Fox News cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski killed in Ukraine

Zakrzewski was killed and his colleague Benjamin Hall was wounded when their vehicle was struck by incoming fire.

Cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski while on assignment in Kyiv. – AP

By AFP

Published: Tue 15 Mar 2022, 8:42 PM

A cameraman for Fox News, Pierre Zakrzewski, has been killed in Ukraine outside Kyiv, the US network said Tuesday.

Zakrzewski was killed and his colleague Benjamin Hall was wounded when their vehicle was struck Monday by incoming fire in Horenka, outside the capital, Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott said.

Hall, a Briton who works as the network's State Department correspondent, remains hospitalised in Ukraine, Scott said in a statement.

"Pierre was a war zone photographer who covered nearly every international story for Fox News from Iraq to Afghanistan to Syria during his long tenure with us," Scott said. "His passion and talent as a journalist were unmatched."

Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin said he was "deeply disturbed and saddened" by the death of Zakrzewski, who had Irish nationality.

"We condemn this indiscriminate and immoral war by Russia on Ukraine," Martin said on Twitter.

Zakrzewski, who was based in London, had been working in Ukraine since February.

Fox News said Zakrzewski had played a "key role" in getting the network's Afghan freelance associates and their families out of the country after the US withdrawal.

It said he was given an "Unsung Hero" award at the company's annual employee Spotlight Awards in December.

On Sunday, a US journalist was shot dead and another wounded in Irpin, a frontline suburb of Kyiv that has witnessed some of the fiercest fighting since Russia invaded Ukraine.

Video documentary maker Brent Renaud, 50, was working for Time Studios on a project about global refugee issues.

The International Federation of Journalists identified the wounded journalist as American photographer Juan Arredondo.

A Ukrainian who had been in the same car as the Americans was also wounded, according to a medic at the scene.

According to Lyudmyla Denisova, the Ukrainian parliament's human rights chief, at least two Ukrainian journalists have also been killed.

Evgeny Sakun died in a Russian strike on a Kyiv television tower and Viktor Dudar died in fighting close to the southern port city of Mykolaiv, Denisova said on Telegram.