A Fox News camera operator and a local producer who were covering the war in Ukraine have died after the vehicle in which they were traveling was struck by incoming fire, the network announced Tuesday.
Camera operator Pierre Zakrzewski’s death was announced in a memo to employees by Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott that was shared with BuzzFeed News. Scott said Zakrzewski, 55, died after coming under fire in Horenka, a village northwest of Kyiv, on Monday.
Scott later confirmed that Ukrainian journalist Oleksandra “Sasha” Kuvshynova was also killed in the same incident. The 24-year-old had been working for Fox as a producer, assisting the network’s crew.
Fox News correspondent Benjamin Hall was also injured in the attack and has been hospitalized in Ukraine.
“Pierre Zakrzewski was an absolute legend at this network and his loss is devastating,” anchor Bill Hemmer told Fox News viewers on Tuesday morning.
London-based Zakrzewski, who was Irish, had been in Ukraine since February, having previously covered multiple wars for Fox, including the conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria. In December, Fox News awarded him an “Unsung Hero” award to recognize his work.
“[Zakrzewski’s] 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 wrote in her memo. “He was profoundly committed to telling the story and his bravery, professionalism, and work ethic were renowned among journalists at every media outlet.”
Kuvshynova, the producer, had been working with Fox for weeks in her home country. In a later memo to employees, Scott said the network had held off announcing her death out of respect for her family.
“Several of our correspondents and producers spent long days with her reporting the news and got to know her personally, describing her as hard-working, funny, kind, and brave,” Scott wrote.
