https://t.me/c/1899284653/24171
There are new reports that he’s in the hospital. I will undelete this post if his death is confirmed.
Z-war correspondent Poddubny is alive, Kursk regional hospital reported
His hospitalization in the Kursk Regional Hospital was confirmed to the Defense Ministry’s Zvezda TV channel. Soon this information was confirmed by Poddubny’s employer, the VGTRK television and radio company. The Z-war correspondent was wounded as a result of a UAV attack.
The video allegedly shows Poddubny being hospitalized.
A man in a group with Russian soldiers wearing the same cameo outfit and gear as these soldiers is looking like a soldier, even if at the very moment of the drone attack he might not have carried a weapon.
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A state employed propagandist is no journalist, though.
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They still are. If we start ignoring the rules of war for people we disagree with, the enemy gets legitimized to do the same, and we end up with no rules at all
I’m not advocating in favor of targeting him specifically but he’s also definitely not a journalist. He’s employed by the Russian government as a propagandist. Don’t misrepresent his role.
if it’s true that he was embedded in a unit, and wearing a military uniform and no press insignia, then I also agree that he was a valid target. But even state propagandists are and should be protected when they’re at the front in the role of journalist, however dubious their nature might be. The political spin of their reporting doesn’t matter, the only thing that lets them lose that status is direct participation in hostilities, i.e. either picking up a weapon and fighting themselves, or abusing their position to spy on enemy positions
Eroding these protections just makes the work of every other war correspondent more dangerous