Lithuania's prominent film director Mantas Kvedaravicius has been killed in Ukraine's beseiged port city of Mariupol where he was working on a documentary, according to the country's president.
President Gitanas Nauseda said the country had "lost a creator who worked in Ukraine and was attacked by aggressor Russia".
Kvedaravicius, 45, was killed on Saturday, according to reports. The circumstances of his death could not be immediately known. Ukraine's defence ministry said on Twitter that he was killed by the Russians while trying to leave Mariupol.
Kvedaravicius was known for his documentaries on military conflicts in Chechnya and Ukraine. His film “Mariupol” premiered at the 2016 Berlin International Film Festival.
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News of Kvedaravicius death were met with grief and shock in Lithuania's artist community.
"Terrible loss to the Lithuanian film community and the whole world. Our hearts are broken,” Giedre Zickyte, a Lithuanian documentary film director and producer, wrote on Facebook.
With AP inputs
