Two journalists were shot and wounded in Ukraine on Saturday while reporting on Russia’s invasion of the country.
Freelancers Stefan Weichert and Emil Filtenborg were shot inside a car in Ohtyrka, a town about 55 miles from the city of Kharkiv, where an intense battle is taking place between Russian and local forces.
The two experienced war reporters live in Kyiv and had been filing dispatches for The Daily Beast and Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet, according to the U.S. news site.
Weichert said he was hit by a bullet in the shoulder, while his colleague took three bullets to his legs. They were wearing bulletproof vests.
“Multiple shots were fired and we are lucky to be alive,” Weichert tweeted Sunday. “We are at a hospital in Poltava and still need surgery, but we are stable and recovering.”
He said their car had come under fire while they were traveling near the frontline in Okhtyrka to see a damaged kindergarten.
“The car totally damaged, completely broken, smoking and leaking afterwards. But we managed to escape and are now safe. We don’t know what comes next but just want to say thank you for all the support,” he wrote.
It’s unclear who the shooters were.
“There is still some confusion from our part about what happened. We will tell more when it is possible but will for now focus on our recovery,” Weichert wrote.
On his Twitter, Filtenborg shared a link to the music video for Elton John’s “I’m Still Standing,” adding, “this is kind if a lie since I’m shot in both legs, but you get the joke.”
Denmark’s foreign minister, Jeppe Kofod, said on Twitter it was “an ugly reminder of the dangers journalists in Ukraine face every day to document the horrors of the war,” according to a translation.