Radio Liberty Journalist Vera Gyrych Killed in Russian Missile Strike on Kyiv

Nick Vivarelli
·2 min read

U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty revealed on Friday that its journalist and news programming producer Vera Gyrych has been killed in a Russian air strike on Kyiv.

“Radio Liberty journalist and producer Vera Gyrych died as a result of a Russian missile hitting the house where she lived in Kyiv. The shelling took place on 28 April,” reads a statement issued by the org, a private non-profit alternative news source funded by the U.S. Agency for Global Media.

More from Variety

“The body of the deceased was found under the wreckage on the morning of 29 April,” it added.

The Russian missile attack coincided with U.N. chief Antonio Guterres’ visit to Kyiv on Thursday. The official met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy — describing the war in Ukraine as “evil” and “absurdity” — as attacks on Kyiv landed close by.

During Guterres’ visit to the nearby town of Bucha, where hundreds of dead civilians were discovered after Russian troops pulled out, Guterres called on Russia to cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC) on investigations into possible war crimes carried out during its invasion.

News of Gyrych’s death has reverberated across social media.

Moscow confirmed that it hit Ukrainian targets during an air strike with “high-precision” weapons but has not commented on the strike on the building where Gyrych lived.

The journalist began work at the Kyiv bureau of Radio Free Europe in February 2018. Prior to that, she worked at leading Ukrainian TV channels.

The Radio Free Europe editorial board extended its condolences to her family and said it would “remember her as a bright and kind person, a true professional.”

Best of Variety

Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Click here to read the full article.