A shocking tragedy has struck Ukraine’s war-torn Donbas region — French photojournalist Antoni Lallican was killed on Friday, October 3, when a Russian drone hit the area where he was reporting. The attack also seriously injured Ukrainian journalist Heorgiy Ivanchenko.
According to the International and European Federations of Journalists (IFJ and EFJ), this marks the first time a journalist has been killed by a drone since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. Both reporters were clearly identified as members of the press, wearing bulletproof vests marked “PRESS”.
Lallican, who worked for the Carcassonne-based agency Hans Lucas, had covered the conflict in Ukraine since the early days of the war. His photographs, published in Le Monde, Le Figaro, Der Spiegel, Libération and other leading outlets, captured the daily reality of civilians trapped by the fighting. In January 2024, he received the Victor Hugo Prize for Committed Photography for his series “Suddenly the Sky Darkened”.
“Russian drones are now hunting people — journalists included,” warned Sergueï Tomilenko, president of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine. “Antoni Lallican risked his life to show the truth. Now he has become part of that truth.”
Seventeen journalists have lost their lives in Ukraine since the invasion began — a grim reminder that in this war, telling the truth has become a deadly act of courage.