By Katie Davis
THIS is the horrifying moment a Sky News crew came under fire from Russian artillery as they dived to the ground for cover in Ukraine.
Special correspondent Alex Crawford and her team were attempting to cross a bridge being used by civilians desperately trying to flee the northern city of Chernihiv when “a salvo of rockets came raining down”.
Terrifying footage shows the crew diving to the ground amid Russian shelling[/caption]
Special correspondent Alex Crawford and her team were trying to cross a bridge from the besieged city of Chernihiv[/caption]
It comes just weeks after another Sky crew were shot in a hail of bullets near the capital Kyiv, with reporter Stuart Ramsay and cameraman Richie Mockler both hit.
In the latest incident, chilling footage shows the crew being to get “get down” as they dive to the ground amid screaming as shelling strikes near the bridge over the Desna River.
As a calm Crawford tries to describe the scene, the team quickly scramble back into the vehicle as they are warned of further incoming shelling.
“The shelling is very close,” Crawford says while on the ground before they are told to “get out” by a panicked rescue worker.
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Russian troops have encircled the area and had already destroyed the main bridge out of the city – but decided to target the last crossing point for pedestrians over the river.
Volunteer soldiers and rescue workers had been frantically trying to guide people over the bridge – the main route to Kyiv – when it was suddenly shelled.
Recalling the incident for Sky News, Crawford said: “A stream of vehicles, ambulances and emergency teams were racing over a dusty and boggy farmers’ field to get to the crossing.
“The humanitarian convoy taking aid in and hoping to bring civilians out was forced to drive across a huge open space where any vehicle movement was subject to attack.
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“Suddenly, a salvo of rockets came raining down on the area sending everyone crashing to the ground. Then mad panic ensued as dozens of vehicles hastily turned around and tried to weave their way through the trees and back out into the open field.
“The Russians had already hit the pedestrian bridge by now but as the civilians and emergency vehicles accelerated away, the strikes followed them.
“Not content with destroying the one route out of the besieged city, the Russian military wanted to cause as much death and injury to those trying to run away too.”
Chernihiv has been blockaded and pounded from afar by Russian troops for weeks as it’s residents fear the besieged city could “become the next Mariupol”.
More than half of the Chernihiv’s 280,000 inhabitants have fled, according to mayor Vladyslav Atroshenko, as Putin’s soldiers bomb residential areas in the city, which is just 91 miles from Kyiv.
On Wednesday, Russian bombs destroyed Chernihiv’s main bridge over the Desna River on the road leading to Kyiv, and on Friday, artillery shells rendered the remaining pedestrian bridge impassable – cutting off the last possible route for people to get out or for food and medical supplies to get in.
It comes as…
- At least 300 people died after a theatre in Mariupol was shelled last week, Ukrainian authorities have claimed
- A terrified Russian soldier has revealed they expected the war to be over in two weeks, in an intercepted phone call to his gran
- In a further blow to Putin, Ukraine has reportedly pushed Russian troops out of the capital Kyiv
- US President Joe Biden has warned Nato WILL respond if Russia uses chemical weapons in Ukraine
- A Ukrainian refugee has given a heartbreaking account of how she dodged bodies as Putin’s shells landed around her
- Putin’s alleged secret family has come to light as he continues his brutal invasion of Ukraine
Also killed in the country was Fox News cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski has been tragically killed while covering the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Ukrainian journalist Oleksandra Sasha Kuvshynova, who was helping Fox crews navigate the area, died in the attack.
It comes just days after a Russian reporter was killed in Kyiv, becoming the fourth journalist to die in the bloodbath in Ukraine.
Oksana Baulina, who worked for the investigative news outlet The Insider, was killed when Russian troops shelled a residential neighbourhood in the Ukrainian capital.
Her death follows that of US reporter Brent Renaud, who was shot dead while fleeing from Russian soldiers who opened fire at him after he stumbled upon their checkpoint.
Smoke rises out of an apartments building damaged by shelling in Chernihiv[/caption]
It comes as President Zelensky has said 16,000 Russian troops have been killed so far in Ukraine as his soldiers fight to retake the first city that Putin seized.
The Ukrainian leader, 44, said his troops had delivered “powerful blows” to Moscow’s forces around Kyiv and urged the Kremlin to negotiate an end to the bloody war.
But he vowed he would never let any Ukrainian territory be handed over to tyrant Putin, 69.
Mr Zelensky also warned that Russia’s bragging about its nuclear power is fuelling a dangerous arms race.
Meanwhile, three Russian missiles have exploded in Ukraine’s largest western city less than a day after Putin vowed to focus on the east.
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At least five people were injured after the blasts in Lviv, which is just 45 miles from Nato member Poland’s border.
Thick black smoke was seen rising from a TV tower as the city’s air raid sirens were activated.
Category: News, World News, Ukraine war
