You're reading: ​Inter TV studios set ablaze in arson attack

The studios of one of Ukraine's most watched TV channels, Inter, was set on fire by attackers at 4:30 p.m. on Sept. 4, and tires were burned outside.

One journalist suffered a broken leg and several suffered from smoke inhalation, various media sources have reported, citing Inter. UNIAN news agency reported that 30 people were evacuated. No casualties were reported and the fire was
out by 6 p.m., according to the Kyiv Fire Department.

UNIAN news, citing the State Emergency Services division, reported: “At 16:31 local time on Sept. 4, Kyiv Emergency Situations Service operators received a call about a fire that had broken out at a building of a TV channel at 26 Schuseva Street. Upon arrival at the scene, firefighters found out that car tires in two piles had been set ablaze during a rally outside the building and an external source of ignition brought [into the building] had caused a fire on the first floor on an area of about 10 square meters and on the second floor on an area of 20 square meters,” the service reported.

The channel has been the target of several attacks and protests due to its
alleged Russian links and support of Kremlin policy in Ukraine. Inter’s owner
is controversial Ukrainian billionaire, Dmytro Firtash, who faces bribery charges in the United States and who also owes the National Bank of Ukraine $482 million in unpaid loans dating from his ownership of the insolvent Nadra Bank, which cost taxpayers more than $145 million in payouts from the Deposit Guarantee Fund to depositors who lost their money. Firtash has been fighting extradition of the bribery charges from Vienna.

The police were called when a group of 20 people arrived at Inter’s
offices. The attackers set up tents and brought
tires that they set on fire and threw into the windows
of the building, Kyiv city police spokesperson Oksana Blyschyk wrote on
Facebook.

However, Oleksandr Pylypets, a director
at one of Inter’s news services, told Ukrainski Novini that he saw 15 people in
balaclavas push past the guards, rush into the building and set off several
fire extinguishers before setting the studio on fire and leaving.

Video footage by Ukrainski Novini shows four men being wrestled to the ground
and arrested by police at the scene. City police chief Andriy Kryschenko
told 112 News that six people were arrested. Interior Minister Arsen Avakov told
1+1 channel that those arrested were former soldiers.

Ukrainska Novini video of fire at Inter office and arrest of suspects on Sept. 4.

The press service of the Kyiv city fire services say there
were two fires: on the first and second floors. According to them, 25 people
were rescued from the roof and another 20 from the stairwell.

Inter journalists say they blame the authorities for not taking threats against
them seriously. The channel was heavily criticized in January for its plans to
host on its New Year’s Eve show Russian musicians who support the Russian invasion of eastern Ukraine and occupation of Crimea. Since then there have been four attacks at
various Inter offices in Kyiv.

In January, 20 masked men threw bricks and stones into the windows
of one of their offices and graffitied “Kremlin mouthpiece” on the
wall. In February, the entrance to their office was blocked by members of the volunteer Azov Battalion. They shouted slogans such as “Inter- the Kremlin
mouthpiece” and “No to Russian propaganda,” after one of its newscasters swore about the Heavenly Hundred protesters live on air. She was subsequently
fired and deported from Ukraine. In June, four masked men placed lit tires at
the entrance to Inter’s offices. In a YouTube video the attackers again called
the channel a Kremlin mouthpiece.

Inter news journalists were forced to do their Sunday evening news program, Details of the Week, from
the street outside the studio. Though the presenter ventures into the building
to show the extent of the damage.


Inter journalists show the damage of the arson attack on their studios on Sept. 4.