On Sunday, the award-winning American filmmaker and journalist Brent Renaud was killed in Ukraine while reporting in a suburb of the capital, Kyiv. Ukraine’s Interior Ministry reported.

Andriy Nebytov, the head of Kyiv’s regional police force said that the 50-year-old filmmaker was killed when Russian troops opened fire. A graphic photo of Renaud’s body with his American passport and media credentials issued by The New York Times was posted by Nebytov on Facebook.

Time executives mentioned in their statement that Renaud was on assignment for Time Studios working on a “project focused on the global refugee crisis,” at the time of his death.

Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister, said in a statement that Mr. Renaud “paid with his life for attempting to expose the insidiousness, cruelty, and ruthlessness of the aggressor.”

One of the injured journalists, Juan Arredondo, told an Italian reporter he had been with Renaud when they came under fire.

“We were across one of the first bridges in Irpin, going to film other refugees leaving, and we got into a car”, he said in a video published on Twitter.

“Somebody offered to take us to the other bridge and we crossed a checkpoint, and they start shooting at us. So the driver turned around, and they kept shooting; there’s two of us. My friend is Brent Renaud, and he’s been shot and left behind… I saw him being shot in the neck.”

“He’s been shot and left behind”: U.S. journalist Juan Arredondo describes the moment he and Brent Renaud came under attack by Russian forces at a checkpoint in Irpin, Ukraine, on Sunday. Renaud was shot and killed. https://t.co/BmzIVT54TR pic.twitter.com/NvtYZ1lgM4

— CBS News (@CBSNews) March 13, 2022

In a Twitter post, PBS journalist Jane Ferguson tweeted about seeing Renaud’s body by the side of the road.

Just left roadside spot near Irpin where body of American journalist Brent Renaud lay under a blanket. Ukranian medics could do nothing to help him by that stage. Outraged Ukranian police officer: “Tell America, tell the world, what they did to a journalist.”

— Jane Ferguson (@JaneFerguson5) March 13, 2022

Daily Mail also reported:

Initially, he was thought to have been on assignment for The New York Times because he was carrying a press badge that listed the newspaper as his publication but it has since emerged he was working on a global film about refugees.

Renaud’s death was announced by Andrey Nebitov, the head of Kyiv’s police department, who said in a Facebook post that he paid ‘with his life for trying to highlight the aggressor’s ingenuity, cruelty and ruthlessness.’ He also shared a video, taken by a police officer at the scene, who said a third journalist was wounded.

‘We had crossed the first bridge in Irpin. We were going to film other refugees leaving we got into a car. Somebody offered to take us to the other bridge. We crossed a checkpoint and they started shooting at us. The driver turned around, there were two of us. My friend is Brent Renaud. He has been shot and left behind. I saw he has been shot in the neck. We got split,’ he said.

Renaud had contributed to The Times in previous years, most recently in 2015, but he was not on assignment for the company in Ukraine. Early reports that he was working for The Times in Ukraine circulated because he was found with a Times press badge that had been issued for an assignment years ago.

“We are deeply saddened to hear of Brent Renaud’s death,” said Danielle Rhoades Ha, a spokeswoman for The Times. “Brent was a talented filmmaker.”

Sources: 100 Percent Fed Up, CBS News, New York Times, BBC