UN Offers Condolences Over Death of Sputnik Military Correspondent

UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) - The United Nations has deplored the death of Sputnik war correspondent Rostislav Zhuravlev in the strike by the Ukrainian armed forces, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.

"We deplore the death of yet another journalist in this war. We extend our deepest condolences to his family, friends and colleagues," Dujarric told Sputnik.

Moroccan journalists have called for an immediate international investigation into the death of Zhuravlev, the head of the trade union of Moroccan journalists told Sputnik on Saturday. Libyan journalists have also condemned the death of the war correspondent.

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has sent an official statement to the Rossiya Segodnya international media group expressing condolences over the death of correspondent Rostislav Zhuravlev.

The Nicaraguan parliament said on Twitter on Saturday that the "assassination" of Zhuravlev by Ukrainian forces "through the use of cluster bombs provided by the United States" could be qualified as "a terrorist attack against civilians and journalists."

On Saturday, the Russian Defense Ministry said that Zhuravlev died during evacuation from injuries caused by cluster submunition explosion and several other journalists received wounds of varying degrees of severity.

Several other journalists, including Sputnik photojournalist Konstantin Mikhalchevsky and Izvestia journalist Roman Polshakov, received wounds of varying degrees of severity. Mikhalchevsky was taken to a hospital in Simferopol, while Izvestia reported on Saturday that Polshakov had undergone a surgery on his foot.

The Russian Embassy in Washington said on Saturday that the United States is responsible for the strike carried out by the Ukrainian troops using Washington-supplied cluster munitions that killed Sputnik war correspondent Rostislav Zhuravlev and injured several other journalists.

The Russian embassy expressed deep condolences to Zhuravlev's family and wished a speedy recovery to his colleagues who were injured in the shelling.