2 Ukrainian Journalists Killed By Russian Drone Attack

JAKARTA - Two Ukrainian journalists were killed in a Russian drone attack in the city of Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine. This attack, which the Ombudsman of Human Rights of Ukraine calls a war crime.

The Governor of Donetsk region, Vadym Filashkin, identified the two journalists as Olena Hubanova and Yevhen Karmazin from the Ukrainian government's Freedom television channel.

The channel, which was broadcast in Russian, confirmed the deaths of its two journalists. When the attack occurred, the two journalists were in a car at a gas station

Filashkin said the victims were hit by Lancet attacks, expensive and powerful drones that are often used to attack tanks and armored vehicles.

"This tragedy is further evidence of Russia's systemic war crimes against civilians," wrote human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets on Telegram.

The Attorney General's Office said a colleague of the two journalists was also injured. Ukrainian authorities opened an investigation into war crimes.

The Attorney General's Office uploaded a photo of a destroyed red car and a picture of two anti-aircraft jackets bearing the words "pers" in its trunk.

Reportedly 20 journalists have been reported killed in the combat zone since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

In early October, a French photojournalist was killed and his Ukrainian counterpart was seriously injured in a drone strike near the city of Druzhkivka, just south of Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine.

The European Journalists Federation said the attack was the first in which a journalist was killed by a drone in Ukraine.

A war correspondent to the Russian news agency, RIA, was killed last week and another injured in a Ukrainian drone strike in Russia's occupied southern Ukraine, the government-owned news agency said.