PARIS — The French news broadcaster BFM TV says a 32-year-old French journalist was killed Monday in Ukraine.

It says the journalist was hit by shell shrapnel while covering a Ukrainian evacuation operation.

BFM TV said Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff was killed as he was “covering a humanitarian operation in an armored vehicle” near Sievierodonetsk, a key city in the Donbas region.

French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to Leclerc-Imhoff.

Macron tweeted he “was in Ukraine to show the reality of the war. Aboard a humanitarian bus, alongside civilians forced to flee to escape Russian bombs, he was fatally shot."

Since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine in late February, at least seven journalists have been killed, according to numbers gathered by Reporters Without Borders.

At least nine journalists have been injured while covering the invasion.

UNITED NATIONS — The United States says it is expelling 12 Russian diplomats at the United Nations for engaging in activities not in accordance with their responsibilities and obligations as diplomats.

U.S. deputy ambassador Richard Mills confirmed the expulsions after Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the U.N. Security Council on Monday afternoon that he had just been informed of “yet another hostile step undertaken by the host country" against the Russian Mission.

Nebenzia called the U.S. expulsions a “gross violation” of the U.N. agreement with the United States as the host of the United Nations and of the Vienna Convention governing diplomatic relations.

A Ukrainian government agency is asking for help from citizens to remove streets signs to confuse invading Russian forces.

In a social media post, Ukravtodor, which is responsible for Ukraine's road system, posted an edited image of a typical road sign in which directions to nearby cities had been replaced with obscenities that Reuters and The Washington Post translated to say "Go f—k yourself" three different ways.

The expletive words on the edited image are in relation to the death of 13 Ukrainian border guards who refused to surrender tiny Snake Island in the Black Sea to the Russian military moments before they were attacked.

In a now-viral audiotape, which CNN and The Post verified, the Ukrainian soldiers were asked to "lay down your weapons" or "be bombed" by the Russian vessels.

The Ukrainian soldiers responded bluntly, "Russian warship, go f--- yourself."

The agency asked that the dismantling of the road signs happens immediately and then be handed over to local authorities and roadmen.

"The enemy has poor communications. They cannot navigate the terrain. Let us help them get straight to hell," said Ukravtodor in its Facebook post.

Press Secretary Jen Psaki confirmed the U.S. is imposing another round of sanctions against Russia on Friday.

Under these new sanctions, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will not be allowed to travel to the U.S.

The U.S. will also move to freeze the leaders' assets, the Treasury Department announced.

Psaki also added the U.S. will not be sending American troops to fight in Ukraine.

“It is not in our interest to be in a war with Russia," said Psaki during the White House briefing.

The U.S. has previously imposed sanctions on heads of state, including Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.

The announcement from the U.S. comes shortly after Britain announced it plans to impose its own sanctions on Putin and Lavrov.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said, “the world must make certain President Putin would fail in this act of aggression.”

Earlier on Friday, the European Union voted to go ahead with a third round of sanctions against Putin and Lavrov.

27 member states decided to freeze the assets of the two Russian leaders.

The EU has also contemplated banning Putin and Lavrov from traveling in the EU.

But European leaders have decided against it for now, saying it may complicate diplomatic moves.

Russia’s invasion is expected to create problems for countries that depend on Ukraine for wheat.

Lebanon reports it has enough wheat reserves for one month at the most, according to its economy minister.

60% of its Lebanon’s wheat is imported from Ukraine.

In fact, Ukraine is one of the largest exporters of wheat in the world and is responsible for about 12% of the world’s supply.

Lebanon largely depends on the grain to bake and provide subsidized bread to its citizens.

It cannot store more than a one-month supply at a time, due to a lack of mills.

The lack of wheat also spells out trouble for other countries, including Egypt, which eats about twice as much bread as the global average.

85% of its wheat imports come from Russia and Ukraine.

This week, the country held a special cabinet session to discuss bread flour supplies and prices.

Syria also held a meeting this week to discuss how it should manage its grain reserves.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian civilians are fleeing after finding their lives at risk on the second day of Russia's invasion.

Yurii Zhyhanov woke to his mother's screaming and found himself covered in dust.

Shelling had struck their residential building on the outskirts of Ukraine's capital, Kyiv.

"What are you doing? What is this?" Zhyhanov said, addressing Russia and gesturing to the damaged building behind him.

His weariness and shock reflected that of his country as people climbed out of bomb shelters, basements, and subways on Friday to face another day of upheaval.

Those who didn't wake to explosions were roused by another day of air raid sirens or the news that Russian troops were advancing toward the capital.

Russian military claims it's not targeting cities, saying that “there is no threat to the civilian population,” CNN and PBS reported.

But according to the Associated Press, fragments of a downed aircraft were found in a residential area.

A young girl in Mariupol told the AP that she didn't want to die and wished for the attack "to end as soon as possible.”

The urge to leave the country at an all-time high, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said Friday that more than 50,000 refugees had fled Ukraine, with most of them going to Poland and Moldova.

The Associated Press reported that at a train station in Poland hundreds of Ukrainians sought shelter.

The Ukrainian president appeared more somber as he made a desperate plea late Thursday night in Ukraine. 

Volodymyr Zelenskyy telegraphed that things were rapidly changing. He said President Putin wouldn't take his phone call. Zelenskyy tried to appeal directly to the Russian people to stop the looming invasion. 

Just hours earlier, Newsy confirmed the United States had given the Ukrainian government detailed intelligence, indicating the long-feared invasion was imminent.  

Nearly 200,000 Russian troops were surrounding Ukraine on three sides, ready to pounce. 

But President Putin had already decided to act. He told Russia he ordered a military operation inside Ukraine.

Notably, he was wearing the same suit and tie as he was last seen in on Monday, perhaps indicating he had been waiting to begin the long-planned attack and that the invasion was just a matter of time, precisely as the United States and Western intelligence had been predicting. 

At about the same time in New York, the U.N. secretary-general opened an emergency meeting of the Security Council, begging Putin to call it off.

 

"President Putin, stop your troops from attacking Ukraine," Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said. "Give peace a chance."

The Ukrainian ambassador then sparred with Russia's ambassador, ironically sitting as the U.N. Security Council president. 

"The Russian president declared war on the record," Ukrainian ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya said. "Should I play the video of your president, ambassador? Shall I do that right now? Or you can confirm it? Do not interrupt me, please, thank you." 

Vasily Nebenzya, the Russian ambassador to the U.N., responded: "Then don't ask me questions. When you are speaking, proceed with your statement."

"There is no purgatory for war criminals," Kyslytsya said. "They go straight to hell, ambassador." 

At 6 a.m. Moscow time, the assault began. There were air strikes in Ukraine's biggest cities, targeting military posts and weapons warehouses, plus ports and airbases. And ground forces began moving in. 

Within minutes, President Biden released a written statement calling Russia's attack "unprovoked and unjustified."

He pledged the world would "hold Russia accountable."

"Russia has attacked Ukraine. This is a brutal act of war" "We now have war in Europe on the scale, and of a type, we thought belonged to history."

The widest, bloodiest, most significant battle in Europe since World War II was now underway with no clear end game in sight. 

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