Journalist dies in attack on aid lorry from West
ONE of the lorries which has been taking humanitarian aid to Ukraine from Gloucester was targeted in a Russian attack in which a French journalist is believed to have been killed.
The silver Mercedes was used by volunteers in Gloucester to take machinery, baby products and medical supplies to Ukraine.
However, the vehicle has since been donated to help evacuate civilians in Ukraine.
And it was hit by shelling near the eastern city of Severodonetsk on Monday, according to a Ukrainian foreign ministry official.
The 11-year-old vehicle had previously been used to transport humanitarian aid to help the Ukrainian people.
Gloucester city councillor Alastair Chambers, who was one of the volunteers who helped organise the humanitarian effort, said he was shocked to see pictures of the attack.
He said: “The lorry was picked up from Preston Fleet Services and then we drove it to Gloucester to fill it up with humanitarian aid. Baby stuff, things for elderly people, food and equipment.
“We drove it into Ukraine. I handed the keys over to Ukrainians there who told me the lorry was going to be used for evacuations.
“It’s been evacuating people for the last three weeks from when we dropped it off.
“At the same time, we dropped off a lot of medical equipment for Mykolaiv hospital which included anaesthesia machines, C-arm X-ray machines and other equipment.
“It’s really devastating. We’ve dropped off six vehicles so this is the first one we know of that has been attacked.
“The vehicle is clearly marked out as humanitarian aid. At the time it had ten refugees in it who were being evacuated by a local policeman and a French journalist who was documenting the evacuation process.”
French broadcaster BFM TV said its journalist Frederic Leclerc-Imhoff was killed as he was “covering a humanitarian operation in an armoured vehicle” in the Donbas region that is being hotly contested by Russian and Ukrainian forces. He had worked for six years for the French television channel.
French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to Mr LeclercImhoff on Twitter, saying he “was in Ukraine to show the reality of the war”.
“Aboard a humanitarian bus, alongside civilians forced to flee to escape Russian bombs, he was fatally shot,” Mr Macron tweeted.
Mr Macron expressed condolences to his family, relatives and colleagues and spoke of “France’s unconditional support” to “those who carry out the difficult mission of informing in theatres of operations”.
French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna called the journalist’s death “deeply shocking”.