Russian journalist killed in Ukrainian drone strike

Yulia Kuznetsova was editor-in-chief of a local newspaper

Yulia Kuznetsova, the editor-in-chief of a local newspaper in Russia’s Kursk Region, was killed in a Ukrainian drone strike on Sunday, Governor Aleksey Smirnov has said.

Kuznetsova, who ran the Narodnaya Gazeta publication, was traveling by car along the Dyakonovo–Sudzha highway when an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) struck the vehicle. The 34-year-old was accompanied by a colleague and a police officer, both of whom sustained injuries and were taken to hospital for treatment.

“Today, in the Bolshesoldatsky District, the Editor-in-Chief of Narodnaya Gazeta, Yulia Nikolaevna Kuznetsova, was killed as a result of a Ukrainian drone attack on a car,” the governor wrote on his Telegram channel on Sunday, expressing his condolences. 

He added that Kuznetsova had been transporting archive documents from the regional office and was planning to report on the situation in the area. 

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Bolshesoldatsky District is located close to the city of Sudzha, which was captured by Kiev’s forces in a cross-border incursion last August. Despite being evacuated from her hometown, Kuznetsova continued to run the newspaper from Kursk, giving readers an insight into what was happening in their home district. She joined the paper in 2008 and was promoted to editor-in-chief last summer. 

Kuznetova is survived by her husband and two children. The Russian Investigative Committee has launched a criminal probe on charges of terrorism over the killing.

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Several Russian journalists covering the fighting in Ukraine have been targeted by Kiev’s forces since the conflict escalated in February 2022. 

In September, Russian war correspondent Aleksandr Korobov was ambushed and fatally injured by Ukrainian soldiers while reporting on shelling incidents in Belgorod Region. The same month, Evgeny Poddubny, a veteran correspondent for the Russia-1 TV channel, was wounded when a Ukrainian kamikaze drone hit his car while he was covering hostilities in the Kursk Region.

Moscow has accused the Ukrainian military of deliberately attacking the press, and Russian President Vladimir Putin has said “at least 30” journalists have been killed since the beginning of the conflict.