On 6 June 2025, two press officers working for Ukraine’s State Service for Emergency Situations (DSNS, a state institution with functions similar to firefighters) were wounded in a double-tap Russian strike in Kyiv, according to DSNS and multiple media reports. The state service reported that those wounded were Pavlo Petrov and Inna Zhelchyk. Petrov additionally serves as the spokesperson of DSNS in Kyiv. While his life was not in danger, Zhelchyk was seriously wounded, with doctors reportedly “fighting for her life”. Three other DSNS officials from outside the press service were also killed in the Russian strike.
In the incident on June 6, Russia employed what is called a double-tap strategy: while the first strike targeted a residential building in Kyiv, the second one targeted rescue workers who arrived to the scene to react to the incident and assist those wounded.
While not journalists per se, DSNS officials are the first to have access to sites of Russian strikes across Ukraine: for this reason, images captured by DSNS press officers are typically the first to be published by major media outlets reporting on strikes, and as such DSNS press officers perform functions akin to the practice of journalism.