Lebanon-based AFP journalist wounded in drone attack in Ukraine's Bakhmut

An AFP video journalist was wounded by a drone attack while reporting at a Ukrainian artillery position on Monday, reporters from the French news agency who witnessed the explosion said.

Dylan Collins, a US citizen based in Lebanon but on assignment in Ukraine, sustained multiple shrapnel injuries in the attack in a forested area near Bakhmut.

He was evacuated to a nearby hospital where he was being treated and doctors have said his condition was not life-threatening.

Collins, 35, is conscious and speaking to colleagues.

"We are investigating the full circumstances behind this incident. Our thoughts are with Dylan and his loved ones," AFP's Europe Director Christine Buhagiar said in a statement.

Well-wishes for Collins poured in from journalists based in Lebanon and elsewhere.

Bakhmut has been at the epicentre of the fighting in eastern Ukraine.

The city fell into Russian hands in May after a battle that lasted nearly a year.

Since the start of a counteroffensive in June, Ukrainian forces have been advancing slowly to the north and south of Bakhmut in an attempt to surround Russian forces and eventually re-take the city.

Collins has been working for AFP since 2018 and is currently the agency's video coordinator for Lebanon and Syria.

He has made regular trips to Ukraine since the beginning of Russia's invasion in February last year and was in the capital Kyiv during the first days of the assault.

Collins has worked extensively in Middle East conflict zones and covered the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war for AFP.

AFP video journalist Arman Soldin was killed aged 32 by Russian rocket fire near Bakhmut in May.