A Bosnian-French video journalist covering the Russian invasion of Ukraine for the reason that starting of the conflict was killed by rocket fire while covering the front on Tuesday.
Arman Soldin, video coordinator in Ukraine at Agence France Presse, was with other AFP journalists and a bunch of Ukrainian soldiers near Chasiv Yar when the team was fired upon around 4:30 p.m., the news agency reported.
Based on 4 AFP associates who witnessed the attack, Soldin, 32, was killed when a Grad rocket landed near him.
No other journalist was injured.
“All the agency is devastated by the lack of Arman,” AFP president Fabrice Fries told AFP.
“His death is a terrible reminder of the threats and dangers that journalists covering the conflict in Ukraine face on a every day basis.”
Soldin was one in every of the primary AFP journalists sent to Ukraine – just someday after Russia invaded the country on February 24, 2022.
He had been living in the war-torn country since September and repeatedly traveled to essentially the most combative zones to guide the team’s coverage of the invasion, he told AFP.
When he was killed on Tuesday, the journalist was reporting in a town near Bakhmut that became the epicenter of the battle in eastern Ukraine.
Soldin has worked at AFP since 2015, when he was hired as an intern on the Rome office. Born in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, he was also a French citizen.
AFP’s Europe director, Christine Buhagiar, described him as “enthusiastic, energetic and courageous”.
“He was an actual reporter in the sphere, at all times able to work even in essentially the most difficult places,” she said.
“He was totally dedicated to his craft.”
Based on Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists, Soldin is the eleventh journalist, fixer or media employee to die in the Russo-Ukrainian war since Ukraine was invaded last yr.
“Journalists are civilians who need reporting from war zones,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ Europe and Central Asia program coordinator in Recent York.
“We call on the authorities of Russia and Ukraine to thoroughly investigate the circumstances of Soldin’s death.”
The Biden administration also sent condolences to Soldin on Tuesday.
“Our hearts exit to the family of journalist Arman Soldin, who lost his life today reporting from the war front in Ukraine, and to Arman’s colleagues at AFP,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a press release.
“Journalism is prime to a free society.
“The world is grateful to Arman and the ten other reporters and media employees who lost their lives shedding light on the horrors of the Russian invasion.”