The ministry said in a statement that Andrea Rocchelli, 30, was killed yesterday in the area of Slovyansk, a hotbed of pro-Russia, anti-Kiev sentiment.
It stressed that the journalist's body, taken to a hospital along with that of a Russian citizen, was awaiting official identification and that Rocchelli's family was arriving in Kiev later today.
The ministry gave no details of how Rocchelli died. But Italian news reports on last night quoted a French photographer who was with the victim as saying that the journalists and a Russian interpreter were hit by mortar fire after taking shelter in a roadside ditch.