A 32-year-old French journalist was killed Monday in japanese Ukraine, fatally hit by shell shrapnel whereas protecting a Ukrainian evacuation operation, in line with the French information broadcaster he labored for.
BFM TV mentioned Frederic Leclerc-Imhoff was killed as he was “covering a humanitarian operation in an armored vehicle” close to Sievierodonetsk, a key metropolis within the Donbas area that’s being hotly contested by Russian and Ukrainian forces. He had labored for six years for the French tv channel.
French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to Leclerc-Imhoff on Twitter, saying he “was in Ukraine to show the reality of the war.”
“Aboard a humanitarian bus, alongside civilians forced to flee to escape Russian bombs, he was fatally shot,” Macron tweeted.
Macron expressed condolences to his household, relations and colleagues and spoke of “France’s unconditional support” to “those who carry out the difficult mission of informing in theaters of operations.”
French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna mentioned the journalist’s loss of life was “deeply shocking.” She tweeted that he was killed “by Russian bombing.”
“France demands that a transparent inquiry be launched as soon as possible to shed full light on the circumstances of this tragedy,” she mentioned in a written assertion.
Colonna, who was on a deliberate go to to the Ukrainian’s capital Kyiv on Monday, later known as the tragedy “a crime” to reporters.
She mentioned she talked to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and requested him to do “everything” to permit the journalist’s physique to be returned to France as quickly as potential. She mentioned the investigation on the circumstances of the loss of life within the conflict zone will likely be led by Ukrainian authorities.
BFM TV mentioned Leclerc-Imhoff was accompanied by a male colleague who was evenly injured. A Ukrainian lady who was working with them was not hit.
Earlier Monday, the governor of the Luhansk area, Serhiy Haidai, introduced Leclerc-Imhoff’s loss of life in a Telegram put up, saying that Russian forces fired on an armored automobile that was touring to choose up individuals for evacuation.
“Shrapnel from the shells pierced the vehicle’s armor, fatally wounding an accredited French journalist in the neck who was reporting on the evacuation. The patrol officer was saved by his helmet,” he wrote.
As a results of the assault, the evacuation was known as off, Haidai mentioned.
He posted a picture of Leclerc-Imhoff’s Ukrainian press accreditation, and pictures of what he mentioned was the aftermath of the assault.
Haidai mentioned Leclerc-Imhoff’s physique was evacuated to the close by Ukrainian-held metropolis of Bakhmut and will likely be taken to the central metropolis of Dnipro for an post-mortem.
He mentioned the patrol officer accompanying the automobile was hit by shrapnel within the head and brought to a navy hospital.
The head of Ukraine’s National Journalist Union, Serhiy Tomilenko, talking to AP, mentioned officers are discussing the right way to repatriate his physique to France, “which in the conditions of military activity and constant shelling is not so easy to do.”
“Journalists are paying with their lives for the right to know the truth about what is happening in the war in Ukraine,” he mentioned.
The head of Reporters Without Borders, Christophe Deloire, mentioned that “from the beginning of the war we have noticed that the journalists, and other citizens of course, civilians, are targeted by Russian forces.”
According to Deloire, Leclerc-Imhoff was heading to the Donbas area on a humanitarian bus which was going to choose up individuals and evacuate them.
Several Ukrainian and international journalists have been killed since February, together with one other French nationwide, veteran videographer Pierre Zakrzewski, 55.
Zakrzewski, who additionally had Irish citizenship, and 24-year-old Ukrainian journalist Oleksandra “Sasha” Kuvshynova, each working for Fox News, have been killed when their automobile got here underneath hearth outdoors of Kyiv on March 14.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”