A prominent war correspondent for Russia’s state propaganda media has been killed by a ‘cluster munitions’ attack in occupied Ukraine, Kremlin officials have said.
Rostislav Zhuravlev, 34, a war correspondent for Russia’s RIA news agency, was killed on Saturday in shelling near the front line in the Zaporizhzhia region of southeastern Ukraine.
The Russian Defense Ministry said three other journalists were also injured in a Ukrainian artillery attack. They were evacuated from the battlefield, but RIA correspondent Zhuravlev died during the journey, authorities said.
“As a result of cluster bomb shelling by the Ukrainian armed forces, four journalists suffered injuries of varying severity,” Putin’s Defense Ministry said.
Zhuravlev worked for RIA Novosti, a staunchly pro-Putin state media considered a key propaganda weapon for the Kremlin.
Rostislav Zhuravlyov, 34, a war correspondent for Russia’s RIA news agency, was killed in a shelling attack near the front line in the Zaporizhzhia region of southeastern Ukraine.
Zhuravlyov worked for RIA Novosti, a staunchly pro-Putin state media considered a key propaganda weapon for the Kremlin.
The group was reportedly attacked in the Pyatikhatki area of southern Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia.
The journalists are now being taken to the main Ukrainian city of Melitopol, which is controlled by the Russian occupation forces.
“The condition of the other reporters is medium, stable,” the ministry said.
Their lives are not in danger.
“All necessary medical help is being provided to them.”
The reporters were on a strictly controlled trip to the war zone organized by the Russian defense ministry, said Roman Saponkov, another military journalist.
RIA confirmed in a report that its correspondent had been killed while reporting in the frontline town of Piatykhatky, and that one of its cameramen was also injured.
The Defense Ministry said Ukraine had used cluster munitions in the incident, but provided no evidence of this.
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 Russia’s state-controlled TV Channel One last month how Russian forces had “done their job so well” that Western-supplied Leopard tanks and Bradley armored vehicles were “destroyed on the approaches, not being allowed to reach our defensive lines.”
Rostislav Zhuravlev, a correspondent for Russia’s RIA news agency, poses for a photo at an unknown location.
Zhuravlyov worked for RIA Novosti, a staunchly pro-Putin state media considered a key propaganda weapon for the Kremlin.
Ukraine received cluster bombs from the United States this month but vowed to use them only to clear concentrations of enemy soldiers.
These weapons contain dozens of small bombs that hurl shrapnel over a wide area, but are banned in many countries due to the potential danger they pose to civilians. Ukraine has repeatedly said that its use will be limited to the battlefield.
The United Nations said that Russia itself has repeatedly used cluster munitions during the war.
Cluster munitions are banned in 123 countries, including the UK. Concerns were raised by several countries following Joe Biden’s decision to supply the war-torn country with weapons.
Russia, Ukraine and the United States have not signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which prohibits the production, stockpiling, use and transfer of weapons.
