'He was just doing his job': TV cameraman identified as victim of Kyiv TV tower attack

2 March 2022, 14:08

A television cameraman has been identified as one of the victims of Tuesday's Russian attack on the Kyiv TV Tower.

Journalist Olga Tokariuk shared a picture of Yevhenii Sakun's press card and said he was one of the five victims of the missile strike.

"The first person I know died in this war," Ms Tokariuk wrote on Twitter.

"My former colleague, TV cameraman Yevhenii Sakun, was killed yesterday as a result of Russian missile strike on Kyiv's Babyn Yar, along with 4 other people.

"It was a pleasure working with him.

"I'm devastated by this news. Eternal memory."

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Tributes for Mr Sakun have flooded in on social media.

"RIP Yevhenii Sakun," wrote journalist Lyse Doucet.

"Killed in war while just doing his job."

Another Twitter user wrote: "My condolences to his family and friends, may Yevhenii Sakun rest in peace."

Russia launched a missile attack on the TV tower in the centre of Kyiv on Tuesday.

A number of channels went off air as a result and five people were killed.

The tower was damaged by the strike but remained standing.

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The strikes also hit the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial, built to remember tens of thousands of jews murdered by the Nazis in World War Two.

Unkrainan President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on Twitter that history was repeating itself, saying: "Why repeat "Never Again" for 80 years, if when the bomb falls on Babyn Yar, the world remains silent? 5 more lives were lost. History repeats itself ..."

Dmytro Kuleba, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, said the proximity of the attack to the memorial was "evil and barbaric".

"Kyiv TV tower, which has just been hit by a Russian missile, is situated on the territory of Babyn Yar," he wrote on Twitter.

"On September 29-30, 1941, Nazis killed over 33 thousand Jews here. 80 years later, Russian Nazis strike this same land to exterminate Ukrainians. Evil and barbaric."

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Meanwhile a massive convoy of Russian troops is creeping ever closer to Kyiv.

On Wednesday a group of Ukrainian troops were ambushed by the convoy 20 miles from the capital in the town of Bucha.

Civilians were said to have helped fight by throwing petrol bombs at the invaders.

Nearby, Ukrainian soldiers used anti-tank rocket launchers supplied by Britain to destroy a Russian convoy on a bridge serving a main route to Kyiv.

A Russian column was obliterated and corpses were seen lying beside the road.

Ukrainian officials told CNN that they were “enthused by the victory on the bridge”.

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At PMQs on Wednesday Prime Minister Boris Johnson told MPs Putin had "gravely miscalculated" the invasion of Ukraine, and said he had "underestimated the extraordinary fortitude of the Ukrainian people and the unity and resolve of the free world in standing up to his barbarism".

He said if "Putin doubles down then so shall we', hinting at further sanctions for Russia and more aid for Ukrainian people.

"We are certainly determined to do everything we can to help Ukrainians fleeing the theatre of conflict," he said.