French photojournalist Antoni Lalikan, aged 37, was killed in the east in an attack with EFJ-IFJ and SNJ press associations.
He was a “victim of an attack of unmanned aircraft”, while “accompanying the Ukrainian army on the front,” said Emmanuel Macron, who posted his condolences to his family and colleagues.
“Our compatriot accompanied the Ukrainian army on the front of the resistance. I learned deeply sadly at his death, a victim of a Russian assault, “wrote the French president, who also paid tribute to” all his colleagues who, at risk of their lives, inform us and record the reality of the war. “
Injured and an Ukrainian journalist, conviction from journalistic associations
A Ukrainian journalist, Harhai Ivanchenko, was injured in the same attack, the European and International Federation of Journalists and the National Trade Union of Journalists said that the attack was caught around 10.20 this morning.
FEJ and FIJ “condemn this war crime and call on the authorities to start investigating to identify those responsible,” according to a press release.
“This is the first time a journalist has been killed by a shore in Ukraine,” he said.
The military team, along with which the journalists were, also confirmed that it was a Russian unmanned aircraft. Antoni Lalikan “was killed after a targeted blow of a hostile Drone FPV,” a post on Facebook said.
“The two journalists were wearing individual protection equipment” and in their vests “there were identifiers, the word” press “,” according to the same source.
Who was Lalikan
Antoni Lalikan worked for various French media (Le Monde, Le Figaro, Libération, Paris Match, etc.) but also (Der Spiegel, Die Welt, Le Temps, etc.).
He was also employed since 2018 at the Hans Lucas Photographic Agency, according to President Wilfried Estib.
“He would often go to Ukraine, knew the field very well and knew how to act,” Estib told the French News Agency, referring to a “lovable” colleague.
The number of journalists who have been killed in Ukraine by the beginning of the war in February 2022 varies depending on the source. According to UNESCO, 22 journalists were killed in the exercise of their profession, 17 according to the SNJ Union.
