In a touching letter to his family, Zelensky mourns the loss of the “brave” US journalist Brent Renaud

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has written a moving letter to the family of US journalist Brent Renaud. who was killed while covering the war near Kyiv over the weekend.

“A talented and courageous journalist, Brent lost his life documenting human tragedy, devastation and suffering of millions of Ukrainians,” Zelenskyy said wrote in the letter, which he shared on social media on Monday. “With all his courage and determination, he traveled to the most dangerous war zones to film the unprecedented ruthlessness and evil that the aggressor state is also inflicting on our nation.

“The people of Ukraine who are fighting against the Russian regime to defend their homeland and democracy in the world mourn with you,” he told Renaud’s relatives.

Renaud, a 51-year-old video journalist and former New York Times contributor, was fatally shot in the neck when Russian troops opened fire on the car he was traveling in near the Romanivsky Bridge in the town of Irpin, they said the police and a witness .

Renaud, who has also reported for NBC, Vice News and HBO, was working on a Times Studios project about Ukraine’s massive refugee crisis when he was attacked. according to a tweet.

Two other journalists were injured in the attack and hospitalized, Kiev police chief Andrey Nebitov wrote on Facebook.

“Of course, being a journalist is a risk, but US citizen Brent Renaud paid his life for trying to highlight the ingenuity, cruelty and ruthlessness of the attacker,” Nebitov said.

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The police chief also shared an image of an officer at the scene next to a man’s bloodied body.

One of the other journalists injured was American photographer Juan Arredondo, who was in the car with Renaud when Russian troops opened fire.

Arredondo said they just crossed a bridge to film refugees fleeing the violence. After the car went through a checkpoint when they were about to film people at another bridge, “the Russians started shooting at us,” he said The guard. He was separated from Renaud when he was placed in an ambulance and taken to hospital.

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Sunday that Russia should face “reasonable consequences” for Renaud’s death.

“This is obviously shocking and frightening and I just found out about it as I was broadcasting here, so I’m going to consult with my colleagues, I’m going to consult with Ukrainians to determine how this happened and then measure and execute corresponding ramifications,” Sullivan said during an interview on CBS’s Face the Nation.

Renaud previously won a Peabody Award for his work alongside his brother Craig, who was among the relatives to whom Zelensky addressed his letter. The siblings won Vice News’ prestigious award for a documentary about a school in Chicago, according to their website. The brothers had worked on documentary projects in Iran, Afghanistan, Haiti, Egypt, Libya and Mosul for their company, the Renaud Brothers.

The New York Times published a statement on Renaud’s death on Sunday. Despite initial reports, Renaud was not working for the Times when he was killed.

“We are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Brent Renaud. Brent was a talented filmmaker who has contributed to The New York Times over the years,” a New York Times representative told The Post.