Monika Andruszewska was driving through the city of Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine on Saturday when a missile strike hit a nearby hotel.

Posting a bloodied photo of herself on social media alongside a picture of her damaged car covered in broken glass, Andruszewska said: “At about 10:10 p.m. we were driving through the city to a friend's to return dog cages.

“Suddenly, I saw fire, there was a bang, and glass from the car windows started falling on us.

“We were slightly injured. The car suffered a lot, but luckily we suffered less.”

She added: “My own first blood, shed for Ukraine, was on Independence Day.

“After ten years of war. An Iskander next to me... You just drive around the city. You just have a life. You just breathe. This is enough for the Russians to try to kill you.

“I'll dress the cuts,” she continued, “they're minor. I'll fix the tattoo. I'll pull the glass out of my hair and hand.

“The car is too bad, new windows will be installed, after all, it's not the first time.

“And I'll continue to help.

“I'm helping so that Russian missiles don't hit other people who simply drive cars on their own land.”

The strike on the city’s Hotel Sapphire also saw two Reuters journalists hospitalized while a third was found buried under rubble.

The three journalists were from the United States, Great Britain and Ukraine.

Andruszewska has been reporting from the county and working as a volunteer since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.

In 2022 she saved 30 Ukrainians who were under fire escape from Irpin in the north of the country.

She currently works at the Raphael Lemkin Center for Documenting Russian Crimes in Ukraine.