An award-winning American journalist and filmmaker was killed by Russian forces exterior Kyiv on Sunday, the pinnacle of the area’s police power stated.
Brent Renaud, a 51-year-old Peabody Award recipient, was fatally shot in Irpin, northwest of Ukraine’s capital. A second journalist was injured together with him, stated Andriy Nebytov, the pinnacle of Kyiv’s regional police power, in a message posted on Facebook. (Warning: The message consists of disturbing photographs of a physique, believed to be that of the filmmaker.)
Nebytov additionally shared a photograph of Renaud’s passport and media credentials issued by The New York Occasions.
“After all, the occupation of journalism carries dangers. Nonetheless, U.S. citizen Brent Renaud paid along with his life attempting to spotlight the deceit, cruelty and ruthlessness of the aggressor,” Nebytov’s publish learn.
Renaud was not on project for the Occasions in Ukraine on the time of his loss of life. A Occasions press badge he was carrying had been issued for an project “a few years in the past,” a spokesperson for the information outlet stated Sunday.
“We’re deeply saddened to listen to of Brent Renaud’s loss of life. Brent was a proficient filmmaker who had contributed to The New York Occasions through the years,” the Occasions said in a statement.
PBS NewsHour reporter Jane Ferguson said on Twitter that she was on the roadside scene the place Renaud’s physique lay underneath a blanket and that there was nothing Ukrainian medics might do for him.
She quoted an outraged Ukrainian police officer as saying: “Inform America, inform the world, what they did to a journalist.”
Danylo Shapovalov, a surgeon volunteering for the Ukrainian territorial protection, advised AFP that the journalists were riding in a car once they have been shot at.
“There have been two journalists and one in all ours (a Ukrainian),” he advised the information outlet. “Our man and the journalist are wounded, I offered them first help, the opposite one acquired a wound within the neck, he died instantly.”
White Home nationwide safety adviser Jake Sullivan, talking on CBS News’ “Face the Nation,” referred to as information of a U.S. journalist’s loss of life “clearly surprising and horrifying” and stated it’s simply the newest instance of “brazen aggression” by Russian forces.
“I will likely be consulting with my colleagues, we’ll be consulting with the Ukrainians to find out how this occurred after which to measure and execute acceptable penalties on account of it,” he stated.
