Antoni Lallican, 37, was embedded with Ukraine's Fourth Armoured Brigade near the front line in the Donbas region when he was killed in a drone attack on the area, said Ukrainian authorities.

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. UNESCO puts the number killed at 22.

They include AFP video journalist Arman Soldin, killed by rocket fire in 2023. Macron voiced his "deep sadness" at Lallican's death, which comes at a moment of surging tension between Russia and Ukraine's European allies. Lallican and Ivanchenko 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," the Fourth Armoured Brigade said on Facebook. It said Ivanchenko's condition was stable. Free-press watchdog Reporters Without Borders called for a swift investigation. Lallican "died while doing his job, bearing witness to the consequences of war", said its director general, Thibaut Bruttin. (BSSnews)