"He went missing in the conflict area on March 13 in the Kyiv region. His body was found near the village of Huta Mezhyhirska on April 1," he said in a post on Telegram.

Reporters Without Borders said in an April 2 tweet that Levin was unarmed and wearing a press jacket, and that he was the sixth journalist to be killed since Russia launched its war against Ukraine on February 24.*

“Targeting journalists is a war crime,” the Paris-based media watchdog said.

Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office said that according to preliminary findings, Levin “was fatally shot twice with small-arms fire, by servicemen" of the Russian military.

Levin, 40, a father of four, had been working with many Ukrainian and international media, including Reuters, the BBC, and the Associated Press.

John Pullman, Reuters' global managing editor for visuals, said: "We are deeply saddened to hear of the death of Maksim Levin, a longtime contributor to Reuters, in Ukraine."

"Maks has provided compelling photos and video from Ukraine to Reuters since 2013. His death is a huge loss to the world of journalism. Our thoughts are with his family at this difficult time."

With reporting by AFP and Reuters

*NOTE: This article has been amended to correct the number of journalists that Reporters Without Borders said had been killed since Russia invaded Ukraine. It had been incorrectly cited in our original report.