Lorry carrying French reporter killed in Ukraine ‘clearly said humanitarian aid’, says aid worker

Issued on: 01/06/2022 – 17:14

Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff, a video journalist for French broadcaster BFMTV, was killed in eastern Ukraine on May 30 while covering an evacuation of civilians. At the time the lorry was hit, there were ten Ukrainian refugees and a local policeman inside, alongside Leclerc-Imhoff and his French and Ukrainian colleagues.

An artillery shell landed in front of the lorry, launching shrapnel through the vehicle’s windshield, the regional police chief told the New York Times. 

The armoured lorry had arrived in Ukraine from England as part of a humanitarian aid initiative. Residents of Gloucester, England have come together as individuals to donate supplies directly to Ukrainian civilians. 

‘This vehicle helped save hundreds of people’s lives, removing them from the shelled areas’

Gloucester City Councillor Alastair Chambers was one of the volunteers who helped organise the aid effort, driving the lorry from England to Ukraine on May 8. 

So myself and some friends delivered the vehicle into Ukraine. We’ve been filling these vehicles up with medical equipment, foods, hygienic equipment, things for babies, and also really top end, high-end medical equipment ranging from anaesthesia machines, X-ray machines and scanners.

We dropped off the hospital equipment for Mykolaiv hospital [in southern Ukraine] and also humanitarian equipment through to the orphanage. 

After dropping off, we met with some Ukrainians and we handed over the key and show them how the vehicle worked. Our knowledge was that the vehicle was then taken straight to the Donbas region and used for evacuating civilians from areas that were currently being shelled. And I know for a fact that this vehicle helped save hundreds of people’s lives, removing them from the shelled areas.

Chambers and other volunteers have dropped off six armoured vehicles filled with supplies to Ukraine since the conflict began. They paid for the vehicles – most of which were previously used for transporting valuable goods like gold bullion – using donations. This is the first time one of their vehicles has been attacked. 

It was a Mercedes lorry that would have been used for transporting gold bullion for the Bank of England. It had ballistic rated glass. Shrapnel travels at a much higher velocity than that of a bullet. So my understanding is that this is what unfortunately killed Frédéric. 

But the vehicle itself shouldn’t have been attacked. It wasn’t in any army colours, it wasn’t in any green, had no camouflage, and it had no Ukrainian signalisation to show that it was a military vehicle. It also had stickers on the front of the cab and also the sides which said “humanitarian aid”. So this shows a universal explanation of what the vehicle is doing.

And the French journalist that was in there, Frédéric, was there doing a very important job. He was documenting the evidence of civilians being evacuated from what were enemy atrocities and fire on residential areas, residential homes and civilian people. It’s very, very scary that people could do such a horrific thing to a vehicle that’s very clearly marked humanitarian aid and was being used for the sole purpose of evacuating women and children from areas being attacked by the Russians.

Lysychansk, one of the last pockets of Ukrainian control in Luhansk, has sustained heavy Russian shelling since the offensive began in late February. Ukrainian authorities said the artillery shell had been fired by Russian forces.

France has called for an investigation into the journalist’s death. Since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, eight journalists have lost their lives, according to Reporters Without Borders.