As we know, war is dangerous, desperate, and scary from our television screens, but the reality of it strikes home when an American journalist is killed. The Russian military has been intentionally hitting areas where civilians gather such as hospitals, schools, apartment buildings, and journalists. The former are war crimes. The latter ones are abhorrent.
America lost award-winner Brent Renaud when he was “killed by Russian forces” in Irpin Ukraine. Another journalist was wounded in the attack.
Ukraine Capitol Regional Police identified him as Renaud in a tweet showing a photo of his body plus his American passport. The journalist was killed when he was 50.
Top officer Andriy Nebitov pronounced Renaud’s death on a Facebook post. The head officer said that the Russian military shot Renaud:
‘[T]he occupants cynically kill even journalists of international media, who’ve been trying to tell the truth about atrocities of Russian military in Ukraine.’
Nebitov continued saying that Renaud “paid with his life” to reveal “how underhand (sic) cruel, and merciless the aggressor is:”
‘Of course, journalism carries risks, but the US citizen Brent Renaud paid with his life for an attempt to shed light on how underhand (sic) cruel, and merciless the aggressor is.’
At this time, CNN has not been able to pin down which media the journalists were working for during their time in Ukraine nor the name of the wounded journalist. The New York Times released a statement on Sunday. It read that Renaud was not on assignment when he died:
‘We are deeply saddened to hear of Brent Renaud’s death. Brent was a talented filmmaker who had contributed to The New York Times over the years. Though he 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.’
The journalist lived and worked in New York City and Little Rock, Arkansas. He received a Peabody Award for his documentary filmmaker, producer, and journalist, the Renaud Brothers website biography wrote. The two Renaud brothers had worked in “Iraq, Afghanistan, Haiti, Egypt, and Libya” for years:
‘[T]elling humanistic verite stories from the World’s hot spots.’
The Director of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard said that the foundation was “heartsick.” Renaud was a 2019 Harvard Nieman Fellow.
Foundation Curator Ann Marie Lipinski wrote in a tweet:
‘Our Nieman Fellow Brent Renaud was gifted and kind, and his work was infused with humanity. He was killed today outside Kiev, and the world and journalism are lesser for it. We are heartsick.’
Brent Renaud was a documentarian whose intimate films range from Arkansas to Afghanistan, another tweet wrote:
‘He shared a moving account of his life & what he seeks in his work—“thoughtful stories about disenfranchised people.”‘
Sunday, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called out Renaud’s killers and urged action against them. The New York-based organization said in a statement:
‘U.S. reporter Brent Renaud was shot and killed, and another journalist was injured on Sunday in the city of Irpin, outside of Kyiv, according to a Ukrainian police official and news reports.’
The Renaud Brothers Facebook page from March 8 asked people to follow their Ukraine War coverage.
Irpin, where he died, is near the country’s capitol Kyiv in northern Ukraine. Recently, the Russians have been bombing the area. Kyiv has shown substantial damage, the Kyiv Regional Government said Friday.
Featured image is a screenshot via YouTube.
Three White Lions is Gloria Christie’s new serialized book available in episodes on Amazon. Go to Kindle Vella and insert her name. She also writes for the liberal online newspaper The Bipartisan Report. Gloria Christie Report her newsletter for people on the go. Written in her own unique style with a twist of humor in a briefer version of Bipartisan Report. Christie’s Mueller Report Adventures In Bite-Sizes a real-life compelling spy mystery. Find her here on Facebook.
