Pierre Zakrzewski, a longtime Fox News photojournalist, was killed while reporting in Ukraine, the network said on Tuesday.
“It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that we share the news this morning regarding our beloved cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski,” Fox News chief executive Suzanne Scott wrote to employees Tuesday morning. “Pierre was killed in Horenka, outside of Kyiv, Ukraine.”
He had been reporting from Ukraine since February and was with correspondent Benjamin Hall “when their vehicle was struck by incoming fire,” Scott said.
Zakrzewski was a veteran war photojournalist who had “covered nearly every internal story for Fox News from Iraq to Afghanistan to Syria,” Scott said.
“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,” Scott said. “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,” Scott added.
Scott said it was a “heartbreaking day for Fox News Media and for all journalists risking their lives to deliver the news.”
Meanwhile, Hall remains in the hospital in Ukraine, she told colleagues.
Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian Interior Minister, said a Ukrainian journalist, Oleksandra Kuvshynova, was also killed in the incident.
Fox has not yet confirmed that Kuvshynova was working with the Fox team.
The news of Zakrzewski’s death comes days after Brent Renaud, an award-winning American journalist, was killed in the Ukrainian town of Irpin.
Andriy Nebitov, the head of the Kyiv region police, said that Russian forces shot Renaud, adding that “the occupants cynically kill even journalists of international media, who’ve been trying to tell the truth about atrocities of Russian military in Ukraine.”
Another journalist, Juan Arredondo, was also wounded in Ukraine on Sunday.
Press freedom groups have denounced the violence journalists are facing while covering the war. The Committee to Protect Journalists, after the death of Renaud, called on Russian forces to “stop all violence against journalists and other civilians at once.”
