On 30 December 2023, Svitlana Dolbysheva, a Ukrainian translator working for the German TV channel ZDF was wounded in Kharkiv as a result of Russian shelling in the city, as reported by ZDF reporter Alica Jung. At the time of the explosion, the ZDF reporting team was in the Kharkiv Palace hotel, which was hit by a Russian missile, Jung reported.

According to the journalist, at the time of the attack, three employees of the channel were on the fifth floor, one was in the lobby, and another of their colleagues was on the 11th floor. Dolbysheva, who was injured, was in the lobby. According to the manager of the hotel, a total of 15 rooms were rented at the time of the attack, of which at least 10 were by journalists, Ukrainian press freedom group Institute of Mass Information (IMI) reported. The details of the attack were recounted by Dolbysheva to the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU):

“I am very lucky, all my injuries are not life-threatening. I had a mine-explosive head injury, a cut, and a concussion. Also, the ceiling fell on my back, and I have fractured vertebrae, ribs, contusion, bruised lung, pneumothorax, and bruises all over my body. Doctors applied a couple of stitches on my head,” Dolbysheva said.

She further recounted the events on December 30:

“My colleagues and I finished work and agreed to meet at 7 p.m. in the lobby of the hotel to go to dinner. I did not hear the air raid alert as at the time when it was announced, I was in the bathroom. Then I got dressed, went down to the first [ground] floor, and sat down to wait for my colleagues. […] The explosive wave threw me back, I started to crawl, and there was a second [missile], […] I was very scared then,” Dolbysheva recalled.

She added: “I understood that if I did not get out of that atrium now, I would simply be covered with falling debris. My phone was almost dead, and I turned on the video as I followed the signs to the shelter. I reached the elevator, it was blocked, and I sat on the floor, thinking: “Well, that’s it! I tried, but I didn’t succeed.”

The ZDF producer however eventually managed to reach the hotel’s underground shelter, where she later received urgent medical treatment.

Authorities in Kharkiv additionally reported that a British national who was working as a security advisor to a German media team was also wounded in the attack. According to IMI, the unnamed British citizen was taken to a hospital after being wounded, but he refused hospitalization. NUJU later reported that the individual, who also worked for ZDF and asked to remain anonymous, ended up undergoing an operation at a local hospital, but was allowed to leave on the same day. According to Dolbysheva, he will need to undergo another operation in approximately two months, and has lost 20-30% of his hearing.

Following the attack, TV channel ZDF condemned the incident: “This is another Russian attack on the free press. We hope that [our] wounded colleagues will recover quickly. ZDF will continue to report on the war against the Ukrainian civilian population,” ZDF Editor-in-Chief Bettina Schausten said.

According to an IMI representative in the Kharkiv region, the wounded translator had been taken to Kyiv for treatment.