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Ukrainian Strike Kills 6, Including Russian Journalists
A Ukrainian rocket attack in Russian-occupied Luhansk killed six people, including three Russian journalists. Moscow claims the attack was deliberate, while Kyiv has not commented.
ND
by News Desk
2025-03-25
Ukrainian Strike Kills 6, Including Russian Journalists

A Ukrainian rocket attack in Russian-occupied Luhansk has claimed the lives of six people, including three Russian state media workers, according to Russian officials and news outlets.

The attack, which occurred on Monday, resulted in the deaths of war correspondent Alexander Fedorchak from Russia’s Izvestia newspaper, camera operator Andrei Panov from the Russian television channel Zvezda, and the channel’s driver, Alexander Sirkeli. The Moscow-appointed governor of Luhansk, Leonid Pasechnik, confirmed the fatalities, stating that a 14-year-old child was also among the dead.

Fedorchak had recently reported from Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region before entering Luhansk, where Russian forces have been making gains. Izvestia confirmed his death, calling him a correspondent in the "zone of the special military operation," using the Kremlin’s terminology for the war in Ukraine.

Russian state media outlet RT posted an image of Fedorchak but did not specify the details of his death. Meanwhile, the Zvezda channel confirmed that another journalist, Nikita Goldin, was seriously wounded in the attack, which it described as a strike on a civilian vehicle.

Claims of Targeting Journalists

Russian authorities alleged that the journalists were deliberately targeted using HIMARS rockets supplied to Ukraine by the United States. Russian Foreign Ministry official Alexander Miroshnik stated that new information suggests a "premeditated and terrorist" attack on the journalists.

However, Ukrainian officials have yet to respond to these accusations.

Journalists at Risk in the War

Since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine has reported that 18 journalists, both Ukrainian and foreign, have been killed while covering the war. Additionally, 10 journalists have died in shelling incidents while off duty, and more than 80 media workers have been killed while serving in Ukraine’s military.

The war in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region—comprising Luhansk and Donetsk—has intensified as Russian forces continue efforts to capture more territory. The latest attack highlights the ongoing dangers journalists face in the conflict.
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LuhanskAttack

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