French prosecutors said Sunday they had opened a ‘war crimes‘ investigation after a drone killed a French photojournalist on assignment in war-torn eastern Ukraine.
Antoni Lallican, 37, was embedded with Ukraine’s Fourth Armoured Brigade near the front line in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine when he was killed on Friday, Ukrainian authorities said.
Ukrainian journalist Georgiy Ivanchenko was wounded in the same attack, which Ukraine’s military and French President Emmanuel Macron blamed on Russia.
The investigation has been entrusted to the Central Office for the Fight against Crimes against Humanity and Hate Crimes, France‘s anti-terror unit PNAT said.
A ‘war crimes’ charge falls under PNAT’s remit and consists of ‘deliberate attacks on the life and physical or mental integrity of a person protected by international humanitarian law’.
Lallican, an award-winning photojournalist whose work had appeared in leading French and international media, is the first journalist to be killed by a drone in Russia’s war against Ukraine, according to the European and International Federations of Journalists.
At least 17 journalists have been killed in Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, the groups said, while UNESCO puts the number at 22.
They include AFP video journalist Arman Soldin, who was killed by rocket fire in 2023.
Antoni Lallican (pictured) was embedded with Ukraine’s Fourth Armoured Brigade near the front line in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine when he was killed on Friday
Russian strikes on Ukraine today killed five people and badly damaged energy infrastructure, temporarily severing power supplies to tens of thousands and prompting neighbouring Poland put ground defence on high alert.
Russia has stepped up strikes on energy networks, increasing fears Moscow would resume its widespread campaign of attacks on power facilities, which have plunged millions into darkness in past winters.
Russian forces fired 496 drones and 53 missiles at Ukraine, the majority of which were shot down, according to the Ukrainian air force.
‘Russians are not even trying to conceal their true intentions. The overwhelming majority of targets were civilian objects and ordinary infrastructure’ Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky said in his evening address.
This was the largest attack of the war against the western region of Lviv, its governor Maksym Kozytsky said.
Lviv lies in western Ukraine and is hundreds of kilometers from the front line, and has been largely spared the attacks that have hit cities further east.
‘Near Lviv, an entire family of four was killed in their home, including a teenage girl,’ Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said.
Emergency services released photos showing firefighters battling flames in a destroyed building, and helping elderly residents to safety.
Attacks also killed one person in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia and wounded people near the eastern front, local authorities said.
A view of the damage and destruction after Russian attack involving drones and cruise missiles in Lviv, Ukraine on October 5, 2025
‘Russia is openly trying to destroy our civilian infrastructure right now, ahead of winter – our gas infrastructure, our power generation and transmission,’ Zelensky said.
He blasted what he called ‘zero real reaction from the world’ and urged for more sanctions against Russia.
The strikes cut power to over 110,000 subscribers across several regions, Ukraine’s emergency services said, with the hardest hit being Zaporizhzhia.
More than 73,000 people in Zaporizhzhia were left without electricity, regional head Ivan Fedorov said, though power had fully been restored by the evening.
Ukraine’s state-run gas company Naftogaz network also reported damage to its network.
‘These maniacal terrorist strikes are aimed solely at one thing – depriving Ukrainians of gas, heat, and light,’ Naftogaz CEO Sergii Koretskyi said in a statement.
The Russian army said it launched an attack ‘against enterprises of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine and gas and energy infrastructure facilities that ensured their operation.’
Russian attacks have also rattled Ukraine’s European allies after a spate of alleged Russian airspace violations into Europe.
A view of a burning industrial park where humanitarian goods were stored, after a Russian attack on Lviv, Ukraine on October 5, 2025
NATO boosted its defences along its eastern borders throughout the month as it accused Moscow of testing the alliance’s air defences with drone incursions into several members and by flying military jets in Estonian airspace.
Overnight Poland’s armed forces said on X that they had mobilised planes and put ground defences on high alert to secure the country’s airspace, especially in areas close to Ukraine.
Ukraine also said Russia was intensifying a campaign of air strikes on its railway network in an attempt to isolate frontline communities ahead of winter.
Russia launched drones at two passenger trains in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region on Saturday, killing one person and wounding dozens, according to Ukrainian officials.
