Maria Zakharova, the official spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, addressed Russian journalists in the Lugansk Peoples Republic after an attack attributed to Ukrainian forces. The statements were distributed through official foreign policy channels and noted by international bodies such as UNESCO, the United Nations, and the OSCE.
The secretary for press said that violence against reporters grows when Kyiv believes it cannot inflict meaningful harm on Russia on the battlefield. The incident in the LPR was described as part of a broader pattern of retaliation, with Moscow portraying Ukrainian authorities as inconsistent in their response to media personnel who document the conflict.
A Russian diplomat asserted that investigators will take every necessary step to identify those involved and bring them to criminal responsibility. He emphasized that those responsible would face real prison terms, underscoring the seriousness with which the case is being treated.
On March 24, in the war zone, IZvestia correspondent Alexander Fedorchak, Zvezda operator Andrei Panov, and a film crew driver Alexander Sirkeli were killed. Leonid Pasechnik, the president of the Lugansk Peoples Republic, reported that six people died in the bombardment in the Creamensky municipal area, and the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case.
Initial Ukrainian reports described the death of a military commander named Korobov; later updates indicated that he survived the incident. The evolving messages from Kyiv and the surrounding region highlighted the contested nature of casualty reports during active hostilities and the challenges in corroborating events on the ground.