American Journalist Brent Renaud Killed, Two More Journalists Injured by Russian Forces in Ukraine

Kyiv region police have confirmed that Brent Renaud, an award-winning American journalist, has been killed by Russian forces in Ukraine. Renaud was 50 years old.

Andriy Nebytov, the head of Kyiv's regional police force, confirmed Renaud’s death in a Facebook post. “Of course, the profession of a journalist is a risk, but US citizen Brent Renaud paid his life for trying to highlight the aggressor's ingenuity, cruelty and ruthlessness,” he said, according to an automated translation of his Facebook post.

Nebytov confirmed that "two more journalists were injured,” noting that "the injured have been already saved and moved to a hospital in the capital. What condition they are in is unknown at the moment."

Nebytov posted a photo of Renaud’s body and his American passport as evidence, as well as a photo of an outdated New York Times press badge that has Renaud’s name.

While the police statement described Renaud as a Times staffer, the Times said he is a former contributor who was not on assignment in Ukraine at the time.

"We are deeply saddened to hear of Brent Renaud’s death. Brent was a talented filmmaker who had contributed to the New York Times over the years," a spokesperson told Yahoo News. "Though he had contributed to the Times in the past (most recently in 2015), he was not on assignment for any desk at the Times in Ukraine. Early reports that he worked for Times circulated because he was wearing a Times press badge that had been issued for an assignment many years ago."

According to their website, Renaud and his brother, Craig Renaud, “are Peabody Award winning Documentary Filmmakers, Television Producers, and Journalists living and working in New York City and Little Rock, Arkansas.” The brothers “covered the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the earthquake in Haiti, political turmoil in Egypt and Libya, the fight for Mosul, extremism in Africa, cartel violence in Mexico, and the youth refugee crisis in Central America.”

According to media reports, one of the wounded journalists is believed to be Colombian-American photographer Juan Arredondo, who in a video taken at Okhmatdyt hospital in Kyiv, recalled that they were shot at by Russian forces while driving through a checkpoint in Irpin, Ukraine. “There was two of us, my friend Brent Renaud. And he's been shot and left behind," Arredondo said in the video. “We got split and I got pulled into the... an ambulance, I don't know."

Speaking to CNN, U.S. security adviser Jake Sullivan said he is still looking to confirm Renaud’s death.

"If in fact an American journalist was killed, it is a shocking and horrifying event," Sullivan said. "It is one more example of the brutality of Vladimir Putin and his forces as they've targeted schools and mosques and hospitals and journalists. And it is why we are working so hard to impose severe consequences on him and to try to help the Ukrainians with every form of military assistance we can muster."