Brent Renaud, an award-winning US filmmaker and a former contributor to The New York Times, was fatally shot by Russian forces in Irpin, close to Kyiv, according to officials in Ukraine.
The Peabody Award-winning documentary filmmaker, working alongside his brother Craig as the Renaud Brothers, also produced films for HBO, NBC, Discovery, PBS, and Vice News, among others, while reporting from Afghanistan, Iraq, Haiti, and across the US and elsewhere.
Another reporter was also injured, according to Kyiv region police chief Andrey Nebitov, who shared a photograph of what appeared to be Brent Renaud’s press credentials issued by The New York Times. He was not on assignment with the publication at the time.
“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,” a spokesperson for the publication said in a statement to The Independent.
“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,” according to the statement.
‘Early reports that he worked for The Times circulated because he was wearing a Times press badge that had been issued for an assignment many years ago,’ Cliff Levy, Deputy Managing Editor, said in a statement.
The White House has not commented on Renaud’s death.
President Biden has taken a firm stance on not sending American troops into the conflict. He has instead sanctioned Putin economically, along with the rest of the Western world, and has given Zelenskyy arms and aid.
Renaud was from Tennessee. It’s unclear if he is married or if he has a family.
Another US journalist who survived the attack spoke to a reporter for Italian paper Internazionale from the hospital.
He said Renaud had been shot in the neck and ‘had to be left behind’.
‘We had crossed the first bridge in Irpen. We were going to film other refugees leaving we got into a car. Somebody offered to take us to the other bridge.
‘We crossed a checkpoint and they started shooting at us. The driver turned around, there were two of us. My friend is Brent Renaud.
‘He has been shot and left behind. I saw he has been shot in the neck. We got split,’ he said.
The journalist, who gave his name only as Juan, said he was taken by ambulance to the hospital.
