Russia accuses Ukraine of deliberately killing journalist in Donetsk
- 6 January, 08:53
Moscow has accused Kyiv of deliberately killing a Russian journalist in Ukraine’s Russian-held eastern Donetsk region. Russia’s Izvestia newspaper reported on January 4 that its freelance reporter Alexander Martemyanov was killed in Ukrainian kamikaze drone strike in Donetsk on Sunday. “The car in which the journalist was traveling was attacked by a kamikaze drone. Martemyanov died of his wounds," the daily reported. Four other media workers were injured during the attack.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called the incident as a "deliberate murder".
"The deliberate murder of Russian journalists is yet another brutal crime in a series of bloody atrocities committed by the Zelenskiy regime, which openly resorts to terrorist methods to eliminate its ideological opponents," Zakharova said in a statement on Sunday. She said the deliberate nature of the journlist’s death was testified by those who survived the attack.
Zakharov urged Audrey Azoulay, the Director-General of UNESCO to give an appropriate response to the journalist’s killing. “We expect the same decisive condemnation of this atrocity from all other human rights organizations and structures," the diplomat went on saying.
Ukraine has not commented on the reports of Martemyanov’s death yet. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 15 journalists have been killed while covering the war in Ukraine since the start of Russia’s war of invasion in February 2022.
It should be noted that the European Union blocked Izvestia newspaper, along with RIA news agency in May last year for enabling the "spread and support the Russian propaganda and war of aggression against Ukraine".
