The evacuation took place on Monday, as the Russian assault on Ukraine raged on, TVP World’s deputy director Dawid Wildstein told the state PAP news agency.
The reporter, Monika Andruszewska, was the only media worker to rush to the aid of civilians at the expense of her professional duties, TVP World said. She discarded her phone and TV camera to escort 30 people to safety.
“She risked her own life. I don’t know anyone else like that. She’s a hero,” said Wildstein, who earlier described the events in Irpen on social media.
Ukrainian activist Nedim Useinow reported that according to Ukrainian troops, Andruszewska “saved around 20 families who had been hiding under a bridge in Irpen near Kyiv,” from Russian shelling, PAP reported.
Useinow described her as “A valiant Polish woman, my friend… an excellent journalist and war reporter, but above all a Human.”
Wildstein said that escorting civilians had been an “extremely dangerous” undertaking, as “many residents have been shot dead by the Russian army.”
According to Wildstein, Andruszewska on Tuesday resumed her work duties, saying that “the situation has stabilised.”
The 30-year-old reporter has been a correspondent in Ukraine since the 2014 revolution, which culminated in the ousting of the pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych. Andruszewska reported from the frontlines of the Russo-Ukrainian war in Ukraine's Donbas region.
(pm)
Source: PAP