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Russian TV journalist Anna Prokofieva killed in landmine blast near Ukraine border. Who was she?
Ukraine war: Almost 20 media personnel have been killed since Russia's February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine
A Russian state TV journalist was killed and her cameraman seriously injured by a landmine blast in Russia's Belgorod region near the Ukrainian border, Reuters quoted the state media.
Anna Prokofieva and cameraman Dmitry Volkov ran over a landmine planted by the Ukrainian military, the Pervy Kanal TV channel said in a statement.
Prokofieva, 35, "died while performing her professional duty", it said.
Russia's southern Belgorod region has come under frequent drone and shelling attacks from Ukraine, with unconfirmed reports of ground fighting there amid a Ukrainian retreat from Kursk, another Russian region bordering Ukraine.
Earlier this week, an artillery strike killed six people including two Russian journalists and their driver, who were on assignment in Moscow-controlled parts of eastern Ukraine's Luhansk region, Reuters quoted Russian media as saying.
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Almost 20 media personnel have been killed since Russia's February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to data provided by the Committee to Protect Journalists.
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Who was Anna Prokofieva?
According to a report by Moscow Times, Prokofieva was covering the Ukraine war for Channel One since 2023. Her last post on Telegram, dated Tuesday, showed the journalist sitting in a forest wearing military fatigues and a head-mounted camera.
The post, in which she is smiling, was captioned: "Somewhere on the border with country 404" -- a derogatory reference to the "404 file not found" internet error that pro-Kremlin military bloggers use to refer to Ukraine.
Russia-Ukraine war updates
Russian drones attacked Ukraine's major cities overnight as its president Volodymyr Zelensky geared up to join European leaders for a meeting in Paris aimed at reinforcing Kyiv’s position in any peace settlement.
According to a Bloomberg report, the Ukrainian air force reported downing and jamming most of 86 explosive-laden drones and decoys fired by Russia in the barrage.
However, the drones that evaded air defenses caused some serious damage in Ukraine’s second—and third-largest cities, Kharkiv and Dnipro, respectively.
Putin’s forces targeted Kharkiv, situated close to the Russian border, with drones late on Wednesday, injuring 11 people in the city and at least seven in the nearby town of Zolochiv, regional governor Oleh Synehubov said on Telegram.
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Drones also hit the central part of Dnipro overnight, injuring three and damaging apartment blocks as well as infrastructure, regional governor Mykola Lukashuk said. The drones also damaged Potyomkin Palace, the 18th-century building erected as a symbol of Russia’s imperial might which now houses a center for creative youth, city mayor Borys Filatov said on Telegram.
The attacks happened with Zelenskiy in France for an impromptu defense summit where more than 30 leaders will try to assert their priorities even as US President Donald Trump sidelines Europe in his quest for a fast-track resolution of the war sparked by Russia.
