SIMFEROPOL (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd July, 2023) RIA Novosti war correspondent Rostislav Zhuravlev, killed by Ukrainian shelling in the combat zone, will be awarded with the Order of Merit for the Zaporizhzhia region posthumously, alongside three other journalists who were injured with him, Yevgeny Balitsky, the acting governor of the Zaporizhzhia region, said on Sunday.
"Izvestia news agency journalists Dmitry Shikov, Roman Polshakov, and RIA Novosti correspondent Konstantin Mikhalchevsky will be awarded the Order of Merit for Zaporizhzhia Region. Rostislav Zhuravlev will be awarded posthumously," Balitsky wrote on Telegram.
Zhuravlev died during evacuation from injuries caused by a cluster submunition explosion in the conflict zone on Saturday, the Russian Defense Ministry said. Several other Russian journalists, including RIA Novosti photojournalist Konstantin Mikhalchevsky and Izvestia journalist Roman Polshakov, received wounds of varying degrees of severity. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that those responsible for the death of Zhuravlev, including the suppliers of cluster munitions to Kiev, will be punished.
