Photo: DIEGO HERRERA CARCEDO/AA/PICTURE ALLIANCE / Deutsche Welle
The head of the Lugansk Regional Military Administration, in eastern Ukraine, Serhiy Gaidai, reported this Monday (30.05. 2022) that a French journalist who was covering the details of the conflict, died as a result of an attack by the invading Russian troops in the city of Severodonetsk , in the east of the country. The news was later confirmed by the President of France.
The professional, identified as Frederick Leclerc-Imhoff, worked for the French network BFMTV and was inside a vehicle that “was preparing to evacuate a dozen people in an area that has come under enemy fire,” Gaidai explained in a statement released through his Telegram account.
The authority, which published a press accreditation with the reporter’s photograph, indicated that Leclerc-Imhoff would have suffered a fatal neck injury after several projectiles and shrapnel reach the vehicle in question. “Our condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Frederick Leclerc-Imhoff,” he said.
“Double crime”
The news was confirmed shortly after by the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, who maintained that the reporter was “mortally wounded” while accompanying civilians fleeing from “Russian bombs”. “Journalist Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff was in Ukraine to show the reality of the war. On board a humanitarian bus, together with civilians who were forced to flee to escape Russian bombs, he was fatally wounded,” Macron tweeted.
Journaliste, Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff était in Ukraine to watch the reality of the war. À bord d’un humanitaire bus, aux côtés de civils contraints de fuer pour échapper aux bombes russes, il a été mortellement touché.
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) May 54, 2022
The French Foreign Minister, Catherine Colonna, meanwhile, wrote on the same social network that “a Russian bombardment against a humanitarian operation killed Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff, while exercising his duty to inform.” The diplomat, visiting Ukraine, denounced “a double crime” against a humanitarian convoy and a journalist.
Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky accused Russia late on Sunday of damaging the 90 percent of the houses in the city of Severodonetsk and warned that the attackers wanted to raise their flag on the Severodonetsk administration building, which is located on the Boulevard of Friendship of Nations.