A Fox News cameraman was killed in Ukraine on Monday in the same attack that left correspondent Benjamin Hall hospitalized, the network said on Tuesday.
Pierre Zakrzewski, a 55-year-old war zone photographer, died in Horenka, a village outside the capital city, Kyiv, while working with Hall, Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott said in a statement.
The pair were traveling by car when their vehicle “was struck by incoming fire.”
Scott said the veteran photojournalist, who was based in London with his family, “had been working in Ukraine since February. His talents were vast, and there wasn’t a role that he didn’t jump in to help with in the field — from photographer to engineer to editor to producer — and he did it all under immense pressure with tremendous skill.”
“He was profoundly committed to telling the story, and his bravery, professionalism and work ethic were renowned among journalists at every media outlet. He was wildly popular — everyone in the media industry who has covered a foreign story knew and respected Pierre,” the CEO added.
According to Fox News, the “beloved” Zakrzewski “played a key role in getting our Afghan freelance associates and their families out of the country after the U.S. withdrawal” last year.
Jay Wallace, the president of the news network, added: “Pierre was a constant in all of our international coverage. I, like countless others, always felt an extra sense of reassurance when arriving on the scene and seeing him with camera in hand.”
The journalist’s “legacy of his positive spirit, boundless energy and eye for the story will carry on,” Wallace said.
On Monday, anchor John Roberts announced that Hall, an on-air correspondent who holds dual citizenship in the U.S. and U.K., had been wounded in an attack while reporting in Ukraine.
Hall, according to Irina Venediktova, Ukraine’s prosecutor general, has a “fragmentary fracture of the two lower extremities.” He is reportedly being treated in intensive care.
“The safety of our entire team of journalists in Ukraine and the surrounding regions is our top priority and of the utmost importance,” Scott said on Tuesday. “This is a stark reminder for all journalists who are putting their lives on the line every day to deliver the news from a war zone.”
On Sunday, American filmmaker and journalist Brent Renaud was also killed in Ukraine, in an attack in the Kyiv suburb of Irpin.
Renaud was working on a video project for Time magazine with Juan Arredondo, another U.S. journalist, when the vehicle the two were traveling in came under attack from Russian forces. Arredondo survived, but the 50-year-old Renaud was killed in the onslaught.
The journalist was described by Ann Marie Lipinski, the director of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard, as being “gifted and kind, and his work was infused with humanity.” Renaud was a Harvard Nieman fellow in 2019.
According to the United Nations, 691 civilians have been killed and more than 1,000 others have been injured since Russia invaded Ukraine three weeks ago. The U.N.’s human rights office, however, said the civilian death toll is believed to be “considerably higher.” The U.N. also reported that the war has forced more than 3 million refugees to flee the country.
