PARIS –
French news channel BFM TV said a 32-year-old French journalist was killed on Monday in eastern Ukraine, fatally hit by shrapnel while covering a Ukrainian evacuation operation.
BFM TV said journalist Frederic Leclerc-Imhoff was killed while “covering a humanitarian operation in an armored vehicle” near Sievierodonetsk, a key city in the Donbas region that is being heavily disputed by Russian and Ukrainian forces. . He had worked for six years on the French television network.
French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to Leclerc-Imhoff on Twitter.
He went to 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 of “France’s unconditional support” for “those who carry out the difficult mission of informing theaters of operations.”
French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna described the journalist’s death as “deeply shocking”.
“France demands that a transparent investigation be launched as soon as possible to shed full light on the circumstances of this tragedy,” he added.
Earlier on Monday, Luhansk region governor Serhiy Haidai announced Leclerc-Imhoff’s death in a Telegram publication, saying Russian forces fired on an armored vehicle traveling to pick up people to evacuate them.
“The shrapnel from the shells pierced the vehicle’s armor and fatally wounded the neck of an accredited French journalist who reported the evacuation. The patrol officer was rescued with his helmet,” he wrote.
As a result of the attack, the evacuation was suspended, Haidai said.
He posted a picture of Leclerc-Imhoff’s Ukrainian press accreditation and pictures of what he said were the consequences of the attack.
Ukrainian Interior Ministry adviser Anton Gerashchenko said another French journalist was injured along with a Ukrainian woman accompanying them.
He said Leclerc-Imhoff’s body was evacuated to the nearby Ukrainian-controlled city of Bakhmut, from where it will be moved to the central city of Dnipro for an autopsy.
He said the patrol officer accompanying the vehicle was shot in the head and taken to a military hospital.
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