A drone killed a French photojournalist on assignment in eastern Ukraine on Friday, officials and media groups said, bringing the toll of journalists killed in the conflict to at least 17.

Antoni Lallican, 37, was embedded with the Ukrainian army near the front line in the Donetsk region when drones attacked the area, said authorities in Ukraine.

Ukrainian journalist Georgiy Ivanchenko was wounded in the same attack, which Ukraine’s military and French President Emmanuel Macron blamed on Russia.

Lallican, an award-winning photojournalist whose work had appeared in leading French and international media, is the first journalist to be killed by a drone in the Ukraine war, said the European and International Federations of Journalists.

At least 17 journalists have now been killed in Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, according to the groups.

Among them, rocket fire killed AFP video journalist Arman Soldin in 2023.

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Macron voiced his “deep sadness” at Lallican’s death, which comes at a moment of surging tension between Russia and Ukraine’s European allies.

The two reporters were embedded near the area of Druzhkivka, around 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the front line in the Donetsk region, Ukrainian authorities said.

“Both journalists were wearing personal protective equipment, and their bulletproof vests had identification marks with the word ‘PRESS’ on them,” Ukraine’s Fourth Armoured Brigade said on Facebook.

It said Ivanchenko’s condition was stable.

– ‘Passion For News Photography’ –

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said Russia “continues to deliberately target journalists”, calling it “a heinous crime and violation of international humanitarian law”.

The European and International Federations of Journalists condemned what they termed a “war crime”, and called for an investigation.

“This is the first time a journalist has been killed by a drone in Ukraine,” the EFJ and IFJ said.

Lallican, who was based in Paris, travelled the world covering international news stories for publications including Le Monde in France and Germany’s Der Spiegel.

French news site Mediapart, where he had also worked, called him a “formidable photographer and excellent colleague”.

Lallican studied to be a pharmacist, but switched careers at age 30 after a trip to Kashmir, where he saw independence fighters clashing with Indian army forces, he told French newspaper L’Est Republicain last year.

“That awakened a passion in me for news photography,” he said.

His work took him to Sudan, Syria, Lebanon, Israel and the Palestinian territories.

War photography is “a very risky profession, where you need a lot of preparation to always be on alert”, he told a festival in 2022.

When at home, Lallican documented issues such as impoverished housing in Paris.

Last year, he won the Victor Hugo prize for “committed photography”.

AFP