to tell the attackers that they are journalists. "British journalists, journalists. Stop," says the woman in the video.
However, the bullets continue raining on the team as few of them flee from the car after stopping it near an embankment.
Sky producer Martin Vowles, who was driving the car, was the first one to get out of the car, followed by Andrii Lytvynenko, their local producer. Ramsay, who was hit by a bullet in the lower back, took cover inside the car along with camera operator Richie Mockler, and producer Dominique Van Heerden. Mockler as hit with two bullets during the assault.
Ramsay Recalls Near Death Experience
Recalling the moment the team came under attack, Ramsay wrote, "Pointing weapons into our car, the last Ukrainian checkpoint suggested we shouldn't go any further. We elected to call it a day and return to the centre of the city."
"The roads we had taken were now unsafe. Well, worse than that, really: they were instantaneously new front lines," he said further adding that they initially thought that they were being mistakenly being fired upon by the Ukrainian checkpoint guards.
"Bullets cascaded through the whole of the car, tracers, bullet flashes, windscreen glass, plastic seats, the steering wheel, and dashboard had disintegrated," Ramsay wrote. "I do recall wondering if my death was going to be painful."
Claiming that it was later when the discovered that they were targeted by killer Russian reconnaissance squad, Ramsay said, "It was professional, the rounds kept smashing into the car - they didn't miss."
The Telegraph reported that the team escaped the site by taking cover using a concrete wall and found shelter in a factory unit. Ukrainian police later rescued them.
