Sergeant Oleh Petrasiuk shoots down FPV drone hunting a Dutch journalist

“Such is journalism of reality,” writes war correspondent Kostiantyn Melnykov about Sergeant Oleh Petrasiuk of the 24^th Separate Mechanized Brigade named after King Danylo.

Footage of the Sergeant shooting down a russian FPV drone that was trying to attack a film crew with Dutch journalist Daphne Wesdorp in Kostiantynivka has already spread across the Internet.

A journalist from the publication Het Nederlands Dagblad was filming the destroyed Holy Assumption Church after russian shelling when an enemy drone approached her and the team. Petrasiuk noticed the device and opened fire, thereby saving the lives of the reporter and the Ukrainian military.

The military explained that the drone was operating on fiber optics and advised the journalist not to linger near the church, as the threat could repeat itself.

The National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) considers the press service of the 24^th Brigade its “sponsor”. It seeks to support it in every way – both through donations and through journalistic fees. In particular, it was possible to raise funds for the purchase of two cars and the overhaul of one of them, and, with the involvement of friends of the Union, to purchase GoPro cameras.

“We worked together with Oleh, and I always knew him as one of the brightest, most efficient, and most motivated photojournalists,” says Oleksandr Kharchenko, a member of the NUJU board, General Director of Ukrinform in 2014-2023. “What he did for his Dutch colleague was not an accident, but a natural reaction of a professional. Oleh was always where the heat was and always found a way to capture what the world needed to see. Now he is saving the lives of those who continue this mission. Supporting the NUJU press service of the 24^th Brigade is our duty to such people who not only document the war, but also protect those who come to tell the world about it.”

NUJU Information Service