A prominent war correspondent of Russia’s state propaganda media has been killed in a “cluster munitions” attack in occupied Ukraine, Kremlin officials said.
Rostislav Zhuravlev, 34, a war correspondent for Russia’s RIA news agency, was killed on Saturday in shelling near the front in Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhzhia region.
Russia’s defense ministry said three other journalists were also wounded in a Ukrainian artillery strike. They were evacuated from the battlefield, but RIA correspondent Zhuravlev died on the journey, officials said.
“As a result of cluster munitions firing by the Ukrainian army, four journalists suffered injuries of varying severity,” Putin’s defense ministry said.
Zhuravlev worked for RIA Novosti, a staunchly pro-Putin state media outlet seen as a key propaganda weapon of the Kremlin.
Rostislav Zhuravlyov, 34, a war correspondent for Russia’s RIA news agency, died in shelling near the frontline in Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhzhia region
Zhuravlyov worked for RIA Novosti, a staunchly pro-Putin state media outlet seen as a key propaganda weapon of the Kremlin
The group reportedly came under fire in the Russian-occupied Pyatikhatki area south of Zaporizhzhia.
The journalists are now being taken to the large Ukrainian city of Melitopol, which is under the control of the Russian occupation forces.
“The condition of the other reporters is average, stable,” the ministry said.
Their lives are not in danger.
“They are receiving all necessary medical attention.”
The reporters were on a tightly controlled trip to the war zone organized by the Russian Defense Ministry, Roman Saponkov, another military journalist, said.
RIA confirmed in a report that its correspondent was killed while reporting in the frontline village of Piatykhatky, and one of its cameramen was also injured.
The Defense Ministry said Ukraine had used cluster munitions in the incident, but provided no evidence
Russia said it would now respond in kind to the alleged use of US-supplied cluster munitions.
However, Ukraine claims that Russia has already used cluster bombs in the war.
Zhuravlev told state-controlled Russia’s Channel One TV last month how Russian troops had “done their job so well” that Western-supplied Leopard tanks and Bradley armored vehicles were “destroyed on approach, not allowed to reach our defense lines.”
Rostislav Zhuravlev, correspondent for the Russian news agency RIA, poses for a photo at an unknown location
Zhuravlyov worked for RIA Novosti, a staunchly pro-Putin state media outlet seen as a key propaganda weapon of the Kremlin
Ukraine received cluster bombs from the United States this month, but has promised to use them only to dislodge concentrations of enemy soldiers.
Such weapons include dozens of small bombs that rain shrapnel over a wide area, but are banned in many countries due to the potential danger they pose to civilians. Ukraine has repeatedly said its use will be limited to the battlefield.
According to the United Nations, Russia itself repeatedly used cluster munitions during the war.
Cluster munitions are banned by 123 countries, including the UK. Several countries expressed concern over Joe Biden’s decision to supply the war-torn country with weapons.
Russia, Ukraine and the United States have not signed the Cluster Munitions Convention, which bans the production, stockpiling, use and transfer of weapons.