An AFP video journalist was injured Monday (July 24th) by a drone attack while reporting on a Ukrainian artillery position near Bakhmout in eastern Ukraine, AFP reporters who witnessed the explosion said.
Dylan Collins, a 35-year-old American based in Lebanon and serving in Ukraine, received multiple shrapnel wounds in the attack in a wooded area near Bakhmout.
He was evacuated to a nearby hospital. According to the doctors, his life is not in danger. Dylan Collins is conscious and speaks to his colleagues.
“We are investigating all the circumstances of this incident. Our thoughts are with Dylan and his loved ones,” AFP Europe Director Christine Buhagiar said in a statement.
The town of Bakhmout, the epicenter of the fighting in eastern Ukraine, fell to the Russians last May after a battle that lasted nearly a year.
Since the start of their counter-offensive in early June, Ukrainian forces have slowly advanced north and south of Bakhmout in an attempt to encircle Russian forces and ultimately retake the city. Attacks along Bakhmout’s flanks, however, were met with stiff Russian defenses and minefields.
Dylan Collins has worked for AFP since 2018 and is currently the agency’s video coordinator for Lebanon and Syria. It has carried out regular missions in Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022 and arrived in its capital, Kyiv, in the first days of the assault.
Dylan Collins has extensive experience working in conflict zones in the Middle East. He also covered the 2020 Nagorny Karabakh war for AFP.
