17th Jun 2014 15:55
Moscow (Alliance News) - Two Russian journalists were feared dead amid heavy fighting in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday, as hopes for a ceasefire were fading quickly.
Igor Kornelyuk, a correspondent for Russian state television, died in a hospital in Luhansk after being injured in a rocket-propelled grenade attack, the Vesti news programme confirmed.
Anton Voloshin, a video producer in Kornelyuk's crew, was missing after the attack, Vesti said. The journalists were reporting from a insurgent-manned checkpoint north of the city of Luhansk, when they were hit by a grenade presumed to be fired by Ukrainian government forces.
The Russian Foreign Ministry called upon the government in Kiev to investigate the incident objectively and to punish those responsible.
Kornelyuk is the second journalist to be confirmed dead in the two-month old conflict. Italian photographer Andrea Ronchelli was killed along with his Russian interpreter on May 24 when they were hit by mortar fire outside the city of Sloviansk.
The fighting outside Luhansk escalated after separatists on Saturday shot down a Ukrainian military cargo plane at the city's airport, killing all 49 people on board.
Valery Bolotov, the leader of the "Luhansk People's Republic," said on Tuesday that his forces captured five Ukrainian soldiers and six armoured vehicles during the fighting.
In the neighbouring Donetsk region, 31 soldiers were injured when insurgents attacked government positions close to the Russian frontier, the Ukrainian Border Guard Service said.
Spokespeople for the separatists said that they had shot down a Ukrainian air force SU-25 fighter jet near the city of Horlivka.
Local authorities said that six people were killed and 13 injured in fighting in the city of Kramatorsk on Monday.
Meanwhile, Ukraine's new President Petro Poroshenko appointed a lawmaker as his representative for talks with pro-Russian insurgents in the country's east.
Rebel representatives however said that they would not speak with Irina Gerashchenko, a former spokeswoman to Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and a deputy for the Udar party of boxer-turned politician Vitali Klitschko.
Andrei Purgin, one of the leaders of the unrecognized "Donetsk People's Republic" said that any contacts with the Ukrainian government can only happen through mediators from Russia or international organizations.
"We are not ready to talk with representatives of Ukraine, because this country is killing our people every day," he told the Interfax news agency.
Bolotov, the Luhansk separatist leader, ruled out any talks before the Ukrainian forces withdraw.
Poroshenko said Monday that he wants to present a ceasefire plan by the end of this week, but only if the border with Russia is closed.
Separatists control a number of frontier posts in the Luhansk region after Ukrainian border guards surrendered them earlier this month.
Also on Tuesday, an explosion ripped through a pipeline exporting Russian gas through Ukraine to Europe.
Police said 100-metre-high flames burst out of the Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhgorod pipeline in the Poltava region.
Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said the explosion, which injured no one, was an act of Russian sabotage. "This is the latest attempt to discredit Ukraine as a partner in the gas sector," Avakov said in a statement on the ministry website.
The Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhgorod pipeline exports Russian gas to Europe. On Monday, Russia cut off its gas supplies to Ukraine because of a payment row.
Ukrainian pipeline operator Ukrtransgaz said the explosion has no effect on gas shipments to Europe because the gas flow had been diverted to a parallel pipe.
Copyright dpa