Journalists covering the conflict between Russia and Ukraine are putting themselves in harm’s way as they provide the latest on what’s occurring on the ground floor. Two Daily Beast journalists, who were shot, are examples of the danger of reporting on these events.
The Daily Beast reports that their Danish reporters, Stefan Weichert, 31, were shot in the shoulder and Emil Filtenborg, 30, suffered multiple bullet wounds. Both were wearing bulletproof conflict zone equipment.
“We have been extremely lucky,” Weichert told The Daily Beast. “The car was a complete wreck, so even though Emil was hit by three bullets and I was hit by one, we are extremely lucky that nothing was fatal.”
“We were wearing bulletproof vests in the car, but despite that, we were extremely lucky that it didn’t hit any organs.”
The two freelance journalists in Kyiv have been filing information from Ukraine for The Daily Beast and the Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet. Both reporters were driving near the town of Ohtyrka, 60 miles outside of Kharkiv.
Afterward, they were faced with gunfire in their vehicle and left both bleeding heavily from bullet injuries. Nonetheless, they were able to keep driving the badly damaged car, getting away from their unknown shooter.
“Both of us are in a stable condition; we are not in too much pain; we are hopeful that this is going to end on a happy note,” Filtenborg said.
“We have received a lot of messages from friends and families and colleagues and staff members of places we have worked for in the past, and we are very grateful for all of them. Naturally, our focus is to get to safety and get back in shape.”
Eduardo Razo is the Assistant Content Editor for BNM, which includes writing daily news stories on the news media industry. He can be found on Twitter @eddierazo_ or you can reach him by email at eddie1991razo@gmail.com.
