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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55-bed free palliative care centre to open near Bengaluru’s Nelamangala
Bengaluru: A new 55-bed palliative care centre for terminally ill patients, named the Nemmadi Centre for Palliative Care, will be inaugurated near Nelamangala on Sunday. The facility will offer all services completely free of cost.
According to a report published by Deccan Herald on Saturday, the centre has been set up by the Sukruthi Charitable Trust in collaboration with Rotary Bangalore Midtown. Around Rs 20 crore has been invested in the project, which will operate without a billing counter, ensuring that families do not have to pay for treatment.
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The centre will provide comprehensive palliative care, including medical support, counselling for patients and their families, and bereavement care. The facility aims to help families cope with the physical and emotional challenges of caring for terminally ill patients.
“A cornerstone of the project was the generous donation of land by former MLC E Krishnappa, which made the centre possible,” DH quoted Palani Loganathan as saying.
The inauguration ceremony will be attended by Madhusudan Sai, founder of the Sri Madhusudan Sai Global Humanitarian Mission, Karnataka Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao and Rajya Sabha MP Dr C.N. Manjunath who also serves as the chief medical advisor to the centre will also be present, along with several senior government officials and healthcare leaders.
