American journalist shot dead in Ukraine, US warns 'NATO will act if Russia hits alliance'

AP , AFP , Sunday 13 Mar 2022

Award-winning American filmmaker and journalist, Brent Renaud, was killed in Ukraine on Sunday while reporting in a suburb of the capital, Kyiv, according to Ukraine’s Interior Ministry, while White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan warned that Russia will face a response from NATO should any of its attacks in Ukraine cross borders and hit members of the security alliance.

Satellite photo
Damage near Mariupol Hospital following an airstrike attack in Mariupol, Ukraine, on March 12, 2022. AP

Renaud, 50, had worked, according to the "New York Times," for a number of American news and media organizations in the past, including HBO, NBC and The New York Times.

The American Newspaper said that the Ukrainian authorities said he was killed in Irpin, a suburb that has been the site of intense shelling by Russian forces in recent days, but the details of his death were not immediately clear. Ukrainian officials said another journalist was wounded as well.

Medics and witnesses told AFP that another Journalist was wounded. Danylo Shapovalov, a surgeon volunteering for the Ukrainian territorial defence, said one of the Americans died instantly and he had treated the other.

AFP reporters in Irpin saw the body of the victim. A third victim, a Ukrainian who had been in the same car as the Americans, was also wounded.

Ukrainian officials were quick to blame Russian forces for the shooting but the exact circumstances were unclear. AFP reporters heard small arms and artillery fire in the area.

"The car was shot at. There were two journalists and one of ours (a Ukrainian)," Shapovalov told AFP.

"Our guy and the journalist are wounded, I provided them first aid, the other one received a wound in the neck, he died immediately."

Papers found on the American reporter's body identified him as 50-year-old video documentary shooter Brent Renaud, of New York.

A New York Times identity card was among the papers, leading to reports he worked for the paper, but the US daily said he was not working for it at the time of his death.

"Brent was a talented photographer and filmmaker who had contributed to The New York Times over the years," said a statement tweeted by deputy managing editor Cliff Levy.

"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."

 US: NATO will act if Russia hits alliance

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan says Russia will face a response from NATO should any of its attacks in Ukraine cross borders and hit members of the security alliance.

Russian missiles on Sunday struck a military training base close to Ukraine's western border with NATO member Poland and killed 35 people.

Sullivan tells CBS News' "Face the Nation'' that President Joe Biden "has been clear repeatedly that the United States will work with our allies to defend every inch of NATO territory and that means every inch.''

Sullivan says a military attack on NATO territory would cause the invocation of Article 5. That requires other countries in NATO to come to the defense of the attacked nation. Sullivan says "We will bring the full force of the NATO alliance to bear in responding.''

Sullivan says NATO would respond even if a shot by Russia that hit NATO territory was accidental.\

Israeli Foreign Minister Condemns Russia

Israel's foreign minister Yair Lapid, condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine, calling on Moscow to halt its attacks and end the conflict.

Lapid's criticism Sunday is among the strongest that has come from Israeli officials since the war began. His remarks set him apart from Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who has stopped short of condemning Russia.

Israel has walked a fine line in its response to the crisis. Bennett has voiced support for the Ukrainian people and the country has sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine. But Israel relies on Russia for security coordination in Syria, where Russia has a military presence and where Israeli aircraft have frequently struck enemy targets over recent years. Bennett has been attempting to mediate between the Kremlin and Ukraine.

Lapid made his remarks in Bucharest, Romania, where he met his Romanian counterpart.

85 Children killed

 The office of Ukraine's Prosecutor General says a total of 85 children have been killed since the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine.

More than 100 more have been wounded, the office said. Officials also said that bombings and shelling have damaged 369 educational facilities in the country, 57 of which have been completely destroyed.

Russian Airstrike On Military Base Near Polish Border

At least nine people were killed and 57 wounded when a Russian airstrike hit a military training base in western Ukraine close to the Polish border, a local official said Sunday.

The governor of the Lviv region, Maksym Kozytskyi, said Russian forces fired more than 30 cruise missiles at the Yavoriv military range, located 30 kilometers (19 miles) northwest of the city of Lviv and 35 kilometers (22 miles) from Ukraine's border with Poland.

The assault brought the war closer to the border with Poland. A senior Russian diplomat has warned that Moscow considered foreign shipments of military equipment to Ukraine “legitimate targets.''

The United States and NATO have regularly sent instructors to the range, also known as the International Peacekeeping and Security Center, to train Ukrainian military personnel. The facility has also hosted international NATO drills.

Russian fighters also fired at the airport in Ivano-Frankivsk, a city in western Ukraine located 250 kilometers (155.34 miles) from Ukraine's border with Slovakia and Hungary.

Russia’s New Ukrainian ‘Pseudo-Republics’

Russia is trying to create new “pseudo-republics'' in Ukraine to break his country apart, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address to the nation Saturday.

Zelensky called on Ukraine's regions, including Kherson, which was captured by Russian forces, not to repeat the experience of Donetsk and Luhansk. Pro-Russian separatists began fighting Ukrainian forces in those eastern regions in 2014.

“The occupiers on the territory of the Kherson region are trying to repeat the sad experience of the formation of pseudo-republics,'' Zelensky said. “They are blackmailing local leaders, putting pressure on deputies, looking for someone to bribe.''

City council members in Kherson, a southern city of 290,000, on Saturday rejected plans for a new pseudo-republic, Zelensky said.

Russia recognized the Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic before invading Ukraine in February. Moscow said it had to protect the separatist regions, and is demanding that Ukraine recognize their independence too.

“Ukraine will stand this test. We need time and strength to break the war machine that has come to our land,'' Zelensky said.

Short link: