Russian Troops Brutally Kill American Journalist Filming Refugees in Ukraine

(Snapshot from social media footage shows Brent Renaud, who has just been killed by the Russians in Ukraine)

Russians have murdered brutally an American journalist and filmmaker who was filming wretched Ukrainian refugees fleeing for their lives in a suburb of the capital Kyiv.

Gunned Down by Putin’s Brutes When Trying to Expose Refugees’ Plight

An outrageous incident occurred on Sunday in Irpin, in which Russian forces shot dead Brent Renaud, a freelance filmmaker who previously worked for The New York Times. One other American journalist was wounded.

This is the first case since the start of Putin’s bloody war in which Russians have killed a high-profile international journalist and an American one at that.

50-year-old Renaud was together with other journalists in a car at a checkpoint in Irpin. He was filming the escape of Ukrainian civilians from the Russian troops trying to encircle Kyiv and conquer it.

At first, Renaud was reported to be a NYT journalist because he was carrying a badge of the leftist newspaper; however, it later emerged he was working on an independent documentary about refugees worldwide.

The cold-blooded murder of the American filmmaker by Putin’s hordes was first announced in a Facebook post by the head of the Kyiv police department, Andrey Nebitov, as cited by The Daily Mail.

The other US journalist shot by Putin’s troops in the same accident, Juan Arredondo, spoke from the hospital where he was rushed for treatment.

(Snapshot of social media footage shows Juan Arredondo, the other US journalists show in Ukraine near Kyiv, together with Renaud.)

The Journalists’ Dead Body Had to Be Abandoned

He told Internazionale, an Italian newspaper, Renaud got shot in the neck, and also his dead body had to be left behind.

Arredondo recalled he and the killed fellow American journalist crossed Irpin’s first bridge. They were offered a ride by someone to the next bridge in the town of 60,000 people, a Kyiv suburb.

Afterward, once they crossed a checkpoint on their route, the Russians began shooting at them. The driver turned the car around immediately, but both Arrendondo and Renaud got shot, the latter fatally.

The first comment of the US government on the brutal murder of the American filmmaker came from America’s National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.

Sullivan commented on CNN on Sunday morning that Renaud’s killing is “shocking and horrifying”. He also stated the US government was going to consult with Ukrainian officials about what to do next.

The New York Times itself put out a statement, lamenting the loss of the “talented filmmaker and photographer.

It confirmed the slain American journalist worked for the newspaper before on multiple projects, but his work in Ukraine hadn’t been commissioned by them.

Biden refused to send US boots on the ground in the Ukraine war in order to avoid direct clashes with Russia and a potential nuclear war.

However, on February 15, he vowed America “will respond forcefully” in case Russia begins to “target Americans in Ukraine.”

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR