Russia says two journalists among Ukraine bridge dead

MOSCOW - Russia's investigative committee said Friday that two journalists were among four people killed by a Ukrainian night-time strike on a bridge in Russian-occupied Kherson.

"There is information about two killed journalists," the committee, which probes major crimes, said.

It said 13 people were wounded in the strike.

"Children and representatives of the media" are among the dead and wounded, it said.

Alexander Malkevich, the deputy head of Russia's commission on developing information, said earlier that one journalist was killed in the strike.

Moscow-installed authorities in Ukraine's southern region of Kherson said Kyiv forces had shelled the Antonivskiy bridge over the Dnieper river used for evacuations late on Thursday.

"Four people were killed," pro-Moscow official Kirill Stremousov said on Telegram. "The city of Kherson, like a fortress, is preparing for its defense."

Ukraine's military denied killing civilians.

"We do not hit critical infrastructure. We do not hit peaceful settlements or the local population," military spokeswoman Nataliya Gumenyuk said in televised comments.

Pro-Russia forces have urged civilians to cross onto the left bank of the Dnieper river in the face of a Ukrainian counter-offensive. Kyiv has called the move "deportations" of Ukrainian citizens.

The Russian-backed administration of Kherson overnight said Kyiv fired "12 HIMARS rockets at a civilian crossing near the Antonivskiy bridge."

Russian state television aired footage of a damaged car and traffic waiting to cross the river. 

On Thursday, Stremousov said 15,000 people had crossed the river in evacuations organized by the Moscow-backed forces.

He insisted that Russia will not give up Kherson -- the first major Ukrainian city to fall to Russian forces early in their offensive.

"Kherson will hold on until the last (man), believe me nobody is intending to give up the city." -- Agence France-Presse