A Swiss journalist says he was ‘wounded by a Russian commando’ after invading troops shot at his vehicle and robbed him of all his valuables.
Guillaume Briquet, 58, was deployed as a photojournalist in southern Ukraine when his armoured vehicle was hit while driving near a small village towards the besieged city of Mykolaiv on Sunday.
Pictures of the bullet-riddled 4×4 show it was marked ‘Press’ in large writing on all sides.
In comments reported by Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne, the head of the regional military administration, Maria Chorna, claimed the shots were fired by Russian soldiers at close range.
She said: ‘They clearly saw that the machine was being used by the press, there were appropriate markings.
Fragments of glass flying off the windshield when it was struck by bullets and hit Mr Briquet, forcing him to pull over.
The 58-year-old, who has photographed conflicts and disaster zones around the world including occupied Iraq and earthquake-stricken Haiti, suffered wounds to his face and forearm.
The invading soldiers then searched Mr Briquet and took his passport, €3,000 in cash, a helmet, camera footage, a laptop and personal effects before releasing him, local media reported.
He then got back into the car and drove to the city of Kropyvnytskyi, where he was met at a checkpoint by police who took him to hospital.
His bloodied face and body armour could be seen in a selfie he uploaded to Facebook with the caption: ‘Wounded by a Russian commando’.
Photos shared by the Ukrainian national police showed the damage to his car and a scene from the hospital bed where Mr Briquet appeared to be retelling his ordeal.
A number of journalists have come under fire in Ukraine in flagrant violations of international law.
Sky News correspondent Stuart Ramsay was shot in the lower back and camera operator Richie Mockler took two rounds to his body armour during an ambush by a suspected Russian ‘death squad’ near Kyiv on Monday.
The crew of five was later rescued by Ukrainian police and told a reconnaissance unit from Putin’s forces was behind the attack.
Boris Johnson praised the crew for risking their lives so ‘the truth is told’.
He tweetd: ‘Free press will not be intimidated or cowed by barbaric and indiscriminate acts of violence.’
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