An award-winning American video journalist has died during an attack in Ukraine near Kyiv. Brent Renaud, 50, was shot and killed at a checkpoint in Irpin, according to a report from The New York Times, citing Ukraine’s interior ministry.
Another journalist, Juan Arredondo, was injured and transported to Okhmatdyt, a children’s hospital in Kyiv, according to a video posted on the Okhmatdyt hospital’s Instagram page. In the video, Arredondo says from a hospital bed that he was shot at a checkpoint in Irpin. He said Renaud, who he referred to as his friend, was shot and left behind.
“We can confirm the death of U.S. citizen Brent Renaud in Ukraine on Sunday, March 13. We offer our sincerest condolences to his family on their loss and are offering all possible consular assistance. Out of respect for his family’s privacy, we have no specifics to offer at this time,” a spokesman for the U.S. State Department said on Sunday.
Andriy Nebytov of Kyiv’s regional police force posted the news on Facebook with graphic images and a video that are reportedly of Renaud’s body. Renaud’s passport and media badge were also photographed and posted on the Facebook page.
The press badge was issued by The New York Times, but a spokesperson for the publication said Renaud was not on an assignment for The Times and that he most recently contributed in 2015.
Renaud and his brother, Craig Renaud, won a Peabody Award in 2015 for “Last Chance High,” a series about a school in Chicago. Additional works by the brothers include “Off to War” and “Dope Sick Love.”
“The Renaud’s have spent the last decade telling humanistic verite stories from the World’s hot spots. Their film and television projects have covered the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the earthquake in Haiti, political turmoil in Egypt and Libya, the fight for Mosul, extremism in Africa, cartel violence in Mexico, and the youth refugee crisis in Central America,” reads a statement on their website.
On “Face the Nation” on Sunday, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan called the killing “shocking and horrifying” and said the U.S. would respond with “appropriate consequences.”
“This is part and parcel of what has been a brazen aggression on the part of the Russians, where they have targeted civilians, they have targeted hospitals, they have targeted places of worship and they have targeted journalists,” Sullivan said.
Click here for complete coverage of the crisis in Ukraine.
