Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky paid tribute to the murdered American journalist Brent Renault in an address to his family on Monday.
Lead news: Zelensky, who personally wrote to the Renault family to express his “sincere condolences” after the documentary maker was killed by Russian troops, described the 50-year-old man as “talented and courageous journalist.”
What he says: “Brent died documenting the human tragedy, devastation and suffering of millions of Ukrainians,” Zelenskiy said of Reno, who was from Arkansas.
- “With all his courage and determination, he traveled to the most dangerous war zones to capture the unprecedented brutality and evil also inflicted on our people by the aggressor state.”
- Zelensky added that Ukrainians “who are fighting against the Russian regime to defend their homeland and democracy in the world, mourn with you.”
Big picture: According to AP, the Renault car came under heavy fire at a checkpoint near Kiev.
- The documentarian was accompanied by another American journalist, Juan Arredondo, who was also shot but survived.
- In 2013, Renault received the Columbia University Alfred Du Pont Journalism Award for Arming the Mexican Cartels.
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