• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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Russia – Ukraine conflict: US journalist Brent Renaud killed on duty

Brent Renaud

American journalist Brent Renaud was killed in Ukraine when he and a colleague came under fire near the capital, Kyiv, the regional police and a Ukrainian government official have revealed.

According to a statement released by the Kyiv police force on Sunday, Russian troops opened fire on the car conveying Brent Renaud and another journalist, Juan Arredondo in Irpin, some 10 kilometers (6 miles) northwest of the capital.

Renaud died from the shooting while the other Arredondo was injured and taken to a hospital in Kyiv.

On a Telegram channel, Anton Herashchenko, Ukraine’s interior minister’s adviser, verified the occurrence, but Russia is yet to say anything about it.

According to Juan Arredondo, the duo was shot after being stoping at a checkpoint near a bridge in Irpin.

Juan Arredondo informed Italian journalist Annalisa Camilli in an interview before being rushed to surgery that his companion had been hit in the neck and remained on the ground earlier on Sunday.

Camilli told the Associated Press that she was in the hospital when Arredondo arrived and that Renaud’s companion had been shot in the lower back at a Russian checkpoint.

Read also: Russia – Ukraine conflict: Actor Pasha Lee dies in battle
Arredondo told Camilli that he and Renaud were recording refugees leaving the region when they were shot at while approaching a checkpoint.

“The driver turned back, but the gunfire continued”, Arredondo added.

The injured journalist claimed that he was taken to the hospital by ambulance and that Renaud was “left behind.”

New York Times, acknowledged Renaud had previously worked for it but had not been assigned for the Times in Ukraine.

“We are deeply saddened to hear of Brent Renaud’s death,” a spokesperson for the paper said on Twitter, naming the journalist thought to have been killed.

“Brent was a talented filmmaker who had contributed to The New York Times over the years.”

“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.” New York Times added.

When asked about the reports, White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan told CBS News that the US government would speak with Ukrainian officials to figure out what happened and then “take proper action.”

“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.