Russian state newspaper Izvestia says considered one of its freelance reporters has been killed in a drone strike close to the Russian-occupied metropolis of Donetsk in jap Ukraine.
Moscow has accused Ukraine’s navy of intentionally focusing on Alexander Martemyanov. Ukraine has not commented.
Izvestia stated a civilian car carrying Martemyanov was struck because it travelled on a freeway in a Russian-occupied zone.
5 different media employees had been reportedly injured in the identical assault.
“The Ukrainian military launched a drone strike on a civilian automotive carrying Izvestia’s freelance correspondent Alexander Martemyanov,” the information outlet reported on its Telegram channel.
“The automotive was positioned removed from the road of contact.”
The car was coming back from masking shelling within the Russian-held metropolis of Gorlivka when it was hit, Russia’s state RIA information company stated.
Two RIA journalists had been wounded within the assault, the company added.
Russian International Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova referred to as the incident “deliberate homicide”.
In a press release, she described it as “one other brutal crime in a collection of bloody atrocities” carried out by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s authorities.
The EU blocked Russian retailers – together with Izvestia and RIA – in Might, accusing them of enabling the “unfold and help the Russian propaganda and warfare of aggression in opposition to Ukraine”.
The Committee to Defend Journalists says no less than 15 journalists have been killed since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.