A Russian journalist who labored for the state-run tv community Channel One was reportedly killed after her automobile struck an “enemy mine” within the western Belgorod area, close to the Ukrainian border.
Navy correspondent Anna Prokofieva, 35, was mourned in a Wednesday assertion from her employer, which stated she “died while performing her professional duty.”
In keeping with the pro-Kremlin outlet, the explosion additionally significantly wounded her colleague, cameraman Dmitry Volkov.
Prokofieva had been protecting the battle since 2023 and was identified for sharing fashionable photographs of herself from the fight zones she coated.
In her last social media put up on Telegram, shared Tuesday, she posed in navy fatigues and a head-mounted digital camera, captioning the picture: “Somewhere on the border with country 404.” The phrase, a reference to the “404 file not found” webpage error, has been adopted by pro-Russian navy bloggers as a derogatory time period for Ukraine.
Following experiences of Prokofieva’s loss of life, which has not been independently verified, Kremlin overseas ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova accused Ukrainian forces of intentionally concentrating on Russian journalists in direct violation of worldwide legislation.
“Journalists could die en masse in connection with a natural disaster,” Zakharova stated in an announcement quoted by The Telegraph. “Today this natural disaster is called the ‘terrorist Kiev regime.’”
Prokofieva’s loss of life comes amid escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine.
Kyiv had just lately launched a sequence of small-scale assaults on Belgorod, believed to be an try to alleviate strain on the separate Russian border area of Kursk, the place Ukrainian forces are within the midst of a reported retreat.
The journalist’s loss of life additionally coincides with fragile ceasefire agreements between Russia and Ukraine within the Black Sea area. Whereas each nations signed separate offers with the US on Tuesday, every has accused the opposite of violating the phrases.
