French Photojournalist Killed in Russian Drone Strike in Donetsk Region

A French photojournalist was killed and a Ukrainian journalist wounded after a Russian FPV drone strike near Druzhkivka, in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, on October 3.

The Gaze reports this, referring to a post by the head of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine Serhii Tomilenko.

The attack claimed the life of Anthony Lallikan, a 38-year-old Paris-based photographer known for his coverage of global conflicts. 

Heorhii Ivanchenko, a reporter for The Kyiv Independent, sustained injuries. Both were wearing protective gear and accompanied by a press officer.

“Russia has now killed a third French journalist during this war,” said Tomilenko. “These are not accidental victims – they are deliberate targets for showing the world the aggressor’s crimes.”

Lallikan was accredited by the Hans Lucas photo agency, which collaborates with leading French and international media outlets including Le Monde, Le Figaro, Libération, Mediapart, Paris Match, Der Spiegel, Die Welt, Zeit, NZZ, Stern, and Focus Magazin.

Lallikan’s path to photojournalism began unexpectedly at age 30, when he witnessed clashes in Kashmir between separatists and Indian security forces. 

The experience changed his life. Returning to France, he began documenting the yellow vest movement, social protests in Hong Kong and India, the housing crisis in Paris suburbs, and the lives of migrants on Europe’s margins.

In 2020, he covered the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, his first assignment in an active combat zone. 

After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Lallikan repeatedly returned to the country, focusing on long-term documentary projects about the daily struggles of residents in Donetsk, Ukraine’s industrial heartland turned battlefield.

His photography combined raw reportage with deeply intimate storytelling – portraits of soldiers and civilians caught between survival and hope.

In 2024, he received the Victor Hugo Prize for Socially Engaged Photography for a series on Ukrainians, and was shortlisted for the Lucas Dolega Award.

French President Emmanuel Macron expressed his condolences on social media.

“Our compatriot, photojournalist Anthony Lallikan, was accompanying the Ukrainian army on the front line. I learned with deep sorrow of his death in a Russian drone attack,” Macron wrote on X.

Read more on The Gaze: Russia’s War on Ukraine: An Unprecedented Act of Genocide Targeting Ukraine’s National Identity and Existence