Three Russian Journalists Die in Targeted Killing in Ukraine

Three Russian journalists were killed, and another was seriously wounded when a vehicle carrying media personnel was struck by a HIMARS rocket in Ukraine’s Luhansk region.

Zvezda TV’s cameraman Andrei Panov, driver Aleksandr Sirkeli, and Izvestia war correspondent Aleksandr Fedorchak died in the strike near Mykhailivka, about 30 km from the front line. Zvezda correspondent Nikita Goldin was seriously injured.

Izvestia reported that Fedorchak had been covering Russian advances in Kharkiv before moving into Luhansk, most of which is under Russian control.

Moscow-appointed Luhansk governor Leonid Pasechnik stated that a 14-year-old child was also killed in the attack.

Russian state media described the attack as a targeted strike by Ukrainian forces, prompting Russia’s Investigative Committee to launch criminal cases. The United Nations called for an investigation, with UN Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq commenting on the incident.

Ukrainian media referred to the deceased as "propagandists" and reported that two HIMARS rockets were used in the strike.

Zvezda, backed by Russia’s Ministry of Defence, and Izvestia, a major pro-Kremlin newspaper, have actively covered the conflict.

The attack follows other strikes on Russian media personnel. In August 2024, VGTRK journalist Yevgeny Poddubny survived an FPV drone strike in Russia’s Kursk region, suffering severe burns, a traumatic brain injury, and facial fractures. Poddubny, a prominent pro-government media figure, works for the VGTRK media holding and runs a Telegram channel with over 700,000 subscribers. TASS correspondent Mikhail Skuratov was also wounded in a separate incident in the same area.

According to Ukraine’s National Union of Journalists, 18 journalists have been killed on assignment since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, with more than 80 media workers killed while serving in the Ukrainian military. Fighting remains intense in eastern Ukraine, particularly in the Donbas region.