The Kremlin mourned the death of France Presse (AFP) journalist Arman Soldin on Tuesday and asked for clarification on the circumstances surrounding the incident.
“We must understand the circumstances of this journalist’s death”Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
The Russian spokesman said Ukraine’s allegations that the Russians were responsible for the attack that killed the AFP reporter should not be taken for granted.
“We can only mourn the death of the AFP video coordinator in Ukraine”added Peskov.
Soldin was killed in a Grad missile strike in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday afternoon, according to news agency journalists who accompanied him.
The attack took place around 4:30 p.m. local time (2:30 p.m. in Lisbon), near Hassiv Iar, a Ukrainian town near Bakhmut, which has been the main battleground between Russian and Ukrainian forces since last year.
Arman Soldin, 32, was accompanied by four colleagues, who emerged unharmed, and by Ukrainian soldiers, when they were hit by a volley of ‘missiles’.
Journalists regularly travel to this area to report on the clashes in the region, which has been the center of fighting in Ukraine for several months.
Arman Soldin, an experienced video reporter formerly based in London, has been the video coordinator in Ukraine since September 2022 and regularly travels to the front lines.
He was also part of the AFP team covering the first days of the Russian invasion, which began on February 24, 2022.
Arman, who was recruited in Rome in 2015 as an intern before joining the London delegation in the same year, was born in Sarajevo, a French national of Bosnian descent.
French President Emmanuel Macron mourned the death of the AFP journalist in Ukraine on Tuesday.
“With courage, from the first hours of the conflict, he stood at the front to investigate the facts. To inform us. We share the pain of his loved ones and all his colleagues,” the French head of state underlined in a message. released on the social network Twitter.
According to a tally by specialist non-governmental organizations (NGOs) Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists, he is at least the eleventh reporter, interpreter or driver of journalists killed in Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion.
Source: DN
