American Volunteer Killed by 'Guided' Russian Missile Attack in Ukraine

The video is just about a second long, but it records the deaths of American volunteer medic Pete Reed and a Ukrainian woman he treated in Bakhmut. This eastern Ukrainian city has been the subject of a months-long Russian attack.

When seen frame-by-frame, the video is illuminating. A low-flying missile is observed rushing toward the white EMS van parked beside Reed at the crime site. The images demonstrate that Reed was not killed by Russian shelling, as previously believed by eyewitnesses.

Russian Troops Likely Targeted Medical Volunteers

According to military analysts, the missile shown in the video is a laser-guided anti-tank missile. According to Reed's coworkers, the footage and eyewitness testimony demonstrate that the group of international doctors was purposefully targeted.

Erko Laidinen, a 35-year-old Estonian doctor, and his colleagues are in Ukraine to assist Russian-Ukrainian war casualties. Laidinen is visible inside the automobile. When Laidinen's medical team arrived at the area on February 2 to treat a Ukrainian woman injured by shelling, Reed's team was already there. Less than ten seconds later, the missile impacted the white vehicle driven by Reed.

Laidinen was still inside his team's van ambulance, which was prominently marked with huge medical-style crosses and parked a short distance away, at that time. The Estonian physician activated his camera a split-second before the explosion. Reed is readily apparent.

He is standing by his ambulance with his fellow medical personnel. Next to him stood the patient he was about to examine. A low-flying missile then enters from right to left. The footage has been viewed and verified by ABC News. Laidinen reported that he and his coworkers, who were severely hurt, immediately sought shelter inside a building. He thinks that following the initial missile assault, Russian soldiers continually attacked the foreign medical team.

Laidinen's camera had been destroyed by the initial explosion when he fled his truck to seek shelter. The footage for the following twenty minutes is completely dark, but it nevertheless captured many explosions that Laidinen thinks to be incoming Russian mortars.

Another medical volunteer Simon Johnsen regained consciousness amid a cloud of smoke and heard a loud whistling in his ears. He determined whether he still had all of his physical components.

Pete Reed lay dead next to him. Likewise, the injured Ukrainian woman they had come to heal was a citizen. On Thursday, January 2, around noon in Bakhmut, in the eastern Donetsk area of Ukraine, a Russian missile struck within feet from where the two were preparing to render treatment.

Johnsen, a Norwegian physician, and a handful of other volunteers had just arrived on the site. They described the strike to CNN as an example of Russia targeting doctors and frontline aid workers in so-called "double-taps," striking a target, waiting a few minutes for first responders to arrive, and then striking the exact location again.

CNN was handed video footage from the scene of the approaching missile striking Reed's team's improvised ambulance. Experts on munitions have reviewed the footage and recognized the weapon as an anti-tank guided missile, Alex Kay Potter, Reed's wife, told CNN when she returned from Ukraine.

Potter believes that the Russian military intended to target the relief workers, as their ambulance was identified. Despite several attacks on medical personnel and institutions during this conflict, Russia has denied intentionally targeting civilians. CNN did not receive an instant response to its request for comment from the Ministry of Defense.

Johnsen and another Norwegian colleague, Sander Srlv Trelvik, had traveled to Ukraine as volunteers with Frontline Medics, another humanitarian organization. Both were hurt but survived the explosion. The streets of Bakhmut are the site of some of the heaviest combat since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine started, with soldiers on both sides referring to it as the "meat grinder" due to the daily loss of hundreds of lives.

Ukraine Restricts Aid Workers, Civilians From Entering Bakhmut

The Ukrainian military barred aid workers and civilians from entering Bakhmut on Monday, claiming the area was too dangerous as Russian forces tightened their grip. This could be a precursor to a Ukrainian withdrawal and represents the greatest tactical victory for the deeply troubled Russian invasion since July.

However, according to the Ukrainian military, the besieged eastern city is still under its control, even though the only major route it can use to transfer soldiers and supplies or evacuate the wounded is under Russian fire. Col. Serhiy Cherevaty, the spokesperson for Ukraine's eastern military command, said in an interview on Monday, "Bakhmut is the epicenter of the enemy's onslaught; thus, the situation is difficult."

According to him, Ukrainian forces had resisted 19 attacks on Bakhmut in the previous twenty-four hours, but no decisive moment had been achieved. According to him, "the Ukrainians rule the city." Bakhmut is the focal point of a deadly, months-long conflict. After destroying a large portion of the city with artillery, the Russians appear to have encircled it on three sides and conquered numerous nearby towns and villages.

The Ukrainian military said on Monday that street combat had also erupted in two areas of Bakhmut, as per NY Times. For months, Ukrainian and international volunteers had taken exceptional risks to evacuate citizens and give medical care in Bakhmut, maintaining three heating and relief shelters in a city that lacked electricity or heat for the most part.

This month, American volunteer medic Pete Reed was slain in Bakhmut. Despite severe risks, the presence of relief workers in this crucible of violence persuaded the remaining people that Ukraine had not abandoned them.

Bakhmut, a city with a prewar population of roughly 70,000 and a location where multiple roads and rail lines meet, has been deemed crucial to President Vladimir Putin's declared objective of capturing Donbas, the major industrial and mining region of eastern Ukraine.

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