Russian TV reporter killed in eastern Ukraine

(ANSA) - Kiev, June 17 - A Russian state television reporter was among the latest casualties of fighting between Kiev forces and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday as the European Commission released its first tranche of aid.
    The Russian foreign ministry described the death of Rossyia 24 journalist Igor Kornelyuk in a mortar attack near a village outside the east Ukrainian city of Luhansk as "a new crime by the Ukrainian armed forces" and called for an "objective inquiry" into the incident.
    A colleague, sound engineer Anton Voloshin, was reported missing following the attack.
    Meanwhile six pro-Russian rebels were reported dead following clashes in the separatist stronghold of Kramatorsk in the eastern Donetsk region and 30 Ukraine soldiers sustained injuries in fighting near the border with Russia. Separatist leader Natalia Grudzenko was arrested in the port city of Mariupol, officially recaptured by Kiev forces on Friday. Also on Tuesday the European Union disbursed 500 million euros of a broader aid package for Ukraine amounting to 11 billion euros agreed by Brussels in March.
    "It's up to Kiev to decide how to use the money, according to its needs," said European Commissioner for Economic Affaris, Olli Rehn.
    Ukraine could use the money to buy gas after Russia cut off supplies over a pricing and payment dispute on Monday. Separately on Tuesday, Ukraine's newly elected president Petro Poroshenko appointed MP Irina Gherashenko, a representative of Udar, the party led by former boxer Vitali Klitschko, as his envoy for the peaceful resolution of the crisis in the east.