On 10 January 2023, Ukrainian authorities in Kharkiv reported that two Russian S-300 missiles had struck a local hotel during an evening attack, wounding 13 people in total, including two foreigners. The hotel accommodated several international correspondents at the time of the incident, and three journalists were affected by the attack: Ukrainian producer for France TV Violetta-Anastasia Pedorych was wounded, Anadolu Agency reporter Davit Kachkachishvili sustained minor cuts on his hand, while photojournalist Özge Elif Kizil, who also works for the Turkish news agency, was transported to a local hospital as a precautionary measure, along with the two other journalists.
The details of the attack were recounted by Pedorych: “We arrived at the hotel five minutes before the shelling. We took the elevator to the third floor. The first explosion took place at the moment when we were entered [our] rooms. Blood ran down my face. I went out into the corridor, and there was a second explosion. The [other] journalists and I went downstairs, [where] we exited [the hotel] through the window ,” the France TV producer said in a comment to the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU).
As a result of the attack, Pedorych’s head, hands and face were cut with glass, with one of the fragments wounding her near the eye. Doctors also suspect that she could have received a concussion requiring treatment, NUJU reported.
Additionally, a car used by the Anadolu Agency reporting team was damaged in the missile attack. The hotel itself was seriously damaged, images of the building showed. Aside from their Ukrainian producer, the France TV correspondents present on-site were not affected by the incident.
According to mayor of Kharkiv Ihor Terekhov, 30 people were in the hotel at the time of the attack, including seven employees and 23 guests, Terekhov said in a comment to Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne.
“There were no mercenaries, no military personnel here. This is a civilian building, civilian infrastructure. We have always accommodated [in this hotel] our friends and guests who were in Kharkiv, foreign delegations,” the mayor explained.
According to Terekhov, one of the Russian missiles struck the hotel building itself, while another rocket hit near the entrance of the hotel.
The hotel was popular among foreign journalists, added Volodymyr Tymoshko, the head of the police of the Kharkiv region.
“Military personnel never lived in this hotel, almost all of Kharkiv knows this. This hotel was used by journalists. This was a well-known fact. At the time of the attack, foreign journalists, in particular from Turkey, were staying in the hotel. Therefore, I believe that the Russian Federation carried out this attack precisely on mass media,” Tymoshko told Suspilne.