UKRAINE MOURNS TWO JOURNALISTS KILLED IN RUSSIAN DRONE STRIKE. (PHOTO).

Ukraine mourns two journalists killed in Russian drone strike

Mourners gathered at a Kyiv church on Monday to pay tribute to two Ukrainian journalists killed last week when a Russian drone struck their vehicle in the Donetsk region.

War correspondent Olena Hubanova, who worked under the pseudonym Alyona Gramova, and cameraman Yevhen Karmazin died Thursday in Kramatorsk, about 20 kilometers from the front line, after a Russian Lancet drone hit their car. Another journalist traveling with them was injured.

The funeral service at St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery honored the two journalists side by side, with coffins adorned in fresh roses. Priest Viktor Zhyvchyk said, “Defending the truth is one of the highest forms of love for one’s neighbor. In their effort to show the truth to the world, these journalists gave their lives.”

Regional governor Vadym Filashkin praised their dedication, noting they had covered evacuations, enemy crimes, and stories of Ukrainian defenders from the earliest days of Russia’s full-scale invasion. Hubanova and Karmazin were often among the first to arrive in the most dangerous areas.

Colleague Olha Mykhaliuk, who works with the same outlet as Hubanova, brought blue and yellow flowers to the ceremony and described reporting from front-line areas as risky but essential. “Attacks on journalists have become more frequent. The enemy sees it as a kind of victory,” she said.

Since February 2022, at least 135 media workers have been killed covering the war, according to Ukraine’s National Union of Journalists. Hubanova was from Yenakiieve, a city occupied by Russian forces since 2014, while 33-year-old Karmazin was a native of Kramatorsk and is survived by his wife and son.