Camera operator Pierre Zakrzewski was killed on March 14, 2022, in the Ukrainian village of Horenka, outside of Kyiv, while on assignment for Fox News, according to a statement by Fox News, media reports, and a Ukrainian army official who spoke to CPJ on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.
In its statement, Fox News said that a vehicle carrying Zakrzewski and other journalists with the outlet was “struck by incoming fire.”
The same attack killed freelance Ukrainian Fox News producer Oleksandra Kuvshynova and injured correspondent Benjamin Hall, according to those sources. A person involved in the recovery of the journalists’ bodies told CPJ that Kuvshynova and Zakrzewski were killed on the spot. Hall remained hospitalized as of March 16.
Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs adviser Anton Gerashchenko posted on Telegram that the team was attacked by mortars fired by Russian forces, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an address on March 16 that they were killed by a Russian artillery strike.
However, the news reports and the Fox News statement did not specify the suspected source of the attack.
"Pierre was a war zone photographer who covered nearly every international story for FOX News from Iraq to Afghanistan to Syria during his long tenure with us,” Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott said in the channel’s statement. "Based in London, Pierre had been working in Ukraine since February."
Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin wrote on Twitter that he was “disturbed and saddened” by the death of Zakrzewski, who was an Irish citizen. In a statement, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote that Zakrzewski was also a French citizen.