On 31 January 2023, a film crew with Ukrainian online media Zaborona came under Russian fire on a road near Bakhmut in Ukraine’s Donetsk region. Journalist Polina Vernyhor wrote about the incident on her Facebook page on 7 February. She said she was travelling to Bakhmut with photographer Ivan Chernichkin and camera operator Yevhen Zhulay and was planning to film a report on children in the city forced to hide from bombs in cellars. The car had visible “PRESS” markings on it, she added. Vernyhora suffered a concussion to her right ear. Neither her colleagues were injured.
According to the Zaborona journalist, the area where the group was came under massive mortar fire. One of the car’s tires was flattened, but the car managed not to stop in the middle of the road, she said. Vernyhora added that she felt “very lucky” that Russian forces had not used anti-tank missiles and that shrapnel hit neither the car’s fuel reservoir, nor any of its windows. The journalist said it was unlikely that the group was purposefully targeted for their reporting work, as the area reportedly came under a wider series of mortar fire.