Russian state newspaper Izvestia says one of its freelance journalists has been killed in a drone strike near the Russian-held city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.
Moscow has accused the Ukrainian army of deliberately targeting Alexander Martemyanov. Ukraine has not commented.
Izvestia said a civilian vehicle carrying Martemyanov was attacked while it was traveling on a highway in Russian-held territory.
Five other media persons were reportedly injured in the same attack.
“The Ukrainian military conducted a drone strike on a civilian car carrying Izvestia freelance correspondent Alexander Martemyanov,” the news outlet reported on its Telegram channel.
“The car was located too far from the contact line.”
Russia’s state-run RIA news agency said the vehicle was returning after covering a shelling in the Russian-held town of Gorlivka when it was attacked.
Two RIA journalists were injured in the attack, the agency said.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called the incident a “deliberate murder”.
In a statement, he described it as “another brutal crime in a series of bloody atrocities” committed by the government of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The EU blocked Russian outlets, including Izvestia and RIA, in May, accusing them of enabling “the spread and support of Russian propaganda and war of aggression against Ukraine.”
The Committee to Protect Journalists says at least 15 journalists have been killed since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
