MOSCOW — A Ukrainian artillery strike in Moscow-controlled eastern Ukraine killed six people, including two journalists and their driver, Russian authorities said Monday.
The attack in Luhansk region claimed the lives of Alexander Fedorchak, a war correspondent for Russia’s Izvestia media outlet, as well as Zvezda television channel’s camera operator Andrei Panov and driver Alexander Sirkeli, according to the Russian foreign ministry.
Another Zvezda correspondent, Nikita Goldin, was seriously wounded.
Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for Russia’s foreign ministry, labeled the strike “a targeted artillery shelling by Kyiv,” adding that high-precision MLRS munitions struck a civilian vehicle carrying journalists. She provided no evidence to support the claim.
Reuters could not independently verify the reports. Ukraine’s presidential office and foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The attack came as Russian and American negotiators met in Saudi Arabia to discuss a potential partial ceasefire in the three-year-old war sparked by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Leonid Pasechnik, the Russian-appointed governor of Luhansk, confirmed six deaths but did not identify the other victims. Nearly all of Luhansk region is now under Russian control as Moscow continues its push to seize the broader Donbas region, one of Ukraine’s industrial strongholds.
Luhansk, along with three other partially occupied Ukrainian regions, has been illegally annexed by Russia—a move condemned by Kyiv and its Western allies.
With the Kremlin maintaining tight control over information about its military actions, Russian war correspondents have played a key role in reporting from the front lines.
Izvestia reported that Fedorchak had been covering Russian advances in Kupiansk, in neighboring Kharkiv region, before traveling to Luhansk. He was reportedly preparing a story on drone crews when his vehicle was hit.
“His last report was released on March 23, detailing how our troops were tightening the semicircle around Kupiansk,” Izvestia said.
Earlier this year, a freelance journalist working for Izvestia was also killed in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Zakharova reported that a separate Ukrainian attack on Russia’s Kursk region on Monday injured a correspondent for the state-run TASS news agency.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 15 reporters have been killed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Zakharova called on the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the United Nations to condemn the attack.
