KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Mourners gathered at a church in Kyiv on Monday to honor two Ukrainian journalists killed last week when a Russian drone struck their car in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region.
War correspondent Olena Hubanova, who worked under the pseudonym Alyona Gramova, and cameraman Yevhen Karmazin were killed on Thursday by a Russian Lancet drone in Kramatorsk, around 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the front line. Another reporter who was part of the team was wounded.
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Relatives, colleagues and friends of two Ukrainian 43-year-old journalists Olena Hubanova, who worked under the pseudonym Alyona Gramova, and cameraman Yevhen Karmazin, who were killed on Thursday, Oct. 23, mourn over their coffins during a funeral service at St. Michael Monastery in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Relatives, colleagues and friends of two Ukrainian 43-year-old journalists Olena Hubanova, who worked under the pseudonym Alyona Gramova, and cameraman Yevhen Karmazin, who were killed on Thursday, Oct. 23, when a Russian Lancet drone hit their vehicle in Ukraine's Kramatorsk around 20 kilometres from the front line, mourn over their coffins during a funeral service at St. Michael Monastery in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Relatives, colleagues and friends of two Ukrainian 43-year-old journalists Olena Hubanova, who worked under the pseudonym Alyona Gramova, and cameraman Yevhen Karmazin, who were killed on Thursday, Oct. 23, when a Russian Lancet drone hit their vehicle in Ukraine's Kramatorsk around 20 kilometres from the front line, mourn over their coffins during a funeral service at St. Michael Monastery in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
A man caries a photo of cameraman Yevhen Karmazin, who was killed together with corespondent Olena Hubanova, who worked under the pseudonym Alyona Gramova on Thursday, Oct. 23, when a Russian Lancet drone hit their vehicle in Ukraine's Kramatorsk around 20 kilometres from the front line, after funeral service at St. Michael Monastery in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Relatives, colleagues and friends of two Ukrainian 43-year-old journalists Olena Hubanova, who worked under the pseudonym Alyona Gramova, and cameraman Yevhen Karmazin, who were killed on Thursday, Oct. 23, mourn over their coffins during a funeral service at St. Michael Monastery in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Relatives, colleagues and friends of two Ukrainian 43-year-old journalists Olena Hubanova, who worked under the pseudonym Alyona Gramova, and cameraman Yevhen Karmazin, who were killed on Thursday, Oct. 23, when a Russian Lancet drone hit their vehicle in Ukraine's Kramatorsk around 20 kilometres from the front line, mourn over their coffins during a funeral service at St. Michael Monastery in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Relatives, colleagues and friends of two Ukrainian 43-year-old journalists Olena Hubanova, who worked under the pseudonym Alyona Gramova, and cameraman Yevhen Karmazin, who were killed on Thursday, Oct. 23, when a Russian Lancet drone hit their vehicle in Ukraine's Kramatorsk around 20 kilometres from the front line, mourn over their coffins during a funeral service at St. Michael Monastery in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
It was the latest deadly attack on journalists covering the war in Ukraine. In a similar strike earlier this month, French photojournalist Antoni Lallican was killed and Ukrainian reporter Grigoriy Ivanchenko was wounded. Ivanchenko later had a leg amputated.
The growing reach of drones — now extending more than 20 kilometers from the front line — has made reporting increasingly perilous.
The two journalists, who often worked together, were honored side by side during a funeral service at St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery, where their coffins were covered with fresh roses.
“Defending the truth is one of the highest forms of love for one’s neighbor," the priest, Viktor Zhyvchyk, said during the service. "In their effort to show the truth to the world, these journalists gave their lives.”
“Since the first days of Russia’s full-scale invasion, they covered events in the Donetsk region, telling the truth about enemy crimes, evacuations of civilians and the stories of our defenders,” regional governor Vadym Filashkin wrote on Telegram. “They were always among the first to arrive in the hottest spots.”
In a statement, the FreeDom channel said Hubanova worked constantly in the most dangerous areas of Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions, “telling the world the truth about how Russian forces are destroying her native Donetsk region.”
Colleague Olha Mykhaliuk, who also works for FreeDom, brought blue and yellow flowers to the funeral.
“Attacks on journalists have become more frequent. The enemy sees it as a kind of victory,” Mykhaliuk said, noting that reporting from front-line areas is dangerous but essential.
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, at least 135 media workers have been killed, according to Ukraine’s National Union of Journalists.
Hubanova was born in Yenakiieve, a city that has been under Russian occupation since 2014.
Karmazin, 33, was a native of Kramatorsk. He is survived by his wife and son.
This story has been corrected to note that French photojournalist Antoni Lallican was killed, not wounded, in a similar strike earlier this month.
A man caries a photo of cameraman Yevhen Karmazin, who was killed together with corespondent Olena Hubanova, who worked under the pseudonym Alyona Gramova on Thursday, Oct. 23, when a Russian Lancet drone hit their vehicle in Ukraine's Kramatorsk around 20 kilometres from the front line, after funeral service at St. Michael Monastery in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Relatives, colleagues and friends of two Ukrainian 43-year-old journalists Olena Hubanova, who worked under the pseudonym Alyona Gramova, and cameraman Yevhen Karmazin, who were killed on Thursday, Oct. 23, mourn over their coffins during a funeral service at St. Michael Monastery in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Relatives, colleagues and friends of two Ukrainian 43-year-old journalists Olena Hubanova, who worked under the pseudonym Alyona Gramova, and cameraman Yevhen Karmazin, who were killed on Thursday, Oct. 23, when a Russian Lancet drone hit their vehicle in Ukraine's Kramatorsk around 20 kilometres from the front line, mourn over their coffins during a funeral service at St. Michael Monastery in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Relatives, colleagues and friends of two Ukrainian 43-year-old journalists Olena Hubanova, who worked under the pseudonym Alyona Gramova, and cameraman Yevhen Karmazin, who were killed on Thursday, Oct. 23, when a Russian Lancet drone hit their vehicle in Ukraine's Kramatorsk around 20 kilometres from the front line, mourn over their coffins during a funeral service at St. Michael Monastery in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
NAKHON RATCHASIMA, Thailand (AP) — A new construction accident on a road near Thailand's capital, Bangkok, was reported on Thursday, just 24 hours after a construction crane fell on a moving passenger train in the country's northeast, killing at least 32 people.
There was no immediate official confirmation of deaths in Thursday’s accident, but the Facebook page of Fire & Rescue Thailand, which covers the activities of volunteer firefighters and rescue workers, said at least one person was killed.
The accident occurred at the site of an elevated road construction project.
Meanwhile, the search for survivors from Wednesday’s train accident in Nakhon Ratchasima province has ended, said provincial governor Anuphong Suksomnit. Officials said three passengers listed as missing were presumed to have gotten off the train earlier, but that was still being investigated.
Officials believed there had been 171 people aboard the train’s three carriages, which were being removed from the scene on Thursday.
The latest accident on the outskirts of Bangkok saw a construction crane collapse on the Rama 2 Road elevated expressway in Samut Sakhon province at around 9 a.m., according to the government's Public Relations Department, which added that two vehicles were trapped in the wreckage, which included massive metal girders.
Rescue operations were underway, the statement added.
The construction project, an extension of the Rama 2 Road expressway — a major artery leading from Bangkok — has become notorious in recent years for construction accidents, some of them fatal.
At the train accident scene in Nakhon Ratchasima, work to remove the wreckage continued Thursday, after search and rescue operations concluded Wednesday night. The accident saw a falling crane derail and crush parts of the train under it.
The authorities said the crane that fell was a launching gantry crane, a mobile piece of equipment often used in building elevated roadways.
Narongsak Promta, the provincial police chief of Nakhon Ratchasima, told reporters at the site that police are working to verify the status of all passengers to determine the status of the three people listed as missing.
He said police are still collecting evidence and interviewing relevant parties and have not yet pressed charges against any party.
South Korea's Foreign Ministry reported that one South Korean national, a man in his late 30s, was among the dead. The ministry is providing consular services to the bereaved family.
The two-stage high-speed rail project on which the accident occurred has a total investment cost of more than 520 billion baht ($16.8 billion) and is associated with an ambitious plan to connect China with Southeast Asia under Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative.
In August 2024, a railway tunnel on the planned route, also in Nakhon Ratchasima, collapsed, killing three workers.
Anan Phonimdaeng, acting governor of the State Railway of Thailand, said the project’s contractor is Italian-Thai Development, with a Chinese company responsible for design and construction supervision.
A statement posted on the website of the company, also known as Italthai, expressed condolences to the victims and said the company would take responsibility for paying compensation to the families of the dead and hospitalization expenses for the injured.
The rail accident sparked outrage because Italthai was also the co-lead contractor for the State Audit Building in Bangkok that collapsed during construction in March last year during a major earthquake.
About 100 people were killed in the collapse, which was the only major structure in Thailand to suffer such serious damage. Dozens of executives were indicted in connection with the disaster but none have yet been tried.
The involvement of Chinese companies in both projects has also drawn attention, as has Italthai and Chinese companies’ involvement in the construction of several expressway extensions in and around Bangkok where several accidents, some fatal, have occurred.
In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Wednesday the government was aware of the reports about the rail accident and had expressed condolences.
It was not immediately clear which companies were involved in Thursday's road construction accident.
Associated Press writers Wasamon Audjarint in Bangkok and Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul contributed to this report.
Forensic workers inspect the site of a train accident, a day after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
A cuddly toy lies on the ground at the site of a train accident, a day after a construction crane fell into a passenger train in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
A construction crane that collapsed on the Rama 2 Road elevated expressway in Samut Sakhon province, Thailand on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Arnun Chonmahatrakool)
A construction crane that collapsed on the Rama 2 Road elevated expressway in Samut Sakhon province, Thailand on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Arnun Chonmahatrakool)
A construction crane that collapsed on the Rama 2 Road elevated expressway in Samut Sakhon province, Thailand on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Arnun Chonmahatrakool)
