Dupont Prize photojournalists were shot and killed on the front lines in Kiev, and the photos reveal details of the killing
According to comprehensive international media reports, American Television Award-winning journalist and film and television producer Brent Renault was killed in a battle outside Kiev.
According to later published photographs of Brent's body, he was covered under this speckled blanket, so it is almost certain that the photograph was taken when he was sent out of the place of his death.
Out of respect for the victims, I did not include this photograph in the text.
On March 13, Agence France-Presse reported that an American journalist had been killed in a battle on the outskirts of Kiev, and after investigation, it was found that the victim was Brent Renault, a famous American photographer and former veteran reporter of the New York Times, now 51 years old. He has won the DuPont-Columbia Award with his younger brother Craig for his work in Iran, Afghanistan, Haiti, Egypt, and the Peabody Award (American Award for Achievement in Radio and Television Culture) for tracking children's news on issues.
Brent (left) and Craig are both excellent journalists and producers.
The brothers' work "Off to War" is one of the classic works documenting the Iraq War, which records the experience of the Arkansas National Police In Iraq, full of anti-war atmosphere
So, how did Brent get killed?
The place where Brent was killed is now identified in Ilpin, north of Kiev, and a journalist (Juan) is also injured. As a photojournalist with extensive war experience, Brent's death was surprising. Because in people's impressions, old foxes like him or our Tang Shizeng and Qiu Yongzheng belong to the undead. Brent's death may have something to do with his too much going to the front.
Ilpin was the main point of the Russian army's attack on Kiev from the north, and this town is located between the Belarusian-Ukrainian border and Kiev, which is called the northern key of kiev city. The Russians and Ukrainians fought here repeatedly, and the fighting was fierce. Against the backdrop of the difficult Russian-Ukrainian negotiations, Kiev became the most crucial point for the two armies to compete for battlefield superiority – Russia's capture of Kiev almost meant winning the battle against the Zelinsky government, and Ukraine would not abandon its capital.
The Russian army has surrounded Kiev from three sides, but the east and west lines are difficult to take as the main direction of attack due to the enemy on the abdomen and terrain, and only the northern line from Belarus to Kiev is flat, the logistics are convenient, and the most advantageous, Ilping is the first to bear the brunt. Perhaps it was because of the criticality of it that veteran war correspondent Brent rushed here to conduct the interview.
Due to the unfavorable situation ahead, the Ukrainians cut off the bridge from Ilpin to Kiev, trying to prevent the Russians from breaking through the defensive line.
This road bridge is the last bridge in the north of Kiev, and if it is occupied, it can break into the city of Kiev, so the Ukrainian army attaches great importance to it, blowing it up in advance and laying it, leaving only a passage of about 0.5 meters wide for the citizens evacuated from Irpin. It was from here that Brent continued forward.
From the description of Brent's death, it can be seen that he was shot and killed while filming a group of citizens in Ilpin retreating to Kiev. Coincidentally, South Korean Internet celebrity Lee, who participated in the war as a foreign volunteer, was also shot and killed here not long ago during the retreat with the citizens of Ilping, although this claim has not yet been confirmed, but it shows the cruelty of the environment on the Ilping front.
Brent was a former Reporter for The New York Times and has always held a press card for the newspaper, though the newspaper said the two sides lasted together in 2015, and this time brent was not scheduled to go to Ukraine, and he may have gone to the battlefield to make his own documentary. He and his brother own independent film and television production companies, and being on the scene is also the usual style of both of them, but this time it seems that Craig did not arrive in Ukraine with him.
After Brent was killed, the entourage photographed his passport press card to prove his identity, and the background was the fallen leaves of the black soil of Ukraine, which was very emotional.
Judging from the photos disclosed, Brent, 51, was very experienced in conducting interviews on the battlefield, not only conspicuously carrying signs with the American flag and PEACEKEEPER (peacekeepers), hanging media logos to indicate his identity, and wearing body armor. But on a battlefield like Irpin's, none of this will help.
How did Brent die? From the photos of the body released by Agence France-Presse, Brent's body had striped purple spots on his abdomen and black bruises on his ears, so at first Lao Sa judged that he was killed by a large-caliber artillery attack. It's also the disaster that journalists are most likely to encounter on the battlefield — large-caliber shells and missiles can't tell if you're a journalist or a combatant, and huge shock waves make individual protective equipment meaningless.
But the entourage and wounded journalist Juan confirmed that Brent had been shot. They were shot as they approached a checkpoint in their car, and when the driver turned the front of the car, Brent was shot in the neck and killed instantly, and his bulletproof vest could not protect him here. Juan was shot in the leg and wounded.
By then they had passed the first bridge that the Ukrainian army had controlled and cut off, but were trying to approach one more ahead. Brent died on the spot, and his body was left behind. The recovered remains were carried back on stretchers. On closer inspection, the stripes on his abdomen appear to be stained with mud and snow and dragging on the snow, and the palm of his right hand has the same mud stain. Judging from the fact that there were no wounds on the front of his neck, the bullet may have hit the back of his cervical spine, and this injury must have been fatal.
Juan, another journalist who was shot in the leg, was being carried into an ambulance.
At present, the Ukrainian side attacked that the Russian army shot caused Brent's death, while the Russian side has a website that believes that it is not confirmed that the Russian shooting caused the tragedy, and mentioned that Brent may have been a US intelligence officer in Iraq. Russian officials have not taken a position on this.
In this regard, the author thinks that this is just a war of public opinion, the battle of the front line is at stake, and the war correspondents, because of their location and work, are likely to cause the frontline personnel who have been making a lot of noise to hit them by mistake, which is almost the fate of them when they choose this profession, and as to which side the bullet comes from, it can only be a choice from heaven. Journalists also have no survival privileges under gunfire, and they must perform their duties in such an environment.
Robert Capa, the god of war journalists, once said, "If you don't shoot well enough, it's because you're not close enough." He himself was killed by lightning while taking the last photo, and a tragic ending was booked for war correspondents.
Brent's death was not the first of the journalists, and certainly not the last. Although I have never worked as a war correspondent, as a colleague, I still feel deeply saddened by the war correspondents who die in the line of duty more than double digits each year, and they, like Robert Kappa, rush into danger to let the world know the truth. May peace come sooner rather than later, and turn their lenses and talents towards a quiet time on earth.
Brent was in Iraq, and a Japanese journalist described him as "like a sculpture" when he was filming.
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