Handout
OKHTYRKA, Ukraine—It was quiet close to the entrance strains within the metropolis of Okhtyrka earlier than the artillery assault. My colleague, photographer Emil Filtenborg, and I had arrived within the afternoon to report from a kindergarten that had been bombed by the Russian military the day gone by, leaving a number of kids wounded. Regardless of the phobia of that incident, Feb. 26 had up to now been extra peaceable, at the very least sufficient for residents to be out strolling within the streets.
I used to be strolling again to fetch our automotive after speaking to Ukrainian troopers at a checkpoint when, all of a sudden, a deafening blast shook the bottom. A Russian artillery shell had struck close by.
Instantly, I ran in direction of Emil, who was standing close to the automotive ready for me. We jumped in and drove just a few hundred meters earlier than stopping briefly to determine on the most secure exit route out of the town.
Whereas we have been stopped, one other automotive approached us from behind. A person carrying what seemed like an assault rifle emerged from the automobile. He then opened fireplace with none warning.
We had the letters “TV” taped on the again of the automotive to point that we have been press, however that didn’t cease the shooter from emptying his rounds of ammunition into our automotive. The primary shot broke by way of the rear window glass, narrowly lacking our ears. After that, a number of extra rounds. Not less than two bullets flew so shut previous my head that I may really feel the wind strain on my ears.
Earlier than I knew it, Emil had taken one shot to every leg and two within the again. I had taken one to the shoulder. The bulletproof vests we have been carrying couldn’t protect us from the numerous bullets that perforated our automotive, which was smoking from the gearbox and hood.
We drove as quick as we may to flee. The shooter appeared to maintain firing at us for so long as our automotive was in his line of imaginative and prescient.
Emil was bleeding closely from his proper leg, the place a bullet had struck above his knee. He pushed his fingers into the injuries to make it cease. I used to be attempting to maintain the automotive transferring as quick as attainable in case the person who attacked us was intent on ending the job.
Photographer Emil Filtenborg mendacity down in an ambulance out of Okhtyrka.
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“Are you able to examine my head? I feel I'm bleeding out of my head,” I informed Emil as blood ran down my brow and in direction of my eyes. He checked and pulled a small piece of glass out of my brow. I used to be relieved.
With the shock of the preliminary gunshots carrying off, Emil, who at first thought solely his legs had been hit, started to really feel the ache of the injuries in his again.
“How unhealthy are you bleeding out of your again?” I requested him. Emil wiped his left hand on his trousers after which touched his again. It got here again bloody. “It’s not so unhealthy,” he responded.
We needed to cease. Emil was dropping an excessive amount of blood. The automotive was draining liquid and we didn’t know if it was secure to maintain driving in it.
A whirlwind of ideas raced by way of my head earlier than we halted the automotive. Who was the attacker? Why did he shoot at our automotive, regardless of the press label? Would he attempt to meet up with us?
I considered whether or not Emil was dying. I additionally thought, “Am I dying?” For some purpose, I may hardly really feel the gunshot wound in my left shoulder. Maybe it might be a peaceable loss of life, I questioned. With out ache.
After we stopped the automotive, I requested Emil to put down on a close-by patch of grass within the outskirts of Okhtyrka. A navy automotive shortly approached us, and two Ukrainian troopers stepped out of the automobile to supply assist. However earlier than that they had an opportunity to supply first help to Emil, 4 different troopers arrived with their assault rifles aimed toward us. They needed to know who we have been.
I defined to them that we have been journalists who have been hit within the middle of the town. They appeared confused and requested the place precisely, looking for out whether or not there was preventing within the streets of Okhtyrka and whether or not they need to name it in.
As we spoke, one other Russian artillery piece struck close by. We took cowl to the bottom.
Afterwards, the troopers have been allowed to manage first help to Emil. He was taken to the again of a automotive and pushed to the native hospital. I quickly adopted with one other Ukrainian soldier.
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The hospital flooring have been splattered with blood once we arrived. Emil was rushed to the surgical procedure room and employees tended to my wounds. Round me, nurses have been cursing, moms have been crying, and a number of other badly burned sufferers have been being triaged. All I may do was watch.
Information got here shortly that Emil was in secure situation regardless of his many wounds. We have been informed that nobody knew what had occurred within the middle of city that day. There have been some reviews that Russian saboteurs had been energetic close to the entrance strains of Okhtyrka, however it was not possible to know for positive who was behind the assault on us.
Not lengthy after, we realized that blatant assaults on journalists reporting in Ukraine have been on the rise, together with a Russian assault on a Sky Information TV crew who have been shot at on Friday regardless of clearly figuring out themselves as reporters. One other journalist, Ukrainian digital camera operator Yevhenii Sakun, was killed in an assault on a TV tower in Kyiv that very same week.
Sirens have been usually heard within the metropolis of Poltava resulting from Russian airstrikes.
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Arranging an evacuation from Okhtyrka was not straightforward however finally, late that night time, a navy ambulance transported us to the Ukrainian metropolis of Poltava, additional away from the entrance strains. From there, a safety firm employed by the Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet helped fly us again residence to Denmark, the place we're at present present process medical therapy.
We’ll always remember that experience to Poltava. There have been six Ukrainian troopers touring with us, together with Anastasia and Dmitri, a married couple who had left their 6-year-old son at residence with their grandparents to go and battle.
“We're preventing for a free Ukraine. We're preventing for our freedom,” Dmitri, who was burnt on the proper facet of his head, informed us within the ambulance. “It’s value placing your life on the road for.”