“Journalist Frédéric Leclerc-Imhof was in Ukraine to show the reality of war. On a humanitarian bus, along with civilians forced to flee to escape Russian bombs, he was fatally shot,” Macron wrote on Twitter on Monday.
“I share their grief with the family, friends and colleagues of Frederic Leclerc-Immhoff, to whom I send my condolences. I want to reiterate France’s unconditional support for those who carry out the difficult task of providing information in theaters of operations,” Macron added.
French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said she had spoken with the governor of Luhansk and asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate the matter.
“This is a double crime, targeting a humanitarian convoy and a journalist,” she said.
Leclerc-Imhoff, 32, worked for CNN’s BFM TV channel, which released a statement saying its staff were “deeply saddened” by his death, adding that he was killed on the way to Lysechansk in Ukraine’s Severodonetsk region.
He was wounded by shrapnel while following a humanitarian operation in an armored vehicle, last Monday. Accompanied by his colleague Maxim Brandstätter, who was slightly injured in this blow, and their “assistant” Oksana Liotta, who was slightly injured. Don’t be hit,” the statement reads.
The radio said Leclerc-Imhoff worked for the BFM TV channel for six years, and was on his second visit to Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion.
“Altice Media Group and BFMTV’s editorial board share their grief with his family and friends,” the statement read. “This tragic event reminds us of the risks faced by all journalists who have been risking their lives to cover this conflict for more than three months now.”
This is not the first time that a journalist has been killed while covering Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In early March, a Ukrainian camera operator, Yevni Sakon, was killed when the Kyiv TV tower was bombed.
Then on March 13, American journalist Brent Reno was killed by Russian forces in the Ukrainian city of Irbin, according to police in Kyiv. Another American journalist, Juan Arredondo, was wounded.
The next day, Fox News reporters Pierre Zakrevsky, a 55-year-old war photographer, and Oleksandra “Sasha” Kovchinova, a 24-year-old Ukrainian journalist working as a consultant for the network, were killed near Kyiv.
Fox News reporter Benjamin Hall was seriously injured in the attack.
