Anna Prokofieva, a 35-year-old Russian TV war correspondent, was killed by a mine while working near the Ukrainian border. She was traveling in a car that hit an “enemy mine” in Russia’s western Belgorod region, according to her employer, Russia’s state-run Channel One.
Prokofieva was a seasoned journalist who had frequently reported from inside occupied Ukraine. She had also recently covered Ukraine’s retreat from Suzha, the main settlement captured by Kyiv during its incursion into Russia’s Kursk region. Her last online post, dated Tuesday, showed her smiling in a forest, wearing military fatigues and a head-mounted camera.
The blast that killed Prokofieva also wounded her colleague, cameraman Dmitry Volkov. Channel One described her death as a tragic loss, saying she “died while performing her professional duty.” Prokofieva’s death is the latest in a series of fatalities among Russian journalists covering the conflict in Ukraine.
Maria Zakharova, the Kremlin’s foreign ministry spokesman, accused Ukraine of frequently and deliberately targeting Russian media workers. “Journalists could die en masse in connection with a natural disaster. Today this natural disaster is called the ‘terrorist Kiev regime,'” Zakharova said.
Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin’s press secretary, expressed his condolences to Prokofieva’s family and the staff of Channel One. The Izvestia newspaper reported that the Brics Journalists Association had appealed to Unesco over what it claimed was the “murder” of Russian correspondents.
Prokofieva’s death comes two days after the Kremlin accused Ukraine of killing Russian journalists in a “targeted” Himars missile strike in occupied eastern Ukraine. The attack killed Alexander Fedorchak, a war correspondent from Izvestia, as well as cameraman Andrei Panov and their driver Alexander Sirkeli.
Kyiv has not yet commented on the reports, which have not been independently verified. The attack was “systematic and planned,” Zakharova claimed, without providing evidence. Russia’s investigative committee said it had opened a criminal case.
The conflict in Ukraine has been marked by a growing number of attacks on journalists. At least 21 journalists have been killed in Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion, according to the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ). Other estimates put the number higher.
The fate of a ceasefire agreed in the Black Sea between Russia and Ukraine remains uncertain. The United States reached separate deals on Tuesday with Ukraine and Russia to cease fighting in the Black Sea and pause attacks against energy targets. However, the Kremlin said on Wednesday that a number of conditions must be met before the truce comes into force, involving the lifting of international sanctions.
