A Russian military correspondent was killed and three others wounded in Ukraine on Saturday in what the Russian Defense Ministry said was a Ukrainian cluster munition attack, angering Moscow.
In another incident, the German Deutsche Welle said that a journalist working for the channel, Yevgeny Shilko, wounded in an attack by Russia with cluster munitions in Ukraine, which also resulted in the death of a Ukrainian soldier.
Deutsche Welle added that their journalist Yevgeny Shilko’s health wasn’t in danger.
Cluster bombs have come under the spotlight after Ukraine received quantities of them from the United States this month.
Many countries prohibit the use of cluster bombs because of their potential danger to civilians, as they cause shrapnel to fall over a wide area.
The Russian Defense Ministry said the wounded Russian journalists were evacuated from the battlefield after coming under fire in the Zaporizhia region.
The Russian Defense Ministry stated that the dead journalist is Rostislav Zhuravlev and he was working as a correspondent for the Russian Information Agency.
The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova denounced what she called criminal terrorism by Ukraine and said, without providing evidence, that the attack appeared to be deliberate.
“Those responsible for this brutal reprisal against a Russian journalist will inevitably suffer the punishment they deserve”.
Zakharova added, “Those who provided the cluster munitions to Kiev also bear responsibility”.
Ukraine previously announced that it pledged not to use cluster munitions except to expel Russian forces.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said last week that Ukrainian forces are using cluster munitions appropriately and effectively against Russian formations.
Konstantin Kosachyov, deputy speaker of the Russian Federation Council (the upper house of Duma), said that the use of cluster munitions was inhuman, blaming Ukraine and the United States for responsibility.
Leonid Slutsky, a leader of one of the parties represented in the State Duma, described what happened as a heinous crime.
These reactions ignore Russia’s use of cluster bombs in the war, which has been documented by human rights groups and the United Nations.
The US-based Human Rights Watch said in May that Russian forces had used the weapons in attacks that killed hundreds of civilians and damaged homes, hospitals and schools.
