IPI and its global network are deeply saddened by the killing of Arman Soldin, a video reporter and correspondent for Agence France-Presse (AFP) in Ukraine. The tragic killing comes just two weeks after the death of Ukrainian journalist Bohdan Bitik, who worked as a fixer for Italian newspaper La Repubblica.

The rocket attack took place in the early evening on May 9, while Soldin was on assignment accompanying a group of Ukrainian soldiers near Chasiv Yar in Eastern Ukraine’s war-torn Donetsk region, along with four other reporters.

At around 4:30 pm, a Russian Grad missile hit the area, which is located approximately 10 km away from Ukrainian frontline positions in Bakhmut. Soldin, 32, was lying on the ground taking cover when the missile struck. None of the other media workers were wounded.

In an earlier communiqué, the head of the Chasiv Yar military administration Serhiy Chaus said the town had been attacked by Russian Grad missiles, and that one person had been killed as a result. 

“Arman’s tragic death demonstrates the danger journalists, and especially war correspondents, face in Ukraine,” IPI Executive Director Frane Maroević said.

“Just two weeks after the killing of journalist Bohdan Bitik on the frontline in Ukraine, the media community is again struck with grief by the killing of another respected colleague. 

“I pay tribute and have the greatest respect to all war correspondents in Ukraine, who inform us about the ongoing Russian aggression and atrocities.”

Soldin had been working with AFP since 2015, initially as an intern in the agency’s Rome bureau, then going on to take up a position in London later that year. According to AFP, he was one of the agency’s first journalists to volunteer as a war reporter in Ukraine, following the start of Russia’s large-scale invasion in February 2022. 

The journalist was later rotated but returned to Ukraine in September as a video reporting coordinator for AFP. Soldin regularly posted frontline footage from the area of Bakhmut on his social media, working in a region known for being the most dangerous in Ukraine in recent months.

The area has seen intense fighting between Ukrainian and Russian troops, with Russian forces, including Wagner recruits led by Yevgeni Prigozhin, attempting to seize the nearby city of Bakhmut since last August.

Born in Sarajevo, Arman had grown up in France following his evacuation from Bosnia as a 12-month-old child. Following the start of large-scale hostilities in Ukraine, he confided that he felt personally affected by the stories of refugees from Ukraine.

“The whole agency is devastated by the loss of Arman,” said Fabrice Fries, CEO of AFP, according to the news agency. “His death is a terrible reminder of the risks and dangers faced by journalists on a daily basis when covering the conflict in Ukraine.”

Soldin is the 12th journalist or media worker killed in the line of duty or in relation to their work since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, according to IPI’s  War in Ukraine Press Freedom Tracker. Most recently, Ukrainian journalist Bohdan Bitik became the eleventh confirmed victim of the war. On April 26, he and La Repubblica correspondent Corrado Zunino were ambushed by Russian forces near the Antonivskiy Bridge on the outskirts of Kherson, Southern Ukraine. The Italian journalist was wounded but survived the attack.