Ukraine mourns two journalists killed in deadly Russian drone strike

About 100 people gathered at a church in Kyiv on Monday to honor two Ukrainian journalists killed when a Russian drone struck their car in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region.

Both 43-year-old war correspondent Olena Hubanova, who worked under the pseudonym Alyona Gramova, and cameraman Yevhen Karmazin were killed on Thursday, Oct. 23, when a Russian Lancet drone hit their vehicle in Kramatorsk, around 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the front line.

It was the latest deadly attack on journalists covering the war in Ukraine. Earlier this month, a French photojournalist, Antoni Lallican, and a Ukrainian reporter, Grigoriy Ivanchenko, were wounded in a similar strike. Ivanchenko later had a leg amputated.

The trend underscores the expansion of the danger zone near the front line, where any movement can be spotted by drones and quickly targeted. The growing reach of the weapons — now extending more than 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the front line — has made reporting there increasingly perilous. Drones, whose operators can often see their targets, have become deadly not only for soldiers but also for civilians.

Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, at least 135 media workers have been killed, according to Ukraine's National Union of Journalists.

The deaths of Gramova and Karmazin were confirmed by their employer, the state-run FreeDom TV channel, and the leader of the Donetsk region.

"Since the first days of Russia's full-scale invasion, they covered events in the Donetsk region — telling the truth about enemy crimes, evacuations of civilians, and the stories of our defenders," regional governor Vadym Filashkin wrote on Telegram. "They were always among the first to arrive in the hottest spots."

In a statement, FreeDom said Gramova worked constantly in the most dangerous areas of Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions, "telling the world the truth about how Russian forces are destroying her native Donetsk region."

Gramova was born in Yenakiieve, a city in the Donetsk region that has been under Russian occupation since 2014.

Karmazin, 33, was a native of Kramatorsk and had worked as a cameraman for the same network since 2021. He is survived by his wife and son.