Russian newspaper says its reporter killed by Ukraine drone strike

Russia’s state-run Izvestia newspaper says one of its freelance journalists has been killed in an airstrike near the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.

Moscow has accused the Ukrainian military of targeting Alexander Martemyanov. Ukraine did not respond.

Izvestia said the civilian car carrying Martemyanov was hit while traveling on a highway in the Russian-occupied zone.

Five other media workers were reportedly injured in the same attack.

“Ukrainian soldiers fired at a civilian car carrying Izvestia’s freelance journalist, Alexander Martemyanov,” the journalist announced on his Telegraph channel.

“The vehicle was far from the contact line.”

The vehicle was hit by shelling in the Russian-controlled city of Gorlivka when it crashed, Russian news agency RIA said.

Two RIA journalists were injured in the attack, the agency added.

The spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, said this was a “deliberate killing”.

In his statement, he described it as “another cruel crime on the cross of murder” by the government of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The EU closed Russian outlets – including Izvestia and RIA – in May, accusing them of helping to “spread and support Russian propaganda and the war against Ukraine”.

The Committee to Protect Journalists says at least 15 journalists have been killed since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.