‘Still shaking from shock’: Journalist runs for cover from Russian missile on live TV

A journalist on live television had to duck for cover after a missile strike narrowly missed him and his team on assignment in Kramatorsk, in eastern Ukraine.

Credit: Quotidien, TF1

KEY POINTS

• Reporter Paul Gasnier dashed for cover as a massive missile exploded in flames behind him.
• Mr Gasnier and his crew were on assignment in the eastern Ukrainian town of Kramatorsk.
• The video was broadcasted by network TF1 on 2 January.

A video of a French journalist narrowly dodging a deadly Russian missile while reporting live from war-torn Ukraine is gaining attention on social media.

Moments before going live for Quotidien, a popular French news program, reporter Paul Gasnier dashed for cover as a massive missile exploded in flames behind him.

Mr Gasnier and his crew were on assignment in the eastern Ukrainian town of Kramatorsk during the time and were "the only ones outside".

When asked about the horrifying moment by Quotidien show host Yann Barthès, Mr Gasnier recounted the crew had been out for an hour at the time of the blast, filming in front of their hotel.

“The entrance part of the hotel collapsed on us; the windows were shattered. It was very confusing.

"We were very scared," he said.

The video was broadcasted by network TF1 on 2 January for a special segment during which the French journalist, on a live call, narrated the moment of impact and shared details on the aftermath. French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire was in attendance during the segment.

“We had dust in our eyes and mouths,” he recalled.

“Our hands are still shaking from the shock, but we got out without trouble.”

The nighttime attack left one person wounded and damaged 34 houses and eight apartment blocks, reported the Kramatorsk City Council.

Anger in Russia after at least 63 soldiers killed in Ukraine

Russia has turned to mass air strikes against Ukrainian cities since suffering humiliating defeats on the battlefield in the second half of 2022.

It says its attacks, which have knocked out heat and power to millions in winter, aim to reduce Kyiv's ability to fight. Ukraine says the attacks have no military purpose and are intended to hurt civilians, a war crime.

On Monday, Russia acknowledged that scores of its troops were killed in one of the Ukraine war's deadliest strikes, drawing demands from nationalist bloggers for commanders to be punished for housing soldiers alongside an ammunition dump.

Russia's defence ministry said 63 soldiers had died in the fiery blast which destroyed a temporary barracks in a former vocational college in Makiivka, a twin city of the Russian-occupied regional capital of Donetsk.

Separately, Ukraine said on Monday it had shot down all 39 drones Russia had launched in an unprecedented third straight night of air strikes against civilian targets in Kyiv and other cities.

Ukrainian officials said their success proved that Russia's tactic in recent months of raining down air strikes to knock out Ukraine's energy infrastructure was increasingly a failure as Kyiv beefed up its air defences.