One of its freelance reporters was murdered in a drone strike close to the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, according to the Russian state daily Izvestia.
The Ukrainian military has been charged by Moscow with intentionally targeting Alexander Martemyanov. Ukraine has not responded.
According to Izvestia, a civilian car transporting Martemyanov was hit while driving on a highway in an area under Russian occupation.
The same incident reportedly harmed five other media professionals.
“A civilian car carrying Izvestia’s freelance correspondent Alexander Martemyanov was targeted by a drone strike by the Ukrainian army,” the news organisation said on its Telegram channel.
“The car was located far from the line of contact.”
According to Russia’s national news agency RIA, the car was struck while returning from reporting on shelling in the city of Gorlivka, which is under Russian control.
According to the agency, the incident injured two RIA journalists.
“Deliberate murder” is how Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova described the tragedy.
She said in a statement that it was “another brutal crime in a series of bloody atrocities” committed by the regime of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
In May, the EU banned Russian media sites, such as RIA and Izvestia, on the grounds that they “spread and support the Russian propaganda and war of aggression against Ukraine.”
At least 15 journalists have been slain since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, at least 15 journalists have been slain, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
