Footage has shown two British journalists being shot and wounded in a violent ambush near the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.
A Sky News crew covering the Russian invasion of Ukraine were driving to what they believed was a Ukrainian checkpoint when bullets started flying at their vehicle on Monday (local time).
Stuart Ramsay, the chief correspondent at Sky News, was hit by a bullet in the lower back while camera operator Richie Mockler was also hit with two rounds to his body armour.
The entire crew including Sky News' Dominque van Heerden, Martin Vowles and local producer Andrii Lytvynenko managed to escape down an embankment to a warehouse - where local Ukrainians helped them to safety so they could organise a rescue operation.
It's understood that the entire crew is now safe and were rescued by Ukrainian police.
The footage shows the team coming under heavy fire with a constant barrage of bullets flying at their vehicle which smashes glass as they shout "stop", "journalist" as they try to identify themselves.
In a firsthand account of the dramatic day, Ramsay wrote on Sky his crew "cautiously" set off for the town of Bucha, where just the day before a Russian convoy had been destroyed by the Ukrainian army.
A journey which was only 30km took hours because of road closures and being redirected countless times.
"The tension is palpable, the fighters are jumpy, and it's all exacerbated by the constant distant sounds of machine-gun fire and crump of artillery and mortars," Ramsay wrote on Sky.
The Sky News crew made it to the last Ukrainian checkpoint where they were told they should not proceed any further, so they decided to head back to the capital.
After being allowed to take the road to Kyiv, Ramsay said they proceeded cautiously towards an intersection.
As they were approaching the intersection, "out of nowhere" there was a "small explosion" which they thought came from under their vehicle.
Ramsay said a tyre bust, so they pulled over on the side of the road before their "world turned upside down".
"The first round cracked the windscreen. Camera operator Richie Mockler huddled into the front passenger footwell," Ramsay wrote. "Then we were under full attack.
"Bullets cascaded through the whole of the car, tracers, bullet flashes, windscreen glass, plastic seats, the steering wheel, and [the] dashboard had disintegrated.
"We didn't know it at the time, but we were later told by the Ukrainians that we were being ambushed by a saboteur Russian reconnaissance squad. It was professional, the rounds kept smashing into the car - they didn't miss."
The Sky News crew are now safe and back in the UK, while Lytvynenko is with his family in Ukraine.
"The point is we were very lucky," Ramsay said.
"But thousands of Ukrainians are dying, and families are being targeted by Russian hit squads just as we were, driving along in a family saloon and attacked."
