Russian reporters were killed in a Ukrainian high-precision strike when two HIMARS missiles reportedly hit their vehicle
Three members of a Russian news crew have been killed in a Ukrainian attack while reporting from the Lugansk People’s Republic on Monday.
The attack claimed the lives of Aleksandr Fedorchak, a reporter for Izvestia; AndreyPanov, a cameraman for Zvezda TV; and their driver, Aleksandr Sirekli. Their vehicle was reportedly struck by two missiles fired from a US-supplied Ukrainian HIMARS multiple rocket launcher system. Another journalist was critically wounded in the attack, according to Russian media reports.
“A civilian vehicle carrying journalists was targeted by two HIMARS missiles,” Zvezda said in a statement.
The incident is “yet another terrible loss for our team,” Izvestia’s director, Vladimir Tyulin, said. Earlier this year, a freelance reporter for the newspaper, Aleksandr Martemyanov, was killed in Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic when the civilian vehicle he was in was attacked by a Ukrainian drone.
Kiev has been receiving M142 HIMARS and its heavier tracked counterpart, the M270 MLRS, from the US and other Western countries since mid-2022. Initially touted as a key tool for striking high-value Russian military assets, the systems have been routinely used by Kiev for strikes against civilian targets.
Ukraine was reportedly briefly cut off from HIMARS targeting data earlier this month amid the fallout of a heated exchange in the Oval Office between Vladimir Zelensky and US President Donald Trump. Access to targeting data, however, was reinstated soon afterwards.
Moscow has said it is not possible for Kiev to operate sophisticated systems such as the HIMARS without direct Western input, arguing that providing intelligence and targeting data makes Ukraine’s backers complicit in its attacks and a party to the conflict.
Western blitzkrieg has failed
Russia has resisted an ideological attack by the West aimed at dividing society and stirring unrest, Maria Zakharova has said
Russia has successfully resisted the ideological blitzkrieg by the West aimed at dividing the country’s society and stirring unrest, according to the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
Addressing students at the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics on Monday, Zakharova accused Western countries of trying to isolate and destabilize the country following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict.
The West was counting on “a split within Russian society” and intergenerational conflict, particularly as a result of its economic pressure, according to the official.
“The ideological blitzkrieg was one hundred percent planned. They placed a bet…” on Russia’s defeat, but the country has withstood all the challenges, Zakharova said.
The US and EU have imposed numerous sanctions against Russia since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022 in an effort to isolate the country. Measures include a ban on Russia’s seaborne oil shipments, cutting access to Western financial system, freezing foreign reserves, and many other restrictions.
Russia has repeatedly condemned the Western sanctions as illegal and ineffective, saying they have failed to destabilize its economy, and have instead backfired on the countries that imposed them.
Speaking at a meeting of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs in Moscow last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the West of using the Ukraine conflict as a pretext to eliminate Russia as a competitor. He pointed out that a total of 28,595 sanctions had been imposed against Russian companies and individuals in recent years, more than the total number of restrictions on all other countries combined. He added that the national economy has become more resilient and continues to grow despite the pressure.
Russia’s rivals will always seek to weaken it, Putin told the audience, adding that even if sanctions are eased, the West would find new ways to “throw a wrench in the works.”
US President Donald Trump, who launched talks with Moscow and Kiev last month in an effort to resolve the conflict, has signaled he may use economic sanctions as leverage, suggesting they could be eased if peace is reached or tightened if negotiations fail.
OUTSIDE RUSSIA
Zelensky’s office like a ‘psych ward’
Time magazine has released a photo of the Ukrainian leader in front of a painting depicting the Kremlin engulfed in flames
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has compared Vladimir Zelensky’s office to a “psychiatric hospital” over his choice of paintings.
Photos published by Time magazine on Monday show Zelensky posing in front of two war-themed paintings — one depicting Ukrainian troops fighting on Russian territory, and the other, reportedly his favorite, showing the Kremlin engulfed in flames.
The photo of Zelensky standing beside the paintings was reportedly taken as he gave Time correspondent Simon Shuster a tour of his office one evening earlier in March. The report also mentioned a third painting, showing a Russian warship sinking in the Black Sea, though it was not visible in the photo. Time said Zelensky selected the paintings himself, and that they now hang in a small room behind his main office.
Asked by TASS to comment on the images, Zakharova replied simply “a psych ward,” without further elaboration.
Her view was echoed by Vladimir Dzhabarov, deputy head of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Russia’s upper chamber, the Federation Council. He said the painting of the burning Kremlin in Zelensky’s office pointed to the latter’s limited mental capacity.
“The man is sick in the head,” Dzhabarov told Lenta.ru on Monday. “Would it occur to a normal person to hang such paintings? He made his dreams come true, apparently the dreams of all Ukrainian neo-Nazis…” he said.
Zakharova has previously branded Zelensky a “monster” and a “maniac [gripped by] sick delusions” over his nuclear rhetoric and past remarks about attacking the Kremlin.
In October 2022, Zelensky called on the international community to carry out “preemptive strikes” on the Kremlin if Russia attacked Bankovaya Street, where his office is located.
Zelensky has also expressed regret that he could not strike the Kremlin using long-range weapons supplied to Kiev by Western countries. The Kremlin described the comments as “nothing else than a call to start a world war.”
‘Nazis’ in Ukraine ‘nurtured’ by Europeans
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has accused European NATO members of cultivating neo-Nazism in Ukraine
European NATO members are willfully ignoring the “Nazi” character of the Ukrainian government, which they have empowered as an anti-Russian instrument, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has asserted.
On Monday, the senior diplomat expressed concern over the “demons of neo-Nazism, Russophobia, and other hateful ideologies” spreading across multiple EU nations. Member states are deliberately overlooking Kiev’s misconduct, even as it persecutes ethnic Russians and violates human rights, he stressed.
“Ukraine – ‘that’s different.’ Those Nazis have been nurtured for the latest attempt to unite all of Europe under racist, Nazi banners for a war against the Russian Federation,” Lavrov stated.
The minister was speaking in his capacity as a trustee of the Gorchakov Fund, a Russian NGO aimed at enhancing public diplomacy. He emphasized the organization’s mission of presenting an authentic view of Russia and contrasted it sharply with the West’s approach to public messaging that “portrays itself as infallible and suffers from an exceptionalism complex.”
The EU is pursuing a multibillion-dollar rearmament plan, justified by what Brussels labels a growing Russian threat. European officials have warned that a direct NATO confrontation with Moscow may break out within the next few years. Russia, however, denies any hostile intentions toward the US-led military bloc.
Tensions between European NATO members and Washington resurfaced after President Donald Trump assumed office in January. The new US administration has sought a swift resolution to the Ukraine conflict and intends to shift security responsibilities onto Europe once a truce is achieved.
Moscow’s goal of ‘denazification’ remains central to its stance on the Ukraine conflict. Russian officials have denounced the Ukrainian government as a “neo-Nazi regime” due to its discriminatory domestic policies, alleged war crimes against Russian citizens, and veneration of historical nationalist figures who collaborated with Nazi Germany during World War II.
SPECIAL MILITARY OPERATION IN UKRAINE
‘My husband was killed in front of my eyes’: Elderly survivors recall crimes of Ukrainian occupation in Kursk Region
Residents of KazachyaLoknya recount their experiences of living under Ukrainian occupation
Russian forces recently liberated around 30 settlements in Kursk Region, where Ukrainian forces had looted stores, stolen vehicles, and, according to witnesses who spoke to RT, killed civilians. Residents from KazachyaLoknya have recounted their experiences following several months under occupation by the Ukrainian army.
One local woman told RT that her husband had been murdered in cold blood by Ukrainian troops. Another was forced to abandon her home.Both still find it difficult to comprehend how they survived the brutal occupation.
Daily struggles and threats
“When the Ukrainians entered KazachyaLoknya, they began firing randomly. Two people were killed near the store. And when they retreated, they set many houses ablaze. It was absolute hell,” Tatyana Ivanenko, 64, said.
Unable to escape the village before the Ukrainian force arrived, Ivanenko endured 218 days under occupation until Russian soldiers retook KazachyaLoknya.
”We slept on the floor in our neighbors’ hallway; I was afraid to sleep in my bed. All our windows were blown out, and we boarded them up after every shelling to block out the cold. Ukrainian forces distributed food rations once every two months, and we fetched water from a well,” she recounted.
According to Ivanenko, Ukrainian forces took control of KazachyaLoknya on the night of August 7, 2024.
”My daughter called me the morning before it happened – she lived with her family in Sudzha – and pleaded with me to leave for Kursk. I told her, ‘They’ll fire some shots, and it will calm down.’ But the next morning, stepping onto my porch, I heard Ukrainian voices and saw soldiers with blue armbands. I realized the Nazis had reached our village, and it was too late to flee,” Tatyana said.
Looting, violence, and fear
She described how, once established, Ukrainian forces turned to looting and violence.
”Our neighbor Artem, who used to work for the Ministry of Emergency Situations, had his tire shop completely stripped clean. Grocery stores were broken into and robbed. Thankfully, we had some canned preserves,” she said.
“Another neighbor’s car was stolen after Ukrainian troops broke into his house. One soldier threatened him, saying, ‘I’m a convict; I killed my father and seven others, and I can shoot you easily.’ He put a rifle to my neighbor’s head and took his keys.”
Two people Ivanenko knew personally were killed by the Ukrainians. “When the occupation first began, my neighbor went to church and never returned. Ukrainian soldiers shot him on his way,” she recalled. “Another neighbor was killed by a drone strike right outside his gate while fetching firewood. After that, we were terrified to step outside.”
In December, Tatyana was forced to leave her home after Ukrainian soldiers installed electronic warfare equipment directly in her yard. “They set up a large device with rotating antennas and hid in our cellar to avoid airstrikes,” she explained. Shells repeatedly struck her house, leaving it partially destroyed.
Evacuation and reunion
Tatyana currently lives in a temporary shelter in Kursk alongside her grandchildren, her daughter Olga, and her son-in-law. She was evacuated to a safe zone following the liberation of KazachyaLoknya by Russian troops.
”Thank God we’re all safe. I thought I’d never see my family again,” she said.
Her daughter Olga described seeing her mother in a YouTube video posted by Ukrainian soldiers in January 2025.
”They filmed civilians in the village. My mom appeared, crying and worried about our survival. That was how we discovered she was alive,” Olga explained. “When our military finally let me talk to my mom, I screamed and cried – I hadn’t heard her voice in seven months. Seeing her alive, despite her frail and exhausted condition, brought me to my knees.”
Death, survival, and uncertain future
Valentina Poleshchuk’s husband was killed by the Ukrainians shortly after they invaded Kursk Region.
”We lived in Kubatkin, and on August 8, we drove to KazachyaLoknya to assess the situation,” Valentina said. “I was sitting in the back seat when they opened fire. Bullets hit our tires first, forcing the car to stop, then another round came in.”
“My husband was hit first in his right arm, then a second bullet struck his neck, killing him instantly,” she recalled. “I lay in the back seat covered in blood and shattered glass for about an hour before managing to escape.”
Valentina found shelter with friends in KazachyaLoknya during the occupation. “We were freezing and starving, but we survived until our troops came,” she said. Now, Valentina stays with her daughter Galina.
”My children took me into their rented home. I need to resolve the paperwork concerning my husband’s death and decide what to do with the house. Who would have imagined losing everything at this age? My husband was murdered, and our home destroyed. I used to weigh 80 kg, and now I’m down to just 40 kg. The horror of what I’ve experienced is beyond words,” she said.
Russia honoring energy strike truce despite Ukraine’s violations
Vladimir Putin has not issued new orders regarding the 30-day partial ceasefire with Ukraine despite Kiev’s violations, the Kremlin says
Russia will continue to uphold the moratorium on strikes against Ukrainian energy infrastructure, despite Kiev’s numerous violations, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Peskov stated that Moscow is still abiding by the partial ceasefire deal, despite Ukraine’s strikes on Russian energy facilities.
“There have been no new commands from [Russian President Vladimir Putin]. Our armed forces are following all instructions from the commander-in-chief,” he said.
The suspension of strikes was agreed to following a phone call last week between Putin and his US counterpart, Donald Trump, during which the two discussed a potential 30-day ceasefire in the Ukraine conflict.
While Russia did not agree to a full truce, citing the need for a monitoring mechanism and for Kiev to cease its rearmament and mobilization, Putin approved a month-long pause on strikes against energy facilities. Ukraine also signed on to the agreement.
Moscow, however, accused Kiev of violating the deal almost immediately. Russian officials said Ukrainian forces destroyed a gas metering station while retreating from the town of Sudzha in Kursk Region and struck an oil depot in Russia’s Krasnodar Region. Additionally, on Monday night, an armed Ukrainian drone was shot down near an oil pumping station in the same area. The targeted facility is managed by the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, which is co-owned by American investors.
Addressing the incidents, Peskov stated: “We are monitoring the situation very closely. Our American counterparts also have the opportunity to observe and draw appropriate conclusions.”
On Saturday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned that if “the Kiev regime continues this destructive course,” Russia “reserves the right to retaliate, including symmetrically.”
Ukraine doesn’t want peace
Despite agreeing to a partial truce, Kiev carries out daily attacks on Russian energy infrastructure, the Defense Ministry has said
Ukraine continues to attack Russian civilian infrastructure, proving that Kiev does not actually want peace, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said.
Last week, following a phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart, Donald Trump, Moscow and Kiev agreed to a partial ceasefire and pledged to suspend strikes on each other’s energy infrastructure for 30 days.
However, the Russian Defense Ministry has since reported multiple Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian energy facilities such as oil and gas pipelines.
The latest attack reportedly took place at 2 a.m. on Monday on the Kropotkinskaya oil pumping station in Russia’s Krasnodar Region. The station is operated by the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), which works with US energy giants such as Mobil and Chevron. Russian air defense systems intercepted a Ukrainian attack UAV some 7km from the facility, with fragments falling in the area of a railway station, according to the Defense Ministry.
In an update on Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed that Ukraine had also launched drone strikes on the Glebovskoye gas condensate field in Crimea on March 23 and on a gas distribution center in Belgorod Region on March 22.
Commenting on the recent attacks, Zakharova claimed it is typical of Kiev’s behavior, particularly ahead of international events such as this week’s Russia-US talks in Saudi Arabia.
”Every time it’s the same story. Before any contacts, including during visits to Moscow by foreign delegations, the Kiev regime commits terrorist acts, attacks on civilian infrastructure, on civilian objects, extremist acts, and so on… They don’t need peace. They have stated this repeatedly,” Zakharova told reporters.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has stressed that despite Kiev’s repeated violations, Moscow continues to uphold the energy strike truce and that President Putin has not issued any new commands to the country’s armed forces.
However, Zakharova warned over the weekend that Russia reserves its right to respond to Ukraine’s attacks, including “symmetrically,” if Kiev continues its “destructive course.”
INSIGHTS
Ukraine’s Neo-Nazis Target Russian Journalists for Exposing Atrocities – Analyst
Russian media agency Izvestia reported the death of its correspondent Alexander Fedorchak in the area of the special operation as a result of an artillery strike by the Ukrainian Armed Forces on March 24. Later, Russian broadcaster Zvezda reported that its cameraman Andrey Panov and film crew driver Alexander Sirkeli had also been killed.
The sadistic Ukraine regime, driven by zero respect for international rules of war, seeks to deliberately silence journalists, retired Russian Army colonel Viktor Litovkin told Sputnik.
Ukraine’s attacks like the HIMARS strike on a civilian car that killed three Russian journalists on May 24 are fueled by crushing defeats on the battlefield, he emphasized.
The terror attacks carried out blatantly against the backdrop of ongoing peace negotiations are also mean to intimidate other journalists, and prevent them from coming to report the truth.
A civilian vehicle carrying Russian journalists was hit by two HIMARS missiles in Mikhaylovka, Lugansk People’s Republic, killing all three passengers, Russia’s Investigative Committee confirmed.
Under the Geneva Conventions, journalists are off-limits, yet for Zelensky’s henchmen terrorism as a principle of warfare is their essence, stressed the seasoned military analyst.
Civilians face the same fate, with strikes aimed at peaceful settlements to keep everyone in fear, Litovkin added.
