Anatoly Klyan, 68, was shot in the stomach after his film crew came under fire while filming near a Ukrainian military compound and later succumbed to his wound, kyivpost.com quotes a statement of Channel One.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry demanded on June 30 that Kyiv conduct an objective investigation into the journalist’s death.
“The death of a Russian journalist once again showed that Ukraine’s law enforcers do not want deescalation of the armed conflict in the east, and block an already shaky ceasefire,” Russian state news agency Itar-Tass quoted the ministry as saying.
Channel One said in its statement that Klyan and other journalists were traveling with a group of soldiers’ mothers aboard a bus going “to meet their sons and take them home.”
Shooting began as the bus approached the military compound, forcing it to turn back. It pulled over about 500 meters down the road from the compound, where Klyan and others exited the bus “and someone lit a cigarette.” A flare was shot into the air just before the group came under fire, the news agency said.
Klyan’s death comes amid a ceasefire announced on June 20 by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to allow time for his 15-point peace plan to be implemented and consultations with separatist leaders to take place. However, violent clashes continued throughout the week in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions, during which time more than 20 Ukrainian troops were killed. The ceasefire is set to expire on June 30.
Mr Klyan has become the fifth journalist to be killed while reporting on the conflict that has ravaged eastern Ukraine since April. On June 17, a filming crew of the Russian Nationwide Television and Radio Company (VGTRK) came under mortar fire: sound producer Anton Voloshin died at the scene and journalist Igor Kornelyuk died during surgery. In May Italian photographer Andrea Rocchelli and his interpreter Andrey Mironov were killed near Sloviansk.
