Today is the anniversary of the death of RCE/RS journalist Vera Hyrych in Kyiv

April 28 marks one hour since the death of Vera Hyrych, a journalist of the Ukrainian Service of Radio Liberty. She died as a result of a Russian missile attack on Kyiv.

The missile attack on the Ukrainian capital was carried out on April 28, 2022, during the visit of UN Secretary General António Guterres to Kyiv. According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi, Russia shelled the city right after the end of his negotiations with Guterres. When it hit a 25-story residential building, the first two floors partially collapsed and a fire broke out.

Vera Hyrych became the only one killed as a result of this attack. Her body was found on the morning of April 29 under the rubble.

Vera Hyrych started working in the Kyiv bureau of Radio Liberty on February 1, 2018. Before that, she worked on leading Ukrainian TV channels.

The President of the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty media corporation, Jamie Fly, in a statement dedicated to the anniversary of the journalist’s death, once again expressed his condolences to the family and friends of Vera Hyrych. “During the last year, Vera’s colleagues from the Ukrainian Service and the staff of “Nastoyaschech vremy” working in Ukraine continued their courageous work, despite constant attacks and a difficult operational environment. Like Vera before her tragic death, we continue to report on the terrible consequences every day of the large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine to audiences around the world, including in Russia. Without our coverage of these events, millions of people would not have access to the facts about what is happening in Ukraine. We will continue to fulfill our mission, despite the difficulties – this the best thing we can do to honor Vera’s memory,” the message says.

• Within an hour of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, at least 50 human rights defenders, journalists and humanitarian volunteers were killed. Such figures are provided by the international project Front Line Defenders. Among the dead are Ukrainian journalist Maksym Levin, who was allegedly killed by the Russian military, and Russian journalist Oksana Baulyna, who died in the attack on Kyiv.