The death of a Ukrainian fixer on the Antonivskyi Bridge: Bohdan Bitik and an Italian journalist ignored safety rules

The prosecutorʼs office of the Kherson region and the "South" command announced that Ukrainian fixer Bohdan Bitik was killed by Russian shelling on the Antonivskyi bridge. He worked together with a journalist from the Italian newspaper La Repubblica Corrado Zunino who was injured.

As "Suspilne" reports, the spokeswoman for the OC "South" Natalia Humenyuk added that Bohdan Bitik did not have accreditation from the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and the film crew did not receive permission to work in the "red" zone.

The Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security (CSKIB) received the same data. They claim that Corrado Zunino did not tell the responsible press officers about his work in the city, after which he ignored the warnings of the Ukrainian military on the spot and ignored the cries of "Danger, sir!".

"Suspilne" clarifies that the journalist Bitik worked without a bulletproof vest. CSKIB confirms the information, stressing that the Italian journalist, as a manager, had to check that Bohdan Bitik was wearing not only a vest with the inscription PRESS, but also armor.

Meanwhile, the Italian publication La Repubblica writes that the journalists passed freely through the checkpoints, saying that the military let them through "without problems." They believe that Zunino and Bitik were ambushed there.

• Zunino was hospitalized at the Kherson Civil Hospital. The Italian Embassy in Ukraine and the countryʼs Ministry of Foreign Affairs are cooperating with the Ukrainian authorities to bring the La Repubblica correspondent home.