The Ukrainian armed forces attacked a car with journalists on the Donetsk-Gorlovka (Horlivka) highway in the Donetsk People's Republic by prior conspiracy motivated by ideological hatred, according to case materials seen by Sputnik on Sunday.
According to the investigation, the strike was carried out by prior agreement between senior commanders of the Ukrainian armed forces and officials of the Ukrainian Defence Ministry. The persons involved in the decision to attack a civilian vehicle with a drone are currently being identified.
The investigation sees a common criminal intent in the attacks by Ukrainian military on Gorlovka and on a car with journalists on the Donetsk-Gorlovka highway, the case materials said.
On Saturday evening, an FPV drone hit a civilian car far from the contact line on the Donetsk-Gorlovka highway.
Izvestia newspaper correspondent Alexander Martemyanov was killed, while Sputnik correspondent Maxim Romanenko was hospitalised with a concussion, and his colleague Mikhail Kevkhiev received a mild concussion and did not need hospitalisation.
Donetsk-based publication Bloknot employees Svetlana Larina and Izabella Liberman, who were injured in the attack, received medical assistance and would continue their treatment on an outpatient basis.
Sputnik