Russian probe confirms photographer's death in Ukraine

A Russian investigation has confirmed the death of a photographer for a Russian state-owned news service who went missing in Ukraine Aug. 5.

DNA testing of human remains confirmed the death of Andrei Stenin of Rossiya Segodnya service, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation said in a statement on its website Sept. 3.

According to the investigation, Stenin was killed Aug. 6 in an attack by Ukrainian government forces when he was driving a car in a convoy of refugees guarded by pro-Russian separatists on a road in eastern Ukraine. Ukrainian forces burned the car the day after the attack, the Russian statement added. Separatists handed over the remains of those in the car to the Russian government Aug. 27.

Stenin is the seventh journalists killed during the conflict between the Ukrainian government and pro-Russian forces in the the country, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Two other missing Russian journalists, Sergey Korechenkov and Andrei Vyachalo, were also thought to be traveling in the convoy.

Stenin had  covered conflicts in Syria and Egypt and previously worked for Russian outlets including the government newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta and the ITAR-TASS news wire. His work was also published by Reuters, the Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.

CPJcalled on Ukraine's government to conduct an investigation into the attack and for pro-Russian separatists to allow investigators access to the area where his body was found. In a statement, the press freedom group said that Ukraine's interior minister had suggested after the attack that Stenin had been captured by Ukrainian forces.

"We condemn the killing of Andrei Stenin, which calls attention once again to the dangers of covering the conflict in Ukraine from any side." said Nina Ognianova, the group's coordinator for Europe and Central Asia. "