A REL correspondent is injured in the south of Ukraine

Dmytro Yevchyn, a correspondent for Realities of Crimea, a project of Radio Free Europe's Ukrainian Service, was injured when he and a colleague were hit by a Russian artillery attack as they were reporting in the southern Ukrainian region of Zaporizhzhia.

Yevchyn was filming a material together with the cameraman Mykyta Isayk, near the town of Robotine in the Zaporizhzhya region, on January 17, when the attack happened.

He suffered a cut on his leg and received medical help from Ukrainian soldiers before being taken to a hospital in Zaporizhzhia.

Medical personnel told RFE/RL that Yevchyn underwent successful surgery on his leg, although he is still in the intensive care unit.

The Ukrainian army has accused the Russian army of targeting journalists, who were wearing special vests that identify them as members of the media.

"In modern warfare, artillery strikes are almost never carried out without the aid of drones. Meanwhile, the armed forces of the Russian Federation have targeted and attacked a person who had a jacket that identifies him as a media worker and guarantees his protection, according to international law," the Ukrainian army said in a statement.

Yevchyn has been working on the Crimean Realities project since 2018.

Throughout his work he has often dealt with the lives of Ukrainian citizens under Russian occupation in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Following the launch of Russia's war in Ukraine in February 2022, Yevchyn, along with Isayk, reported on battles and military developments along the front line.

According to the Ukrainian Media Institute, since the start of the war, 70 soldiers have been killed, 10 of them were doing the work of journalists.

According to the institute's data, 25 other journalists were injured in the war. REL