The 4th Separate Heavy Mechanized Brigade reported that on the morning of October 3, near Druzhkivka in the Donetsk region, French photojournalist Anthony Lallican was killed during a targeted strike by a Russian FPV drone. Working with him was journalist and photographer for the Kyiv Independent, member of the Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers Grigory Ivanchenko, who was wounded and is currently in stable condition.
The brigade’s statement emphasizes that both journalists were wearing bulletproof vests with the word “PRESS” written on them, clearly identifying them as media workers. The 4th Brigade expresses its deepest condolences to Lallican’s family and friends and hopes for Ivanchenko’s speedy recovery.
According to the chairman of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine, Serhiy Tomilenko, the incident occurred at around 9:20 a.m. near Druzhkivka and was the third death of a French journalist on Ukrainian territory during the war.
Antoine Lallican was 38 years old. He worked with well-known French media outlets, including Le Monde, Le Figaro, Der Spiegel, and others.
After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in March 2022, he moved to our country and actively documented the consequences of the war, mainly in the Donetsk region and in the regions of hostilities. Lallican had military accreditation from the Hans Lucas agency, which works with leading French and international media outlets.
He was considered one of the few foreign journalists working directly in the combat zone in eastern Ukraine, establishing a visual link between what was happening there and the world beyond the front lines.