On 25 May 2025, Ukrainian journalists Andriy Kramchenkov and Vladyslav Ukolov came under Russian fire while preparing a report from Rodynske village in Donetsk region, according to a Facebook post by Kramchenkov and media reports. Ukolov also published a video of the incident on his Facebook page. The two journalists were in Rodynske to prepare a story for Suspilne Donbas, the regional service for the Donbas region of Ukraine’s public broadcaster Suspilne. Kramchenkov is the editor-in-chief of the regional service.
According to the journalist, him and Ukolov were interviewing a local resident in Rodynske when they saw a Russian drone hovering nearby. Kramchenkov claimed that the drone changed its trajectory after noticing him and his colleague, and that it was already closing in on them when he noticed its presence. The Suspilne Donbas editor-in-chief said that him and Ukolov managed to run and hide in a nearby apartment building entrance, from where they heard several more drones, as well as gunfire targeted at them. As for the first drone, it exploded between two buildings, Kramchenkov said, and did not harm anyone.
After the end of the attack, the Suspilne Donbas journalists were able to return to their car, which was not damaged in the strike, and evacuate.
In conversation with Ukraine’s Institute of Mass Information (IMI), a local press freedom monitoring group, Kramchenkov said that he and his colleague were wearing visible PRESS markings on their protective gear when the Russian drone reportedly noticed their presence, and changed its trajectory in order to attack them.