Paris (AP) – A 32 -year -old French journalist was killed in eastern Ukraine on Monday after being hit by a mortar shell while covering a Ukrainian evacuation operation, according to the French broadcaster he worked for.
BFM TV reported that Frederick Leclerc-Imhoff was killed while “covering up a humanitarian operation in an armored vehicle” near the city of Sievierdonetsk, a major city in the Donbas region, which is strongly opposed by Russian and Ukrainian forces. He worked for a French television channel for six years.
French President Emmanuel Macron took to Twitter to pay tribute to Leclerc-Imhoff, saying he was “in Ukraine to show the reality of the war.”
“He was shot dead on a humanitarian bus along with civilians forced to flee to escape Russian bombs,” Macron tweeted.
Macron expressed his condolences to his family, relatives and colleagues, and spoke about France’s “unconditional support” for “people who are undertaking the difficult task of informing operational theaters”.
French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said the journalist’s death was “shocking”. He tweeted that he was killed “because of the Russian bombing”.
“France has called for a transparent investigation as soon as possible to clarify the circumstances of this tragedy,” the note read.
The convoy, which on Monday was on a scheduled visit to the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, later described the tragedy as a “crime” of journalists.
He said he had talked to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and asked him to do “everything possible” to bring the journalist’s body back to France as soon as possible. He said that the investigation into the incidents of deaths in the war zone is being conducted by the Ukrainian authorities.
BFM TV reported that Leclerc-Imhoff was accompanied by a man who was slightly injured. A Ukrainian woman who worked with them was not hit.
On Monday, Luhansk region governor Serhiy Haidai announced Leclerc-Imhof’s death in a telegram, saying Russian forces were firing on an armored vehicle en route to evacuate people.
“From the bullet, Bushknar hit the armor of the car, an accredited French journalist in the neck, which cut an accredited French journalist in the neck.” The patrol officer was rescued by a helmet, “he wrote.
Haidai said the evacuation was halted because of the attack.
He posted a photo of Leclerc-Imhoff’s accreditation in the Ukrainian press and said the result of the attack.
Haidai said Leclerc-Imhoff’s body was evacuated to the Ukrainian-controlled city of Bakhmut and taken to the central city of Dnipro for burial.
He said the patrol officer who was with the car was hit by debris on the head and taken to a military hospital.
The head of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine, Sergei Tomilenko, told the AP that officials were considering how to return his body to France, “which is not easy in the face of military activity and continued bombing.”
“Journalists have laid down their lives to find out the truth about what is going on in the war in Ukraine,” he said.
“From the beginning of the war, we noticed that journalists and, of course, other civilians were civilians targeted by Russian forces,” said Christophe Delouard, head of Reporters Without Borders.
Deloir said Leclerc-Imhoff was traveling on a humanitarian bus in the Donbass region, which would deliver people and evacuate them.
Several Ukrainian and foreign journalists have been killed since February, including another French citizen, 55-year-old veteran videographer Pierre Zakrzewski.
Zakrzewski, who also has Irish citizenship, and Alexandra “Sasha” Kuvshinova, a 24-year-old Ukrainian journalist who worked for Fox News, were killed when their car was set on fire outside Kiev on March 14.
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AP journalists Angela Charlton, Nicolas Gariga and Catherine Gashka in Paris and Jura Carmanau in Lviv, Ukraine shared the story.
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Source: Huffpost
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.