Drone kills reporter in east Ukraine

MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russia’s Izvestia newspaper said Saturday that a Ukrainian “kamikaze” drone killed one of its reporters as he was traveling on a highway in occupied east Ukraine.

Alexander Martemyanov, who worked freelance for the paper, was returning from covering shelling in the Russian-held city of Gorlivka with colleagues when their car was hit, Russia’s state RIA news agency said.

A journalist from RIA and four other media workers were wounded in the attack, the agency added.

“The car in which the journalist was in was attacked by a kamikaze drone. Martemyanov died of his wounds,” Izvestia said.

At least 15 journalists have been killed while covering the Ukraine conflict, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists press rights group, which says it is investigating other deaths.

Another milliary correspondent for Izvestia, Semyon Eremin, was killed by a Ukrainian drone last year in the southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia, the paper said.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian troops had launched a “counterattack” in the border region of Kursk, where Kyiv’s forces began a shock ground offensive last August.

“At about 9 am Moscow time, in order to halt the advance of Russian troops in the Kursk direction, the enemy launched a counterattack,” the Russian defense ministry said.

Missiles attack Russia

Russia vowed on Saturday to retaliate after it accused Ukraine of firing United States (US)-supplied ATACMS missiles at the border region of Belgorod the previous day.

Outgoing US President Joe Biden authorized Kyiv to use the long-range weapons against Russia last year, in a move the Kremlin denounced as a grave escalation of the nearly three-year conflict.

“On January 3, an attempt was made from Ukrainian territory to launch a missile strike against the Belgorod region using US-made ATACMS operational-tactical missiles,” the Russian defense ministry said.

“These actions by the Kyiv regime, which is supported by Western curators, will be met with retaliation,” it added, saying all the missiles were shot down.

The ministry said earlier that air defenses downed eight ATACMS missiles in total, without saying when or where.

Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened last year to strike central Kyiv with a hypersonic ballistic missile if Ukraine continued hitting Russian territory with long-range Western weapons.