You're reading: Slidstvo journalists shot at after filming near Akhmetov mansion

Two reporters with the investigative journalism outfit Slidstvo.info were shot at on April 14 as they left a filming expedition near a house belonging to Ukrainian oligarch Rinat Akhmetov.

Neither of the reporters or a taxi driver with them were injured from the shots, which flew above their heads, one of the journalists said.

The reporters – Makim Opanasenko and Kirill Shapar – had traveled to Plyuty, 44 kilometers south of Kyiv, to use a quadcopter to film the construction of a new mansion belonging to Akhmetov.

“We were interested in how the construction was going, what they were building,” Opanasenko told the Kyiv Post in a phone interview.

The reporters, accompanied by a taxi driver, were packing up to leave when a shot rang out above them.

“Naturally, our first thought was to leave as fast as possible,” Opanasenko said. As the two reporters and driver left, there were four more shots fired.

Opanasenko emphasized that he did not believe Akhmetov’s people were behind the shooting.

“If it were linked to him, they could have shot down the quadrocopter as we were filming,” Opanasenko said. “Many wealthy and famous politicians and businessmen live there, it’s not clear who was behind it.”

He added that nobody had approached them before the shooting telling them not to film, and said that the shots did not come from the direction of Akhmetov’s estate.

After posting about the incident on Facebook, Opanasenko said that the police contacted him to investigate.

“In my ten years working as a journalist, this was the first time that I did not have to find the police; they came to me,” he said, adding that a report had been filed with the local authorities.