The Fox News network announced on Tuesday that an experienced videographer and a 24-year-old Ukrainian journalist working for them were killed when their car caught fire outside of Kyiv.
Pierre Zakrzewski, 55, and Oleksandra as known as ‘Sasha’ Kuvshynova were on their way to Horenka on Monday with Fox News correspondent Benjamin Hall, who is still in the hospital.
Fox News network’s CEO, Suzanne Scott, said in a staff memo, “Today is a heartbreaking day for Fox News Media and for all journalists risking their lives to deliver the news.”
Zakrzewski, an Irish citizen living in London, covered crises in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria for Fox and was awarded an internal “unsung hero” award for his involvement in moving Fox’s freelancers and their families out of Afghanistan following the US pullout and Taliban’s emergence last year. Since February, he has been working in Ukraine.
Kuvshynova was working with Fox News as a local “fixer” on the battlefields. She assisted Fox crews in getting about Kyiv, gathering material, and speaking with sources. Another veteran of covering conflict zones, documentary filmmaker Brent Renaud, was killed on Sunday near Irpin, Ukraine, when Russian soldiers opened fire on his vehicle.
The deaths of three journalists in a short period of time highlight the dangers that journalists covering the Ukrainian crisis confront, especially those with significant experience reporting from combat zones.
