Igor kornelyuk and anton voloshin development

MOSCOW — Two Russian journalists for a Russian state-owned TV channel died Tuesday in eastern Ukraine after being hit by mortar fire, the Rossiya 24 network said.

Correspondent Igor Kornelyuk, 37, died during surgery in a hospital after being wounded while on assignment in Luhansk.

The whereabouts of the sound engineer who was with him were unknown throughout the day, but in late evening the network announced that Anton Voloshin had been confirmed dead as well.

Russian officials expressed indignation over the deaths.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said the Ukrainian government should be held responsible, while Russia’s federal investigative agency announced the opening of a criminal case.

Viktor Denisov, a cameraman working with Kornelyuk, said in a television broadcast that they were filming Ukrainian refugees fleeing the area north of the regional capital when mortar fire began.

Denisov was not next to Kornelyuk when he was wounded.

Before the announcement of Volos