On a chilly October morning in Kyiv, the golden domes of St. Michael’s Monastery shone brightly, casting a somber light over the crowd gathered to mourn two journalists whose lives were cut tragically short. The loss of war correspondent Olena Hubanova, known professionally as Alyona Gramova, and cameraman Yevhen Karmazin, both killed by a Russian drone strike just days before, has sent ripples of grief and outrage through Ukraine’s tight-knit press community and beyond.
The deadly attack happened on October 23, 2025, in Kramatorsk, a city in Ukraine’s Donetsk region that has become an all-too-familiar name in the lexicon of conflict. According to UNITED24 Media and the Associated Press, Gramova, 43, and Karmazin, 33, were working for the Ukrainian Freedom Channel, reporting on the war near the front line—only about 20 kilometers (or 12 miles) from active combat. Their vehicle, parked at a gas station, was targeted in a direct strike by a Russian Lancet drone. Another member of their team was wounded in the attack.
The tragedy has highlighted, yet again, the mounting dangers faced by journalists covering the war in Ukraine. As Anna Nytchenko, a colleague of Gramova’s, told UNITED24 Media, "Light, gentle, radiant, and made of steel. So much strength and so much light in a person who’s lived through an entire war. To carry that much sunlight within after everything she’s seen—I don’t know how that’s even possible. People who’ve witnessed such things usually can’t. It just doesn’t exist. And yet she remained strong and brave—such a rare combination. She was deeply patriotic. Patriotic, sincere, and courageous. The emotions she evoked… It was something angelic."
Both Gramova and Karmazin were natives of the region they reported on—Alyona from Yenakiieve (under Russian occupation since 2014) and Yevhen from Kramatorsk. Their connection to the land and its people made their work deeply personal. Since 2021, Gramova had served as a military correspondent for Ukraine’s state foreign broadcasting channels. Her dedication did not go unnoticed; in June 2023, she was awarded the Order of Princess Olha, 3rd degree, for her service. Karmazin, too, had been working as a cameraman for Ukrainian state foreign broadcasting channels since 2021.
At the funeral on October 27, 2025, their coffins were covered with fresh roses, a poignant symbol of lives lived with courage and compassion. The ceremony, reported by the Associated Press and UNITED24 Media, drew friends, colleagues, and family members, all united in grief and remembrance. "Defending the truth is one of the highest forms of love for one’s neighbor," said priest Viktor Zhyvchyk during the service. "In their effort to show the truth to the world, these journalists gave their lives."
Their deaths are part of a grim trend. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, at least 135 media workers have been killed, according to Ukraine’s National Union of Journalists. The growing reach of Russian drones—now capable of striking targets more than 20 kilometers from the front line—has made frontline reporting increasingly perilous. Earlier in October, French photojournalist Antoni Lallican was killed in a similar drone strike, while Ukrainian reporter Grigoriy Ivanchenko was wounded and later had a leg amputated, as reported by multiple sources including the Associated Press and UNITED24 Media.
Colleagues have struggled to find words to describe the loss. Pavlo Shtelmakh, who worked alongside Gramova and Karmazin, shared with UNITED24 Media, "Alyona and Zhenya were the kind of people whose names I was always glad to see on the list of upcoming stories. The pieces they created and the stories they told weren’t just about war—they were about life, about strength, and about the goodness that always finds a way, no matter how dark it gets." Their reports often focused on Russia’s attacks in the Donetsk region, the work of Ukrainian defense systems, and the stories of artillery crews—shining a light on both the horrors and the humanity found amid conflict.
These attacks are not isolated incidents. On October 28, 2025, just days after Gramova and Karmazin were killed, a team of German journalists from Welt was injured in another Russian Lancet drone attack while filming a Ukrainian air defense unit in eastern Ukraine, about 25–30 kilometers from the front line. Ibrahim Naber, one of the injured journalists, recounted that they had been speaking with three Ukrainian service members moments before the strike. One soldier, Konstantin, was killed; another suffered serious injuries, including a leg amputation. The journalists’ producer, Ivan, required surgery, while cameraman Viktor and Naber himself sustained minor injuries. Naber has since begun raising funds for the wounded Ukrainian soldier, underscoring the bonds that form between reporters and those they cover.
These incidents underscore the crucial role journalists play in bringing the realities of war to the world’s attention—and the immense risks they face in doing so. As Olha Mykhaliuk, a colleague at the FreeDom channel, told the Associated Press, "Attacks on journalists have become more frequent. The enemy sees it as a kind of victory," she said, emphasizing that reporting from front-line areas is dangerous but essential. The lack of safe access to information not only endangers journalists but also threatens the international community’s understanding of the conflict on the ground.
Regional governor Vadym Filashkin echoed these sentiments on Telegram, writing, "Since the first days of Russia’s full-scale invasion, they covered events in the Donetsk region, telling the truth about enemy crimes, evacuations of civilians and the stories of our defenders. They were always among the first to arrive in the hottest spots." The FreeDom channel added that Hubanova worked constantly in the most dangerous areas, "telling the world the truth about how Russian forces are destroying her native Donetsk region."
The international community has taken notice. The targeting of media workers, such as the killing of French photographer Antoni Lallican and the repeated attacks on Ukrainian and foreign journalists, is widely considered a violation of international humanitarian law and a potential war crime. These attacks raise urgent questions about the protection of journalists, the adequacy of safety protocols on the front line, and the responsibilities of military and civilian authorities to ensure that those who risk their lives to report the truth are not left defenseless.
For now, the memory of Alyona Gramova and Yevhen Karmazin lives on in the stories they told and the lives they touched. Their courage stands as a testament to the power—and the peril—of bearing witness in times of war.
