Moscow [Russia], July 22 : A war correspondent for Russia’s RIA news agency has been killed and three other Russian journalists wounded by shelling near the frontline in Ukraine’s south-eastern Zaporizhia region, Russia’s defence ministry said, Al Jazeera reported.
As per the ministry, the journalists were wounded in a Ukrainian artillery strike on Saturday. They were evacuated from the battlefield but RIA correspondent Rostislav Zhuravlev died during the journey, it said.
The agency also reported his death, saying he was killed near the front-line village of Piatykhatky.
“As a result of a strike by the Ukrainian army using cluster munitions, four journalists were wounded in various levels of severity,” the Russian army said in a statement.
“During an evacuation, the RIA Novosti journalist Rostislav Zhuravlev died from his wounds that resulted from the cluster munitions exploding,” the army said as per Al Jazeera.
The army said the other correspondents have wounds of “medium severity”.
The defence ministry said Ukraine had used cluster munitions in the incident, but did not provide evidence for this.
This month, Ukraine received cluster bombs from the United States, but it has pledged to use them only to dislodge concentrations of enemy soldiers.
Such weapons contain dozens of small bomblets 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 their use will be limited to the battlefield, according to Al Jazeera.
The United Nations has said Russia itself has repeatedly used cluster munitions during the war.
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