The US government has vowed to apply “appropriate consequences” for the death of 51-year-old American journalist Brent Renaud, who was killed on Sunday in a shootout in Irpin, near Ukraine’s capital Kiev. According to Ukrainian police, Renaud, who worked as a cameraman and documentary filmmaker, was murdered by Russian forces. The NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF) also called for an investigation to clarify the causes of death.
In an interview with CBS TV, White House government security adviser Jake Sullivan said the incident was “shocking and horrifying”. Sullivan said he was in contact with Ukrainian officials to get more information about the journalist’s death so the US government could take action. “The Russians fired on civilians, hospitals, places of worship and journalists,” Sullivan said.
At first, it was announced that the journalist worked for the The New York Times, as Renaud carried a credential from the New York newspaper. Subsequently, the information was denied. The film reporter collaborated with the The New York Times a few years ago, but since 2015 he has not provided services for the newspaper.
According to his personal website, Renaud often worked with his brother in the production of documentaries and television shows and received a Peabody Award for his work. Renaud was a fellow at the Pulitzer Center, the institute that organizes the highest journalistic award in the United States. Before the conflict in Ukraine, the documentary filmmakers acted in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, in addition to the earthquake in Haiti in 2010, the political uprising in Egypt in 2013 and the drug cartel dispute in Mexico.
In addition to Renaud’s death, the Russian attack injured another American journalist, photographer Juan Arredondo, who also works for American vehicles. Winner of the World Press Photo, one of the main international awards for photojournalism, Arredondo was in the car with the American journalist.
“We were crossing the first bridge in Irpen. We were going to record refugees leaving, we were going to get a car that someone offered us to take us to the other bridge. We crossed the checkpoint and they started shooting at us. Then the driver turned around and continued shooting in our direction,” Arredondo explained in a video posted by him on Twitter as he was treated on a stretcher at Okhmatdyt hospital. “My friend Brent Renaud was shot in the neck and left behind. And we parted ways,” added the photographer.
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