2 Russian journalists killed in Ukraine military shelling

Two journalists for Russian TV channel Rossiya have died from wounds sustained during a Ukrainian military shelling attack near Lugansk, eastern Ukraine. Reporter Igor Kornelyuk passed away on the operating table, a doctor at the hospital confirmed to RT.

The doctor told RT that "sadly, he has passed away."

Just minutes ago Kornelyuk, a reporter for the Russian channel Rossiya, was in critical condition and had been receiving phone calls from Moscow. The attending doctor, however, had been answering his calls.

Rossiya TV has confirmed its sound engineer Anton Voloshin, who was working with Igor Kornelyuk, was also killed in the attack.

According to RT's information, Voloshin died immediately at the scene. However, this information could not be verified until recently as the fighting was ongoing and it was not possible to approach the body.

The Rossiya channel crew consisted of three people with only one of them, Viktor Denisov, the cameraman, surviving the Ukrainian military shelling. Denisov identified both Voloshin and Kornelyuk.

He told LifeNews how he managed to get out of harm’s way during the attack that claimed his colleague’s life.

The cameraman said he was standing 100 meters from the spot where the mortar exploded.

“I must say I was really lucky, I’d walked toward our cars, about 100 meters away, and that’s when the shelling started. My colleagues were supposed to have been out of the range of fire, but for some reason one of the shells flew straight into them,” Denisov said.

When the attack began, Denisov ran toward the fleeing residents, who stood nearby. They managed to escape together.

Speaking to Vesti, Denisov recounted the events that transpired in the initial minutes of the shelling.

He recalled getting closer to shoot some footage, but was told not to go further. As soon as soldier motioned with his hand for everyone to get down, Denisov heard the pop next to the defense forces.

“This is when I ran over to our guys and to the soldiers that had been wounded in the explosion, all the while trying to get some footage and help to get the fleeing people to safety. We walked for a kilometer,” he said. “Walking in the open was dangerous. The sound of exploding mines could be heard the entire time. We had shrapnel fly in our direction.”