Amidst the ongoing Ukraine crisis, two journalists from the USA, were shot at by the Russian troops as they attempted to gather news, on the field, as refugees moved to safe borders.
Brent Renaud, a former New York Times journalist, fell to his death after he was shot in the neck by the troops, in Irpen near the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.
However, his friend managed to survive the attack and is currently undergoing treatment at the hospital in Ukraine.
“We crossed the first bridge in Irpen and were going to film other refugees leaving. We got into a car somebody offered to take us to the other bridges. We cross a checkpoint and they start shooting at us. The driver turned around and they kept shooting, It’s two of us. My friend is Brent Renaud and he has been shot and left behind,” said the injured journalist.
When asked about Renaut’s whereabouts he said, “I don’t know. I saw him being shot in the neck and we got split. and I got pulled onto the stretcher,” unaware of his friend’s demise.
While confirming and expressing grief over Renaud’s death, the deputy managing editor of the NYT Cliff Levy, said that the former was an ex-NYT reporter but had not been assigned to the job in Ukraine.
“NYT is deeply saddened to learn of the death of an American journalist in Ukraine, Brent Renaud. Brent was a talented photographer and filmmaker, but he was not on assignment for @nytimes in Ukraine. Full statement is here,” he tweeted.
A photo of the statement by the NYT was attached to the tweet.
The statement clarified that Renaud was a former correspondent who last worked on an assignment for the NYT in 2015.
“Early reports that he worked for The Times circulated as he was wearing a Times press badge that had been issued for an assignment many years ago,” read the statement.
“Brent’s death is a terrible loss. Brave journalists like Brent take tremendous risks to bear witness and to tell the world about the devastation and suffering caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” tweeted Levy.
