The Russian state news agency TASS, quoting Andriy Morochko, a militant from the Luhansk People's Republic, said that a French citizen who died in Sievierodonetsk was a mercenary an intermediary in arms supplies to Ukraine. It is a fake.

In fact, Frederick Leclerc-Imhoff is a BFMTV journalist who was killed by the Russians on May 30, 2022, during the shelling of an evacuation column of civilians from the city of Sievierodonetsk. He was 32 years old. The deceased's mother reacted to the spread of the fake, saying that no one would be able to tarnish the memory of her son, and those involved in the war crime, which Russian propaganda is trying to hide, should be punished. "I'm sick of your press release," said Leclerc-Imhoff's mother, who is posted on the BFMTV website. The French Foreign Minister also demands an investigation into the journalist's death.