Russian Journalist Oksana Baulina Killed In Kyiv Shelling

Russian journalist Oksana Baulina, killed in Kyiv

A Russian journalist has been killed by Russian shelling in a residential area of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.

Oksana Baulina had been filming damage from an earlier attack in the Podil district of the city, and had been reporting from both Kyiv and Lviv since the outbreak of war last month.

The journalist was working for investigative website The Insider, which has been accused by Russian authorities of conspiring with foreign agents, and had previously worked for Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny. Last year Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation was branded illegal by Moscow, forcing Baulina to leave the country along with a number of her colleagues.

The Insider paid tribute to their employee in a statement.

“The Insider expresses its deepest condolences to Oksana’s family and friends,” it said, pledging to continue coverage in Ukraine and to expose issues “including such Russian war crimes as indiscriminate shelling of residential areas killing civilians and journalists.”

Baulina is the seventh journalist confirmed to have been killed in the first month of the Russian invasion. Ukrainian journalist Shakirov Dilerbek Shukurovych was the first fatality, killed on the third day of military action in the country, and fellow journalists Yevhenii Sakun, Viktor Dudar, Brent Renaud, Pierre Zakrzewski, and Oleksandra Kuvshinova have also lost their lives covering the conflict.

Tributes for the slain journalist poured in. Russian politician Vladimir Milov, who worked with Baulina at Navalny’s foundation, promised to avenge her death, saying that those who killed her “won’t get away with only a trial and a verdict”.

Investigative journalist Alexey Kovalyov also paid tribute to Baulina on Twitter, noting that the pair had worked together many times over the years.

One other person was reportedly killed in the attack, with a further two people injured. It is unclear at present whether these casualties were part of the journalist’s team.