Metalist (Ukrainian: Металіст) is a rural settlement in Luhansk urban hromada, Luhansk Raion, Luhansk Oblast (region), Ukraine. Population 2197 people (2001); the village was incorporated in 1932.
On June 17, 2014, a camera crew of Russian state television came under mortar fire at a checkpoint in the vicinity of Metalist. While sound engineer Anton Voloshin (1987-2014) died on the spot, special correspondent Igor Kornelyuk (1977-2014) was severely wounded dying later in hospital. Cameraman Viktor Denisov survived the attack unharmed.[1] [2]
On June 18, 2014, the Ukrainian female army aviator Nadiya Savchenko was captured near the village of Metalist by rebels of the Donbass People's Militia, an armed pro-Russian militant group that declared allegiance to the self-declared People's Republic of Luhansk.[3] Savchenko was later handed over to Russia, charged and convicted for the killing of two Russian journalists during the 2014 insurgency in Donbass (she was released in a prison swap in May 2016).[4] [5] On July 2, 2014, heavy fighting was reported in and near here.