Ukrainian lawmaker and journalist Dmytro Tymchuk has died from a gunshot wound that a fellow lawmaker says he sustained while cleaning a handgun.
Anton Herashchenko, a member of Ukraine's parliament, told the 112 Ukraina television channel that the apparent accident occurred on June 19 at Tymchuk's home in Kyiv.
"Tymchuk's wife called the police. She said that her husband was cleaning his pistol and, while cleaning it, fatally wounded himself," Herashchenko said. "Before the ambulance arrived, Tymchuk died."
Herashchenko also said the authorities were at Tymchuk's home on June 19 to investigate the shooting.
The 46-year-old Tymchuk gained prominence as a blogger after he reported details about Russia's seizure and annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in February-March 2014.
He also reported on activities by Moscow aimed at inciting separatism in Ukraine's eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in April 2014.
Tymchuk then created a group called Information Resistance that seeks to counter Russian propaganda by exposing disinformation.
Tymchuk became a member of Ukraine's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, in October 2014 as a candidate of the People's Front political party.
