KIEV, May 25 - An Italian journalist and his Russian translator have been killed in fighting between pro-Russian forces and Ukrainian government troops in eastern Ukraine, Reuters reported on Sunday, citing the Italian Foreign Ministry.

The bodies of Andrea Rocchelli, a freelance photographer who worked with the Cesura photographers' collective, and his colleague, Andrey Mironov, were taken to a hospital in the town of Slavyansk.

An earlier statement issued by the ministry identified the journalist as Andrea Ronchelli.