MOSCOW, Jan 5, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Russia's Izvestia newspaper said Saturday that a Ukrainian "kamikaze" drone killed one of its reporters as he was travelling on a highway in occupied east Ukraine.

Alexander Martemyanov, who worked freelance for the paper, was returning from covering shelling in the Russian-held city of Gorlivka with colleagues when their car was hit, Russia's state RIA news agency said.

A journalist from RIA and four other media workers were wounded in the attack, the agency added.

"The car in which the journalist was in was attacked by a kamikaze drone. Martemyanov died of his wounds," Izvestia said.

At least 15 journalists have been killed while covering the Ukraine conflict, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists press rights group, which says it is investigating other deaths.

Another milliary correspondent for Izvestia, Semyon Eremin, was killed by a Ukrainian drone last year in the southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia, the paper said.