DONETSK, Ukraine - Russia's state-owned Channel One news said on June 30 that its cameraman was fatally wounded while on assignment overnight in Donetsk, the fifth journalist to be killed while reporting on the conflict that has ravaged eastern Ukraine since April.
Anatoly Klyan, 68, was shot in the stomach after his film crew came under fire while filming near a Ukrainian military compound and later succumbed to his wound, according to a Channel One statement.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry demanded on June 30 that Kyiv conduct an objective investigation into the journalist’s death “and strictly punish the perpetrators.”
“The death of a Russian journalist once again showed that Ukraine’s law enforcers do not want deescalation of the armed conflict in the east, and block an already shaky ceasefire,” the ministry said in a statement.
Channel One said in its statement that Klyan and other journalists were traveling with a group of soldiers’ mothers aboard a bus going “to meet their sons and take them home.”
Shooting began as the bus approached the military compound, forcing it to turn back. It pulled over about 500 meters down the road from the compound, where Klyan and others exited the bus “and someone lit a cigarette.” A flare was shot into the air just before the group came under fire, the news agency said.
The bus driver was also shot in the neck, according to Channel One.
Video recorded by Russia’s LifeNews shows the driver, dressed in fatigues, commanding the vehicle while grasping the back of his head as blood streams down his neck. Meanwhile, passengers try to comfort a despondent Klyan, who is sprawled out on the aisle.
The above video, filmed by LifeNews, shows passengers attending to Klyan as the bus driver, also wounded, drives to safety.
Five journalists have now been killed during the conflict here. On June 17, a Russian correspondent and a sound engineer for Russian state television were killed by mortar fire during fighting between Ukrainian armed forces and separatist militiamen near Luhansk. Previously, Italian photojournalist Andrea Rocchelli and his Russian fixer and interpreter, Andrei Mironov, were killed by mortar fire near Sloviansk, Donetsk Oblast on May 24. William Roguelon, a French photographer who was with them, sustained leg injuries from the blast.
Klyan’s death comes amid a ceasefire announced on June 20 by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to allow time for his 15-point peace plan to be implemented and consultations with separatist leaders to take place.
However, violent clashes continued throughout the week in both Donetsk and Luhansk regions, during which time more than 20 Ukrainian troops were killed. The ceasefire is set to expire on June 30.
Kyiv Post editor Christopher J. Miller can be reached at [email protected], and on Twitter at @ChristopherJM.
Editor’s Note: This article has been produced with support from the project www.mymedia.org.ua, financially supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, and implemented by a joint venture between NIRAS and BBC Media Action.The content in this article may not necessarily reflect the views of the Danish government, NIRAS and BBC Action Media.
