Moscow slams Kiev for ‘deliberate attack’ on journalist

Moscow has blamed Kiev forces for staging a "deliberate attack on journalists" in Ukraine's southeastern Zaporizhzhia region which killed a Russian reporter.

The Kremlin made the formal accusation against Kiev on Monday while launching a criminal investigation into the killing of Russia’s RIA news agency journalist Rostislav Zhuravlev.

Zhuravlev died on Saturday near the Russian village of Pyatikhatki, which recently experienced intense fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces. His car was reportedly struck by a Ukrainian US-supplied cluster bomb. Three other journalists from different news agencies were also injured in the attack.

Censuring the Ukrainian attack on journalists, UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay also declared in a press release on Sunday that she “deplored” the death of the Russian reporter.

“Journalists serve a critical role in informing the world about conflict situations and must be protected,” she emphasized in the statement, confirming that the journalist had been “reportedly killed in a bombardment,” without identifying the source of the strike.

Moscow, however, has blamed Kiev for what it referred to as persisting “practice of criminal terror” in targeting Russian journalists.

Russian journalist killed by US cluster bombs in 'heinous' crime in Ukraine: Moscow

Moscow says the death of a Russian journalist in Ukraine was "a heinous, premeditated crime" committed by Western powers and Kiev.

According to UNESCO, 12 journalists have so far died in Ukraine as of July 20 since the start of the conflict in February.

This is while Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova slammed on Sunday UNESCO’s initial silence on the deadly strike on journalists, insisting that the UN body has for years shown selective blindness regarding Kiev’s “lawlessness.”

The Russian Embassy in Washington also condemned the US for providing Ukraine with the globally-banned cluster munitions.

Meanwhile, in a separate incident, France’s official AFP news agency also reported that one of its video correspondents had been injured while covering a Ukrainian artillery position during a drone attack.

AFP also identified the reporter as American citizen Dylan Collins, noting that he has reported extensively on the Ukraine conflict.

It further added that he had sustained multiple shrapnel injuries near the eastern city of Bakhmut, captured by Russian forces in May after months of intense combat. He was being treated in a nearby hospital.

Zakharova also described Zhuravlev's killing on Saturday as “a heinous, premeditated crime” Kiev committed deliberately, insisting that “everything indicates that the attack on the group of journalists was not carried out by chance.” 

She further added that "the journalists were gathering material for a report on the bombing by the Kiev regime militants against settlements in the Zaporizhzhia region using cluster munitions."

Ukraine had received a shipment of cluster munitions from the United States earlier this month, claiming that it would only use them to disperse enemy soldier encampments.

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