“Journalist Frederic Leclerc-Imhoff was in Ukraine to show the reality of the war. On board a humanitarian bus, alongside civilians forced to flee to escape the Russian bombs, he was fatally shot,” Macron tweeted Monday.
“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 theaters of operation, I want to reiterate France’s unconditional support,” Macron added.
France’s Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said she had spoken with the governor of Luhansk and asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to investigate.
“This is a double crime, targeting a humanitarian convoy and a journalist,” she said.
Leclerc-Imhoff, 32, worked for CNN affiliate BFM TV, which released a statement saying its staff was “deeply saddened” by his death, adding that he was killed on the road to Lyssychansk in the Severodonetsk region of Ukraine.
“He was victim of a shrapnel, while he was following a humanitarian operation in an armored vehicle, this Monday. He was accompanied by his colleague Maxime Brandstaetter, who was slightly wounded in this strike, and their “fixer” Oksana Leuta, who was not hit,” reads the statement.
Leclerc-Imhoff had worked for BFM TV for six years, said the broadcaster, and was on his second trip to Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion.
“The Altice Media Group and the editorial staff of BFMTV share the grief of his family and friends,” reads the statement. “This tragic event reminds us of the dangers faced by all journalists who have been risking their lives to report on this conflict for over three months now.”
This is not the first time that a journalist has been killed covering Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In early March a Ukrainian camera operator, Yevhenii Sakun, was reportedly killed when Kyiv’s TV tower was shelled.
Then on March 13, award-winning American journalist Brent Renaud was killed by Russian forces in the Ukrainian city of Irpin, according to police in Kyiv. Another American journalist, Juan Arredondo, was wounded.
And the next day Fox News journalists Pierre Zakrzewski, a 55-year-old longtime war photojournalist, and Oleksandra “Sasha” Kuvshynova, a 24-year-old Ukrainian journalist working as a consultant for the network, were killed near Kyiv.
Fox News correspondent Benjamin Hall was seriously injured in the attack.
