Photographer Sergei Nikolaev Dies in Donbass

In a Peski village (Donetsk oblast) a staff photographer from the Segodnya newspaper, Sergei Nikolaev, was mortally wounded by shelling.

A journalist from the Ukrainian News Service ТСН, Aleksandr Zagorodnyi, witnessed the tragedy, “Everything happened all of a sudden. Mortar shells exploded very close to us. The house where we were able to hide was damaged with shell splinters. One of the soldiers of “Right Sector” shouted that a journalist was wounded. We did not know that there were other journalists. We helped a nurse to give first aid. Photographer Sergei Nikolaev was severely injured and his whole body was mutilated with shell splinters.“

Nikolaev and another wounded soldier of “Right Sector” were taken to a hospital. Later, surgeon-in-chief stated that “both victims received fatal injuries.”

“Segodnya” reports that the 43-year-old reporter hid from his family that he was going to the conflict zone during his vacations.

Sergei Nikolaev covered war conflicts in Iran, Somali, Libya, Turkey and Georgia. In 2013 he completed his documentary project “Unchildish Childhood” featuring the life of children in conflict zones. He wanted to communicate with people he described as: “fed and always complaining on their life that in this world there are people, who despite all the negative things always can find something positive – what make them happy.”