Today at 14:05
A memorial plaque has been installed in Kyiv in memory of our colleague, FREEДOM TV channel correspondent Olena Hramova (Hubanova). She and the channel’s cameraman Yevhen Karmazin were killed on October 23, 2025, in Kramatorsk, Donetsk region, while filming the aftermath of a Russian shelling of the city. FREEДOM special correspondent Oleksandr Kolychev sustained severe injuries and is currently undergoing rehabilitation.
For five years, Olena Hramova worked as a correspondent in Kramatorsk, covering the consequences of Russian aggression in Donetsk region every day. She also traveled to the front line, reporting from the positions of Ukrainian defenders. Her work was not limited to filming reports; she also found ways to help those whose homes had been destroyed by the Russian army, cooperating with Ukrainian and international volunteers.
“She traveled to different brigades, and we filmed many reports documenting Russia’s war crimes. She would bring contacts of people, elderly women who, for example, needed a blanket. We even had a report where she talked about it. I called her, and she said: ‘The blanket has already been bought, now they need this, this and this.’ And we would send everything, collect everything. She was a link between people — between those who stayed there and did not want to leave their homes. She helped both people and animals so much. I don’t know what kept her going, apart from her belief that Donbas is Ukraine. But there was also an incredible love of life, so even in the most terrifying places — all those moments with Zhenia and Sasha — they found a way to joke and enjoy life,” recalls Yuliia Bin, CEO of the State Enterprise “Multimedia Platform of Ukraine’s International Broadcasting.”
A close friend of Olena Hramova, Vitalii Volkov, says the plaque is very appropriate because even her neighbors had no idea what she did.
“She truly believed and dreamed that all of Donbas would become Ukrainian. And accordingly, she covered all of Russia’s crimes. It was during one of those assignments that she was killed. There was no fear as such. She went to places that even amazed me, but lately she had been talking about being afraid of drones. When they started flying in seriously, she became more cautious and traveled more carefully. I think that all the neighbors who saw a smiling young woman mostly had no idea what Olena actually did. That is why this memorial is very appropriate here,” he shares.
Let us recall that the Board of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine awarded the 2025 Ihor Lubchenko National Award for the Protection of Freedom of Speech to FREEДOM journalists Olena Hramova (Hubanova) and Yevhen Karmazin, who were killed on October 23, 2025, in Kramatorsk while carrying out their professional duties.
