French President Emmanuel Macron has mourned the death of French journalist, Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff, killed in Ukraine amid Moscow-Kyiv war on Monday.
Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff who was killed by the shelling worked for the French TV channel BFM TV.
“Journalist Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff was in Ukraine to show the reality of the war,” Macron tweeted, revealing Leclerc-Imhoff was on a humanitarian bus, alongside civilians, when he was killed.
”I share the grief of the family, friends and colleagues of Frederic Leclerc-Imhoff, to whom I send my condolences. To those who carry out the difficult mission of providing information in theatres of operation, I want to reiterate France’s unconditional support,” Macron said on Twitter.
The President reiterated the “unconditional support” of the French government for journalists covering the war and extended his condolences to the family of the slain journalist.
This is as French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, who was in Ukraine on Monday, has called for an urgent investigation into the death of journalist Frederic Leclerc-Imhoff who was killed in Ukraine’s Luhansk region.
In a statement, Colonna said “I am deeply saddened & shocked by the death of our compatriot Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff, killed by a Russian bombardment on a humanitarian operation while exercising his duty to inform.”
This was as Macron and television network BFMTV confirmed that the Russian forces killed the journalist in an attack on an armored vehicle on its way to evacuate civilians from the conflict in the Severodonetsk region of Ukraine on Monday.
The videographer died from shrapnel wounds sustained in the strike, according to the network. Along with Leclerc-Imhoff, BFMTV reporter Maxime Brandstaetter sustained mild wounds and fixer Oksana Leuta emerged unharmed, the network said.
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The evacuation mission was called off after Russian forces fired on the vehicle in an ambush, according to Serhiy Haidai, governor of the Luhansk region.
“Aboard a humanitarian bus, next to civilians forced to escape Russian bombs, he was fatally wounded,” Macron tweeted in French, translated to English by Insider.
Leclerc-Imhoff, 32, had been working for the news network for six years. BFMTV is one of the top TV networks in France, similar in stature to CNN in the United States.
He was on his second assignment to Ukraine since the Russian invasion, according to the network.
It was unclear as of Monday afternoon if there were any other civilian casualties in the attack.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksyy on Monday condoled Leclerc-Imhoff’s death and said, “Today in the Luhansk region, the occupiers disrupted the evacuation from the areas of hostilities by firing at a car following the locals.”
“A little over a month ago, I gave an interview to this particular TV channel. This was my first interview with the French media during a full-scale war. My sincere condolences to Frédéric’s colleagues and family,” Zelenksyy tweeted.
