Ukraine Liveblog Day 96: On Eve of Election, Separatists Declare the Formation of a United 'Novorossiya'
There a number of reports that an Italian journalist and an interpreter were killed by shelling in Slavyansk today. A French photojournalist, William Rougelon, was also wounded. Neither of the dead have been named.
Roza Kazan, a freelance journalist working in Slavyansk, posted the following tweets this evening:
The Russian news agency ITAR-TASS reported (translated by The Interpreter):
According to television reporters and social networks, William Rougelon, a freelance photographer, has been wounded and taken to hospital, from where, after being bandaged up, he has left independently.
Rougelon told Russian journalists that, after the shelling, his Italian colleague and the interpreter lay motionless.
Earlier today, following armed clashes between militia and the Ukrainian armed forces in Semyonovka, members of the Slavyansk self-defence force returned fire on the security forces' positions. Explosions from mortar fire and automatic gunfire have been heard almost all day.
Rossiya 24, a state-owned Russian news channel interviewed Rougelon after he was treated in hospital. He described the shelling attack, saying that his group was about half a kilometre outside Slavyansk, near the railway, when the shells struck. He doesn't know if the shells were directed at them. The video is below: