Russian FPV drone strike kills French journalist and injures Ukrainian freelance photographer

Update: The article had initially identified Ivanchenko as a journalist for The Kyiv Independent, but editor-in-chief Olha Rudenko explained that he was a freelance photographer and was not working on assignment for the newspaper when the tragedy took place.

French reporter Antoni Lallican was killed on 3 October in a Russian first-person view drone strike that also injured Kyiv Independent freelance photographer Heorhii Ivanchenko.

Source: Serhii Tomilenko, Head of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU), citing the 4th Separate Mechanised Brigade; Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers (UAPP)

Quote from the UAPP: "It is with great sorrow that we report that our colleague, UAPP member Heorhii Ivanchenko, was seriously injured today as a result of an FPV drone attack. He is currently undergoing surgery.

French photojournalist Antoni Lallican was with him in the car. He was killed by the same drone."

Details: Sources told the NUJU that the Russian drone attacked the journalists near the town of Druzhkivka in Donetsk Oblast on the morning of 3 October.

The journalists were wearing protective gear and were accompanied by a press officer. Lallican held military accreditation from the Hans Lucas agency, which works with leading French media.

Tomilenko added that Lallican is the third French journalist who has been killed by Russia since the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine.

Lallican worked for French and international outlets including Le Monde, Le Figaro, Libération, Mediapart, Paris Match, Der Spiegel, Zeit, NZZ, Focus Magazin, Die Welt, Stern and many others.

Lallican first travelled to a conflict zone in 2020, when he covered the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War in Armenia.

In March 2022, he came to Ukraine, where he documented the lives of residents of Donetsk Oblast.

He won a Victor Hugo Award for a photo series about Ukrainians, was shortlisted for the Lucas Dolega Award in 2024, and was the jury favourite at the Grand Prix Paris Match Étudiant competition in 2022.

Update: French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed that Lallican had been killed by a Russian drone and expressed his condolences to the family.

Quote from Macron: "Our compatriot, photojournalist Antoni Lallican, was accompanying Ukrainian soldiers on the front lines. It is with deep sadness that I learned of his death from a Russian drone strike. I offer my sincere condolences to his family, loved ones and all his colleagues who, risking their lives, keep us informed and bear witness to the reality of war."

Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!