Russia’s RIA Novosti says its war correspondent Rostislav Zhuravlev has been killed by Ukrainian shelling as he covered the fighting in Zaporozhye Region. Several other journalists were wounded in the strike, it added.
The agency said its crew had come under fire near the village of Pyatikhatki, which has been the scene of heavy fighting since the launch of the Ukrainian counteroffensive in early June.
RIA Novosti’s photojournalist Konstantin Mikhalchevsky was also injured in the strike, it added.
Zhuravlev was killed after Ukrainian forces hit a civilian vehicle in the area, said Evgeny Balitsky, the acting head of Russia’s Zaporozhye Region.
Izvestia newspaper reported that its correspondent Roman Polshakov and cameraman Dmitry Shikov were among those injured in the shelling.
According to the paper, Polshakov fractured his leg, while also receiving shrapnel wounds to the leg, abdomen and back. Shikov suffered shrapnel wounds and a hip fracture. The journalists have been receiving medical assistance, it added.
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Dmitry Kiselyov, the head of Rossiya Segodnya media group, which includes RIA Novosti and Sputnik, described Zhuravlev as an experienced professional who was always among the first to report accurate information from the most dangerous areas. The journalist will be buried in the city of Ekaterinburg in the Ural region where he was born, Kiselyov added.
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