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Russian state newspaper Izvestia says one of its freelance reporters has been killed in a drone strike near the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Moscow accused Ukraine’s military of deliberately targeting Alexander Martemyanov. Ukraine has not commented.<\/p>\n
Izvestia said a civilian vehicle carrying Martemyanov had been struck as it travelled on a highway in a Russian-occupied zone.<\/p>\n
Four other media workers were reportedly injured in the same attack.<\/p>\n
“The Ukrainian army launched a drone strike on a civilian car carrying Izvestia’s freelance correspondent Alexander Martemyanov,” the news outlet reported on its Telegram channel.<\/p>\n
“The car was located far from the line of contact.”<\/p>\n
The vehicle had been returning from covering shelling in the Russian-held city of Horlivka when it was hit, Russia’s state Ria news agency said.<\/p>\n
Two Ria correspondents, both male, and two journalists from local outlet Bloknot Donetsk, both female, were also in the vehicle and were treated in hospital for injuries, Russian media report.<\/p>\n
Martemyanov, who had been working for Izvestia since 2014, was wounded last year in a Ukrainian attack on Donetsk city but had returned to work after his recovery, his paper says.<\/p>\n
Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called the incident “deliberate murder”.<\/p>\n
In a statement, she described it as “another brutal crime in a series of bloody atrocities” carried out by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s government.<\/p>\n
The EU blocked Russian outlets – including Izvestia and Ria – in May, saying they “spread and support the Russian propaganda and war of aggression against Ukraine”.<\/p>\n
Before Martemyanov’s death, the International Federation of Journalists said at least 21 journalists had been killed in Ukraine<\/a> since Moscow’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n