Russian journalists killed by Ukrainian strike

A civilian vehicle carrying the reporters was allegedly hit by two US-made HIMARS missiles

A Russian journalistic crew filming in the Lugansk People’s Republic came under a Ukrainian artillery strike on Monday, with the attack leaving at least three dead.

The attack claimed the lives of Aleksandr Fedorchak, a reporter for the Izvestia newspaper; Andrey Panov, a cameraman for Zvezda TV; and their driver, Aleksandr Sirekli. Their vehicle was reportedly struck by two projectiles fired from a US-supplied Ukrainian HIMARS multiple rocket launcher system. Another journalist was critically wounded in the attack, according to Russian media reports.

“A civilian vehicle carrying journalists was targeted by two HIMARS missiles,” Zvezda TV said in a statement.

The incident became “yet another terrible loss for our team,” Izvestia’s director, Vladimir Tyulin, has said. Earlier this year, a freelance reporter for the newspaper, Aleksandr Martemyanov, was killed in Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic when the civilian vehicle he was in was attacked by a Ukrainian drone.

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Kiev has been receiving M142 HIMARS and its heavier tracked counterpart, the M270 MLRS, from the US and other Western backers since mid-2022. Initially touted as a key tool for striking high-value Russian military assets, the systems have routinely been used by Kiev for strikes on civilian targets deep beyond the front line.

Ukraine was reportedly briefly cut off from HIMARS targeting data earlier this month amid the fallout of the Oval Office row between Vladimir Zelensky and US President Donald Trump. The access to targeting data, however, was reinstated shortly.

Moscow has repeatedly said that it was impossible for Kiev to operate sophisticated systems, such as HIMARS, without direct Western input, arguing that the supply of intelligence and targeting data makes Ukraine’s backers complicit in its attacks and a party to the enduring conflict.