Russian journalist Anatoly Klyan, a cameraman with television station Channel One, died on June 29, 2014 from injuries he suffered when he was shot near a Ukrainian army base near Donetsk. Klyan and other journalists were with a group of Ukrainian women who had travelled to the base to demand the discharge of their conscripted sons when their bus came under gunfire. Klyan was hit in the stomach and died of his wounds after he was taken to a hospital.

Russia’s foreign ministry blamed the Ukrainian military for Klyan’s death. However, The Moscow Times reported that Forbes correspondent Orkhan Dzhemal, who was present at the scene of the attack, said pro-Russian separatists bore at least some responsibility for the incident. Dzhemal said that journalists had received a call from the press service of the separatist People’s Republic of Donetsk earlier in the day directing them to meet at the rebel administration building. There, Dzhemal said, they were met by a rebel who identified himself as “Gyurza” (Viper) who announced the trip, claiming, apparently falsely, that the army base’s commander had agreed to surrender without a fight.

Separatist leaders in the region, who disavowed involvement in organising the trip, reportedly said later that they had opened an investigation into the “sloppiness” of local activists.