Bron. Eirik's disappearance in Ukraine: the Quai d'Orsay has "gone to find out"

"I have no information that would allow me to confirm his death or not," the Minister of Foreign Affairs declared Friday morning on RTL radio. Jean-Noël Barrot was questioned by journalist Thomas Sotto, holding the front page of Le Progrès , about the disappearance of Eirik Coursier on the front line in Ukraine.

"We have read these articles and our diplomatic mission in Kyiv has been sent to find out. I would simply like to point out that this night [from Thursday to Friday] was the occasion for Putin to rain down hundreds of drones on Kyiv and I want to pay tribute to the agents of our embassy on the ground, to the defense attachés who are present on the ground who had to spend the night in the bunkers," the minister explained.

He said he was unable to quantify the number of French people, like Eirik Coursier, who had volunteered to fight the Russian invaders alongside the Ukrainians. "They don't spontaneously declare themselves at the embassy."

Eirik Coursier, a 21-year-old man, joined the Ukrainian military earlier this year. He was on his first mission in the Makiivka region, near Donetsk, in the east of the country, on Wednesday, May 28, when he was seriously injured by a Russian drone.

Officially, he is missing. Unofficially, he is presumed dead. "He was apparently still alive when his comrades reluctantly had to leave him behind. For them, with the injury he sustained, it was over," his father told our editorial staff.