Police in the capital of Ukraine say a Russian journalist has been shot and killed at his Kiev apartment.

Ukrainian police said Arkady Babchenko's wife found him bleeding at the apartment on Tuesday and called an ambulance, but Babchenko died on the way to a hospital.

The 41-year-old Babchenko served in the Russian army during the first separatist war in Chechnya during the 1990s and later became a journalist. He worked as a military correspondent for several Russian media outlets.

Babchenko had been scathingly critical of the Kremlin in recent years. He left Russia in February 2017, saying he was receiving threats and concerned he might be jailed.

In the fall, Babchenko moved to Kiev, where he worked as a host for the Crimean Tatar TV station, ATR.