French journalist killed in Ukraine while covering evacuation operation
A 32-year-old French journalist was killed on Monday while covering the war in Ukraine, President Emmanuel Macron announced on Twitter.
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"Frederic Leclerc-Imhoff was in Ukraine to show the reality of the war. He was fatally injured while on board a humanitarian bus, alongside civilians forced to flee to escape the Russian bombs," Macron wrote.
Leclerc-Imhoff, who worked for the 24-hour news channel BFMTV, was covering an evacuation operation near the eastern city of Severodonetsk, the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Journaliste, Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff était en Ukraine pour montrer la réalité de la guerre. À bord d’un bus humanitaire, aux côtés de civils contraints de fuir pour échapper aux bombes russes, il a été mortellement touché.
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) May 30, 2022
'Double crime'
The head of French diplomacy, Catherine Colonna, herself visiting Ukraine, condemned what she called a "double crime that targeted a humanitarian convoy and a journalist”.
Colonna demanded that a transparent investigation be carried out as soon as possible to shed light on the tragedy.
Meanwhile Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne tweeted that “informing the public should not cost a person their life”.
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Confirming Leclerc-Imhoff’s death, BFMTV said the videographer, who had worked for the station for six years, was wearing a bullet-proof vest when he was hit in the neck by shrapnel.
It was his second reporting mission to Ukraine since the war began on 24 February.
The Committee to Protect Journalists, an international media advocacy group, said over a dozen journalists had been killed while reporting on the Ukraine conflict.
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