UPDATE, Monday, 2:50 PM PT: Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky extended his condolences to the family of documentary filmmaker Brent Renaud, who was killed on Sunday while on assignment in a suburb of Kyiv.
“I extend my heartfelt condolences to the family of Brent Renaud who lost his life while documenting the ruthlessness & evil inflicted upon people by Russia,” Zelensky wrote on Twitter. “May Brent’s life & sacrifice inspire the world to stand up in fight for the forces of light against forces of darkness.”
In the letter to Renaud’s family, Zelensky called him a “talented and brave journalist” who “lost his life while documenting human tragedy, devastation and suffering of the millions of Ukrainians. With all his courage and determination, he traveled to the most dangerous war zones to film the unprecedented ruthlessness and evil, also inflicted upon our nation by the aggressor state.”
Renaud had been on assignment for a Time Studios project on the global refugee crisis.
I extend my heartfelt condolences to the family of Brent Renaud who lost his life while documenting the ruthlessness & evil inflicted upon 🇺🇦 people by Russia. May Brent’s life & sacrifice inspire the world to stand up in fight for the forces of light against forces of darkness. pic.twitter.com/bvQjM470OU
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) March 14, 2022
PREVIOUSLY: Documentary filmmaker Brent Renaud was killed when Russian troops opened fire while he was covering the war in Ukraine, authorities said on Sunday.
The head of Kyiv’s regional police force, Andriy Nebytov, also said that another journalist was injured.
Renaud had done work for The New York Times, but was not on assignment for the media outlet at the time he was killed. He is the first U.S. journalist death in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“We are deeply saddened to hear of Brent Renaud’s death,” a Times spokeswoman said. “Brent was a talented filmmaker who had contributed to The New York Times over the years.”
Renaud had been reporting in Irpin, a suburb of Kyiv, Nebytov wrote on Facebook, accompanied by a photo of Renaud’s Times press badge.
“The occupiers are cynically killing even journalists of international media who are trying to show the truth about the atrocities of Russian troops in Ukraine,” Nebytov wrote on Facebook, translated by The Guardian.
The Times spokeswoman said that although Renaud “had contributed to the Times in the past (most recently in 2015), he was not on assignment for any desk at the Times in Ukraine. Early reports that he worked for Times circulated because he was wearing a Times press badge that had been issued for an assignment many years ago.”
Renaud had been working on a Time Studios project focused on the global refugee crisis, along with production companies Sugar23 and Day Zero Productions.
“Brent dedicated his life to seeking the truth and sharing humanistic portraits and narratives from those experiences in some of the most dangerous hot spots in the world,” said Sugar23 partners Michael Sugar and Ashley Zalta. “Our deepest sympathy is extended to all of Brent’s loved ones.”
The other journalist was identified as Juan Arredondo, another filmmaker from the U.S. In a video posted on Facebook, Arredondo said that he and Renaud were on their way to film refugees leaving and came under fire when they crossed a checkpoint.
“So the driver turned around, and they kept shooting, the two of us. My friend is Brent Renaud. And he has been shot and left behind.” Arredondo, who was on a hospital gurney, said that he saw Renaud get shot in the neck and “we got split.”
Jane Ferguson, a correspondent for PBS Newshour, was close to where Renaud was killed. She wrote on Twitter, “Just left roadside spot near Irpin where body of American journalist Brent Renaud lay under a blanket. Ukranian medics could do nothing to help him by that stage. Outraged Ukranian police officer: ‘Tell America, tell the world, what they did to a journalist.'”
Renaud produced films along with his brother Craig, including Last Chance High, a video series for Vice News that won a Peabody award, along with projects about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and other world hot spots. The Renauds also were founders of the Little Rock Film Festival. Other projects include the 2017 HBO documentary Meth Storm and the 2016 project Shelter. Their 2005 documentary Off to War: Welcome to Baghdad was nominated for a DGA award.
Brent Renaud also was Nieman Fellow in the class of 2019. Ann Marie Lipinski, the curator of the fellowship, wrote on Twitter that he was “gifted and kind, and his work was infused with humanity.”
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Face the Nation that Renaud’s killing was “shocking and horrifying.” He said that they are continuing to try to determine the circumstances, but added that the Russian troops “have targeted hospitals, they have targeted places of worship and they have targeted journalists.”
The WGA East called his death a “murder.”
“The Writers Guild of America East mourns the loss of filmmaker Brent Renaud, killed in Ukraine by Russian troops in what reportedly was a deliberate attack,” the guild said in a statement. “The murder of Brent Renaud reminds us all of the mortal danger journalists place themselves in when covering war so the rest of the world can be aware of the horror and tragedy of combat, especially among the innocent. Further, it serves to illustrate the importance of a free and independent press, especially when Russia has made dissent and fair and open reporting on the fighting in Ukraine a crime punishable by prison.
“The WGAE, which includes many journalists among its members, sends it sympathy to Renaud’s family and joins the world in condemning his death, Russian censorship and the war that has so devastated the independent nation of Ukraine.”
The Society of Professional Journalists, a century-old organization “dedicated to encouraging a climate in which journalism can be practiced more freely and fully, also issued a statement.
“His death is a reminder to us of the danger that exists to tell these important stories,” said SPJ International Community Co-Chair Elle Toussi. “We are all diminished by his passing.”
The SPJ also said that Renaud “is the second journalist to be killed covering the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Yevhenii Sakun, a photojournalist for EFE, the Spanish news service, was killed when the Russian army destroyed the Kyiv television tower on March 1.” It said Renaud is the first American journalist to be killed during the war.
“Renaud and Sakun were courageous journalists who died bringing the world the truth about the Russian attack on Ukraine,” said SPJ National President Rebecca Aguilar. “We at SPJ send our condolences to their families and pray for Renaud’s colleague, Juan Arrendondo, who was shot while the two were preparing to film refugees from Kyiv.”
The statement ended with: “The SPJ International Community calls on the Russian army to honor Rule 34 of the Geneva Convention, which states that journalists shall be considered as civilians. And to further live up to the Russian military manual, which states: ‘Journalists are considered civilians and enjoy protection stipulated by international humanitarian law…’ “
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