French journalist killed near Bakhmu while reporting from war zone in Ukraine

Arman Soldin, who worked for the AFP news agency, died Tuesday after being hit by a rocket near Chasiv Yar, west of Bakhmu.

A team of journalists was attacked around 16:30 (13:30 GMT) while with a group of Ukrainian soldiers.

French President Emmanuel Macro paid tribute to Soldin's work on the front line of war.

“We share the pain of girlfriends and colleagues”, he wrote in a Twitter post.

The AFP chairman, Fabrice Fries, said the news agency was “destroyed” from Soldin's death, which he said was a terrible “reminder of the risks and risks facing journalists every day covering the conflict in Ukraine”.

The director of the agency for Europe, Christine Bouhagiar, reminded Soldin as “entus, energetic and brave” and said he had been “fully devoted to his trade”.

MPs throughout the political spectrum stayed at the French National Assembly and paid tribute to Soldin.

He was part of the first AFP team to go to Ukraine after Russia's invasion in February last year and had lived there since September.

Ukraine's defence ministry offered its “heartfelt condolences to Soldin's family and colleagues, saying: “He devoted his life to informing the world of the truth. His legacy, as well as his cause, will live”.

The White House also paid tribute, saying that the world was “bridge” to journalists who had lost their lives “as it lit up the horrors of the Russian occupation”.

Soldin, who was born in Bosnia, is the 15th journalist to be killed while reporting on the war in Ukraine since February 2022, according to the Journalists' Protection Committee.

At least two other French journalists have been killed covering the conflict, Pierre Zakrzewski and Frederick Lecler c-Imhoff.

Bakhmut has been the focus of fighting in eastern Ukraine for several months.