Accident details
The attack took place around 4:30 p.m. local time near the town of Chasev Yar, not far from Bakhmut, which was targeted by Russian forces. Members of the AFP team were exposed to Grad rocket fire while they were with a group of Ukrainian soldiers. Soldin, 32, was killed when a missile landed near where he was sheltering. The other members of the AFP team are unharmed.
Macron’s commentary
“The whole agency is saddened by the loss of Armand,” President Fabrice Friese told AFP.
“His death is a terrible reminder of the risks journalists face every day when covering the conflict in Ukraine,” he added.
Soldin was born in Sarajevo and has French nationality. He started working as an intern at the agency’s Rome office in 2015 before being posted to London.
Soldin’s departure brings to at least 11 the number of journalists, assistants and drivers killed while covering the war in Ukraine, according to Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists.
In the context of the reactions, French President Emmanuel Macron praised Solden’s “courage”, stressing that he shared “the pain of his relatives and comrades”.
“The AFP journalist and one of our compatriots, Arman Soldin, was killed in Ukraine. Courageously, from the first hours of the conflict, he was at the front to document the facts,” Macron said in a tweet.
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