PARIS, France
A French journalist has been killed during a Russian bombardment that struck a vehicle evacuating civilians from eastern Ukraine, French and Ukrainian officials said.
“Frederic Leclerc-Imhoff was
in Ukraine to show the reality of war,” French President Emmanuel Macron wrote
on Twitter on Monday.
“Onboard a humanitarian bus
with civilians forced to flee to escape Russian bombings, he was mortally
wounded.”
Leclerc-Imhoff was working for
the BFM television news channel, which said he was 32 years old and on his
second Ukraine reporting trip since the war began on February 24.
He was near Severodonetsk, a
city in Ukraine’s east that has
been pounded by advancing Russian troops in recent weeks, the French
and Ukrainian foreign ministries said in separate statements.
Foreign Minister Catherine
Colonna, who visited Kyiv on Monday, wrote on Twitter that Leclerc-Imhoff had
been killed “by a Russian bombardment of a humanitarian mission while he was
carrying out his duty to inform.
“I have spoken with the
government of Luhansk and asked President [Volodymyr] Zelensky for an inquiry,
and they assured me of their help and support,” she wrote.
Frederic Leclerc-Imhoff |
“This tragic event reminds us
of the dangers faced by all journalists who have been risking their lives to
describe this conflict for more than three months now,” BFM said in a
statement.
Macron wrote, “I share the
grief of his family, relatives and colleagues,” adding that “to those who
ensure the difficult mission of reporting in combat zones, I want to reiterate
France’s unconditional support.”
Reporters Without Borders, an
international media advocacy group, said at least eight journalists have
been killed
while reporting on the Ukraine conflict.
Luhansk governor Serhiy Haidai
said on Telegram that “our armoured evacuation vehicle was going to pick ten
people up from the area and came under enemy fire.” – Al jazeera
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