Journalist Vira Hiric, employee of Radio Free Europe (RFE/RL), sister broadcaster of Voice of America, was killed in an airstrike on the Ukrainian capital of Kiev, Russia.
RFE/RL’s Ukraine Service reported that Hiric’s body was found in the wreckage of the targeted apartment this morning. Hiric was at home at the time of the attack.
Born in 1967, Vira Hiric started working for RFE/RL in February 2018. Hiric previously worked for a leading Ukrainian television channel.
Videos and photographs taken after the attack revealed that the lower floors of the building were heavily damaged. The windows of the surrounding vehicles were smashed.
Russia organized its attack in the capital, Kiev yesterday, during the visit of United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. “There was an attack on Kiev, it shocked me, not because I was here, but because Kiev is a holy city for both Ukrainians and Russians,” Guterres said of the airstrike, which took place an hour after a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. he said.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov claimed that “long-range, high-precision” missiles hit the factory buildings of Ukrainian rocket manufacturer Artem in Kiev.
Ukrainian authorities have yet to comment on whether the factory was hit during the attack.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klichko said on Telegram today that a body was recovered from the rubble and 10 people were injured in the shelling. Klichko did not share any further details.
Free Europe Radio (RFE/RL) broadcasts under the US Global Media Agency (USAGM), the federal media organization to which the Voice of America (VOA) is affiliated.