An update. France recalled, on Wednesday March 16, “the obligation” for the belligerents in Ukraine to guarantee the protection of journalists covering the conflict. Thisnq reporters, including a Franco-Irish, have been killed since the beginning of the Russian invasion on February 24. “These events illustrate the extreme danger of Ukrainian theater today”declared the head of French diplomacy, Jean-Yves Le Drian.
“I recall the obligation of the armed forces to protect journalists in accordance with international humanitarian law and I condemn in the strongest terms any action that targets them”, he added. And to underline that the journalists covering the conflict contribute to a “free and plural information” and at “public debate, all over the world”.
The Franco-Irish cameraman of the American chain Fox News, Pierre Zakrzewski, and a Ukrainian colleague who accompanied him, Oleksandra Kuvshynova, were killed Monday near kyiv when their vehicle was the target of fire. American Brent Renaud was also shot and killed on Sunday in the northwestern suburbs of kyiv.
Before Oleksandra Kuvshynova, the Ukrainian journalist Evgueni Sakoun was killed in the bombardment of the television tower in kyiv and his colleague Viktor Doudar perished during fighting near Mykolaiv (south), according to the Ukrainian authorities.
The International Press Institute, a Vienna-based press freedom organization, has also asked “military forces to do everything in their power to ensure the safety of journalists”. As early as March 8, the organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) sounded the alarm, accusing the Russian forces of deliberately shooting at cars bearing the “press” sign.
“They were less than 50 meters away. They clearly shot to kill (..) I have already been shot in other conflict zones, but I have never seen this”confided the Swiss photographer Guillaume Briquet, injured by gunfire when he had just passed a Ukrainian checkpoint on a road leading to Mykolaiv (south), and quoted by RSF.