US journalist shot dead in Ukraine: medic, witnesses

A US journalist was shot dead and another wounded on Sunday in Irpin, a frontline northwest suburb of Kyiv, medics and witnesses told AFP.

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.

“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.”