Ukrainian Police Investigating RPG Attack On Kyiv Office Of TV Channel 112
By Christopher Miller
KYIV -- Ukrainian authorities say they are investigating a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) attack on a building that houses the Kyiv office of Ukrainian television Channel 112.
Kyiv police said there were no injuries but classified the attack on July 13 as a terrorist act.
Police said in a statement they they arrived at the scene in Kyiv's Shevchenkivsky district after neighbors reported hearing an explosion around 3:40 a.m. local time.
A spokesman for Ukraine's Interior Ministry told RFE/RL that police had no suspects but were actively investigating the case.
Police said they discovered a spent tube used to fire an RPG and cordoned off the area.
Photographs published by police showed damage to the office building's exterior.
Channel 112 issued a statement just a day before the attack, calling on "law enforcement agencies to protect us from the arbitrariness of national radicals, who by intimidation and threats try to influence the editorial policy of the channel [and] force us to abandon world-wide broadcasting standards in favor of certain political interests."
Channel 112 has come under pressure from nationalist groups since it was purchased last year by Taras Kozak, who is a close ally of controversial Ukrainian politician Viktor Medvedchuk.
Kozak also owns the NewsOne and ZIK channels.
Medvedchuk told RFE/RL in a 2016 interview that he enjoys a close friendship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is the godfather of his daughter. That relationship has irked critics, who say Medvedchuk is pro-Russian.
Since Kozak's purchase of Channel 112, Medvedchuk has appeared regularly on the channel, leading observers to believe that he is its ultimate controller.
Medvedchuk's spokesman has denied this to RFE/RL.
We are now closing the live blog for today, but we'll be back again tomorrow morning to follow all the latest details. Until then, you can keep up with all our other Ukraine coverage here.