Russian shelling kills Radio Free Europe reporter

With Russian forces continuing missile attacks across Ukraine, US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty said one of their reporters, Vira Hyrych, was killed in Kyiv.

Hyrych lost her life when a Russian missile hit her home in downtown Kyiv, according to the broadcaster. The Prague-based news outlet also said that the missiles damaged the first and the second floor of the 25-story residential building, causing a fire.

The shelling took place during the visit of UN Secretary General on Thursday, with the reporter's body discovered on Friday morning. 

"She was going to bed when a Russian ballistic missile hit her apartment in central Kyiv. Russia's barbarism is incomprehensible," Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko said. "We call on media organizations to condemn the murder of Vira and all other innocent Ukrainians."

Several reporters have lost their lives since the war in Ukraine started, including Fox News cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski and his fixer, Ukrainian journalist Olexandra Kuvshynova, as well Brent Renaud, a US documentary filmmaker that had previously worked for the New York Times, reports DW.

Russian journalist Oksana Baulina, who worked for Latvian-based, independent Russian-language outlet The Insider, was also killed in a so-called Kamikaze drone strike on Kyiv last month.