War in Ukraine: two French people killed in a Russian strike near Kherson

Europe 1 8:33 a.m., February 2, 2024

Two French "volunteers" were killed and several other people were lightly injured Thursday during a Russian strike in Beryslav, near Kherson in southern Ukraine, a Ukrainian official announced. “Foreign volunteers were killed and injured due to an enemy strike on Beryslav,” Kherson region governor Oleksandr Prokudin wrote on Telegram.

"The Russian army killed two French citizens. Three other foreigners were slightly injured" as well as a Ukrainian, he continued, without specifying the exact functions of these "volunteers" - an expression often used to designate workers of humanitarian organizations - and offering his "sincere condolences to the families of the dead".

An investigation opened for violation of the laws and customs of war

The Ukrainian national police, for their part, indicated that two men of French nationality had died following a drone attack, and that three men and a woman had been injured. She announced, on Telegram, the opening of an investigation for violation of the laws and customs of war. “All the victims had come to the Kherson region as volunteers,” police added.

Requested during the night from Thursday to Friday by AFP, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond. Beryslav, which had around 12,000 inhabitants before the war, is located on the northern bank of the Dnieper River, near the front line. On January 27, a person was killed there by an explosive launched by a Russian drone.