Police said they have launched an investigation into a rocket attack against the main office building of TV Channel 112 in Kyiv after it was fired upon during the early hours of July 13.
Nobody was hurt during the rocket launcher attack, which damaged the building exterior and shattered windows.
Police have classified the incident as a terror attack, and a special police operation was launched to identify and apprehend the shooter.
Ukrainian law enforcement in the capital were sent to the scene at Dehtyarivska Street at 3:40 a.m. local time after calls from local residents who said they heard “a sound resembling a blast.”
“Crime scene investigation teams… (as well as) explosives expert, detector dog handlers and police patrols were immediately sent to the mentioned address,” the police stated on their official website.
“Having arrived at the scene, police officers observed the building’s damaged facade and surrounded the adjacent territory. During the investigation, a used rocket launcher tube was disclosed. It will be sent for examination.”
TV Channel 112 is closely associated with Viktor Medvedchuk, a pro-Russian politician and oligarch who has been the focus of protests in relation to his political positions and because of his close friendship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
A photo, released by police on July 13, 2019, shows law enforcement working at the site of a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) attack on a building that houses the Kyiv office of Ukrainian television channel 112. (Kyiv police press service)
Channel 112, along with the TV channels NewsOne and ZIK, is officially owned by Taras Kozak, a lawmaker in the Russia-friendly Opposition Bloc party. Investigations have revealed strong ties between Kozak and Medvedchuk, who is the leader of another pro-Russian political bloc called Opposition Platform For Life.
It is widely believed that Medvedchuk controls the three channels through Kozak as his proxy. Medvedchuk denies all such allegations and denies that he controls the TV channels.
Channel 112 has repeatedly courted controversy in relation to allegations of a pro-Russian agenda in its broadcasting.
On July 11, the channel announced it would broadcast a documentary called “Revealing Ukraine” produced by the famous Hollywood film director Oliver Stone, who has become widely known for an alleged pro-Russian stance.
The 4-episode documentary will present Russia’s war in eastern Ukraine as a “civil conflict” and denounces Russia’s Nov. 25, 2018 attack and seizure of Ukrainian navy vessels near the Kerch Strait as Ukrainian provocation. Oliver Stone interviewed both Putin and Medvedchuk, who he portrays as a Ukrainian “opposition leader” throughout the documentary.
On July 12, Ukraine’s Information Policy Ministry criticized the channel for giving screen time to Stone’s film, stating it had been “produced with the goal of promoting the propaganda narratives of the aggressor state.”
A protest in relation to the documentary was to be held near the channel’s office on the evening of July 13, according to a July 12 announcement by activists. In response, the channel’s director general Yegor Benkendorf issued a plea to international organizations and diplomatic institutions in Ukraine calling upon them to protect free speech and journalism in Ukraine from “the threat of physical attacks by radical organizations.”
Following the rocket launcher attack, Channel 112 issued another statement urging law enforcement agencies to “protect (the channel) from the abuse by nationalist radicals who are trying to influence channel information policy through intimidation and threats,” which, the channel added, were becoming more aggressive.
Serhiy Sternenko, a former Right Sector activist and currently leader of “The Unindifferent” non-governmental organization, one of the July 13 protest organizers, fired back at 112 and accused the channel or its allies of staging the rocket attack in order to derail the planned protest.
“Because it is in the Russian manner,” he wrote early on July 13 on his Facebook page. “To attack a not working office (in the night) with a rocket launcher on the eve of a peaceful rally to accuse opponents of Russian propaganda of this (attack).”
There is currently no evidence to back the accusation made by Sternenko. Police said on July 13 they currently have no suspects.
The year 2018 was the deadliest on record for journalists doing their job, according to Reporters Without Borders, with 99 journalists killed around the world. Another 348 were imprisoned and 60 were held hostage.
