Two Fox journalists killed in Ukraine, underscoring dangers
New York(AP:) A veteran videographer and a 24-year-old Ukrainian journalist working for Fox News were both killed when their vehicle came under fire outside of Kyiv, the network has said.
Pierre Zakrzewski, 55, and Oleksandra Sasha Kuvshynova were travelling Monday in Horenka with Fox News reporter Benjamin Hall, who remains hospitalised.
Today is a heartbreaking day for Fox News Media and for all journalists risking their lives to deliver the news, the network's CEO, Suzanne Scott, said in a staff memo on Tuesday.
On Sunday, documentary filmmaker Brent Renaud, another veteran of covering war zones, died when Russian forces opened fire on his vehicle in Irpin, also outside of Kyiv.
The death of three journalists in a short span underscores the dangers faced by people chronicling the war in Ukraine, even those with extensive experience reporting from conflict zones.
The dangers for journalists seem to be increasing by the day, as the fighting seems to get more brutal and concentrated in more urban areas, said Summer Lopez, director of the Free Expressions Program at PEN America.
Zakrzewski, an Irish citizen who was based in London, had covered conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria for Fox and won an internal unsung hero award for playing a key role last year in getting Fox's freelancers and their families out of Afghanistan after the US withdrawal. He had been working in Ukraine since February.
Such a fine man, tweeted Fox national security reporter Jennifer Griffin.
Trey Yingst, another colleague who worked with Zakrzewski in Ukraine, called him as good as they come .
Kuvshynova was a local fixer," as is known in war zones. She helped Fox crews navigate the Kyiv area, gathered information and spoke to sources. She had a passion for music, the arts and photography, Scott said in the staff memo.
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. Her dream was to connect people around the world and tell their stories and she fulfilled that through her journalism.
In Washington on Tuesday, the Ukrainian ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova, thanked reporters who are on the ground in Ukraine.
Risking their lives to tell the world the truth is something that Ukraine and the world desperately need, she said at the National Press Club.
Jane Ferguson, a PBS NewsHour correspondent in Ukraine who has also reported from Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia and Syria, said on Twitter that the war is incredibly tough to cover as a field reporter, unlike any I have seen or experienced before .
With intense artillery fire that can reach for miles and a vague fluidity of army positions, there is really no front line, Ferguson wrote.
Ferguson said she and her crew were recently pulled out of their car at gunpoint by Ukrainian soldiers who mistakenly thought they were being filmed from the car. The journalists were waved on after their credentials were checked, but for a few minutes it was pretty nasty .
There are few journalists officially embedded with troops as they were in Iraq and Afghanistan, for example so many reporters are driving around independently, and without good intelligence, which is particularly dangerous, Ferguson said.
In an interview, ABC News reporter Martha Raddatz said Ukraine reminded her of covering the siege of Sarajevo because there are no US troops there.
That is a huge thing for me, she said. You realize, Oh, wait. There are no Americans here. There's no protection for us here. I think you're very cognizant of that.
Gulnoza Said, coordinator of the Europe and Central Asia Program for the Committee to Protect Journalists, has been hearing from journalists in Ukraine concerned about checkpoints where it isn't clear if they're coming upon Russian or Ukrainian soldiers.
She said journalists are telling her they are worried that Ukrainian authorities may be seeking to limit the areas and hours in which they can work.
I need to find out exactly what they want to do, she said. I hope it is not because they want to control the narrative of the war.
News of Zakrzewski's death hit particularly hard Tuesday in Ireland. Irish premier Micheal Martin said he was deeply disturbed by the news.
My thoughts are with their families, friends and fellow journalists, Martin said. We condemn this indiscriminate and immoral war by Russia on Ukraine.
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Sharad Pawar's 'merger with Cong' remark shows it's difficult for him to run his party,says Fadnavis
Mumbai, May 8: NCP founder Sharad Pawar's remark on regional parties' possible merger with the Congress shows it has become difficult for him to manage his own party, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Wednesday.
Chief Minister Eknath Shinde latched on to Pawar's comment to target Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, saying the latter has already become "Congress-minded".
Another leader of the ruling 'Mahayuti' in Maharashtra said Pawar's remarks reflect that ground was slipping from under his feet in his home turf Baramati and the only option before him was merging his party with the Congress.
In an interview to The Indian Express, Pawar said that in the next couple of years, several regional parties will associate more closely with the Congress or may look at the option of merger with it if they believe that is best for their party.
To a question if that applied to his own party, Pawar told the newspaper that he doesn't see any difference between the Congress and his party because both belong to the Gandhi, Nehru line of thinking.
Pawar made it clear that any decision on strategy or the next step will be taken collectively. He also said that his party is close to the Congress ideologically and that Uddhav Thackeray is positive about working together with like-minded parties.
Asked about Pawar's remark, Shinde said the Shiv Sena (UBT) has already become Congress-minded.
"Pawar is a big leader and he makes such statements. But the Sena (UBT) faction has already become Congress as they speak the language of the Congress and Pakistan," Shinde, who heads the ruling Shiv Sena, said.
"Just the formality (of merger between them) is remaining," he added.
Fadnavis said that through his remark, Pawar might be suggesting that it was difficult for him to run his party and hence he may opt to merge it with the Congress.
"It is nothing new because Pawar has formed new parties and later merged them with the Congress," he said.
Former Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam, who recently rejoined the ruling Shiv Sena led by CM Shinde, said Pawar has been thinking about merging his party with the Congress for a long time and even the Congress had given the proposal to this effect to him.
"But Congress rejected the proposal to entrust the leadership to Supriya Sule. Pawar's fresh comment suggests that the ground is slipping from under his feet in Baramati. Even if that is not the case, he has no option but merge his party with Congress which will be seen as a merger of two loss-making companies," the former MP said.
BJP leader Prasad Lad asked whether the Sena (UBT) will merge with the Congress along with the Sharad Pawar-led party.
"Uddhav Thackeray has stopped saying 'My Hindu brothers and sisters' at the outset of his speeches. He has become friends with those who criticise Veer Savarkar. Only time will tell whether Thackeray will merge his party with Congress," he said.
NCP (SP) working president Supriya Sule said her father made a generic statement.
Leader of Opposition in the state assembly and senior Congress leader Vijay Waddetiwar said there was truth in what Pawar said.
"He has a long-term vision. People are fed up with the dictatorial regime and want a change of guard," he said, targeting the BJP-led government.
Chhagan Bhujbal of the Ajit Pawar-led NCP said he doesn't think regional parties will merge with the Congress.
"They are strong in their respective states and have formed governments in West Bengal and Odisha," he said, referring to the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Biju Janata Dal (BJD).
The NCP founded by Sharad Pawar in 1999 split in July 2023 after his nephew Ajit Pawar rebelled against him and joined the Eknath Shinde-led government. The Election Commission and assembly speaker later recognised the Ajit Pawar-led faction as the "real NCP" and allotted the clock symbol to it, while the NCP (SP) group was given 'man blowing turha' as the symbol.
