French video journalist, 32, is killed in Russian rocket strike close to Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine while reporting for news agency AFP
- Arman Soldin was killed during a rocket attack near Chasiv Yar on Tuesday
- The AFP team were with Ukrainian soldiers and there were no other injuries
French international news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) said its Ukraine video coordinator Arman Soldin was killed on Tuesday during a rocket attack near Chasiv Yar in eastern Ukraine.
The attack happened at around 4.30pm (13.30 GMT) on the outskirts of the town close to Bakhmut, the epicentre of the fighting in eastern Ukraine for several months.
The AFP team came under fire with Grad rockets while they were with a group of Ukrainian soldiers.
Soldin, 32, was killed when a rocket struck close to where he was lying. The other members of the team were uninjured.
‘The whole agency is devastated by the loss of Arman,’ AFP chairman Fabrice Fries said.
Arman Soldin (pictured snapping a selfie with a cat on his shoulder during an assignment), 32, was killed on Tuesday during a rocket attack near Chasiv Yar in eastern Ukraine
‘His death is a terrible reminder of the risks and dangers faced by journalists every day covering the conflict in Ukraine.’
Born in Sarajevo, Soldin was a French national. He was one of the first Bosnians evacuated to France in early 1992 aged 12.
He began working for AFP as an intern in its Rome bureau in 2015 and was later hired in London.
He was part of the first AFP team to be sent to Ukraine following the start of Russia’s invasion on February 24, 2022, arriving on the following day.
Soldin had been living in Ukraine since September, leading the team’s coverage and travelling regularly to the front lines in the east and south.
Pictured: AFP journalist Arman Soldin walks in a trench as he is covers the war in Ukraine, March 18, 2023
Soldin’s death means that at least 11 journalists or fixers and drivers for media teams have been killed covering the war in Ukraine, according to the media advocacy groups Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ).
‘Arman’s brilliant work encapsulated everything that has made us so proud of AFP’s journalism in Ukraine,’ the agency’s Global News Director Phil Chetwynd said in a statement.
‘Arman’s death is a terrible reminder of the risks and dangers of covering this war. Our thoughts tonight are with his family and friends, and with all our people on the ground in Ukraine.’
AFP’s Europe Director Christine Buhagiar remembered Soldin as ‘enthusiastic, energetic and brave’.
‘He was a real on-the-ground reporter, always ready to work even in the most difficult places,’ she said. ‘He was totally devoted to his craft.’
Pictured: AFP journalist Arman Soldin walks in a village after a shelling on March 3, 2022 in Ukraine
A day before he passed away, Soldin was chronicling the horrors of the war, posting video on social media of doctors operating on a wounded soldier’s heart.
Soldin, whose Twitter profile picture features a cat perched on his back, is also said to have been fond of animals.
Last week, an animal rescue group tweeted a video of Soldin and his team rescuing an injured hedgehog from a trench in Ukraine.
‘The team found it barely alive, gave it some water and took it to a safe place,’ Uanimals.ENG tweeted. ‘They fed the animal and let it recover for a couple of days before releasing it into the wild.’
AFP photojournalist Daniel Leal reacted to the news of Soldin’s death with the message: ‘Forever remembered. Forever loved. Arman Soldin.’
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