A Russian state television war reporter has died after a Ukrainian kamikaze drone strike in occupied Ukraine.
Boris Maksudov, 38, a Rossiya-24 reporter, sustained shrapnel injuries and died during a medical evacuation earlier today.
Vladimir Putin’s favourite TV propagandist broke the news of the reporter’s death live on his YouTube channel.
Dmitry Kiselev, general director of the Rossiya Segodnya media group, said: ‘Tragic news has just arrived. Our colleague died on the road to Dzhankoy at 6am. Boris Maksudov died of his wounds. The guys were fighting for his life.
‘He was seriously wounded yesterday near Mirny when the Ukronazis fired on a group of VGTRK [Russian state media] journalists.’
He added: ‘The profession of journalism today is increasingly painted in khaki colours, and on top of that there is often also blood.
‘Ours [Russian forces and propagandists] are there to finish off this horrible [Ukrainian] regime, to bring a just peace closer. Let’s work, brothers.’
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova – on air with Solovyov when the news broke – claimed Ukraine saw reporters like Maksudov as ‘legitimate targets’.
The Russian Defence Ministry has since claimed the Russian journalists had been deliberately targeted.
There were angry statements today that military personnel at the scene had issued ‘blatant lies’ to commanders about the popular reporter’s condition after he was wounded in the drone attack.
This may have stopped him receiving proper treatment for serious wounds.
Pro-war blogger Roman Saponkov said: ‘They lied that there was a light injury in the arm and leg, although in fact it turned out that there were open fractures of the limbs and severed fingers.
‘If they had told the truth about the serious injury, perhaps they could have reacted earlier and this could well have saved a life’
It appears Makusdov died today as he was being moved to a hospital – footage showed the pro-war reporter after he was wounded being moved by an army vehicle.
In his final dispatch before he was hit, he is seen with a thumbs-up to the camera.
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