Two Fox journalists were killed in Ukraine. A widow still searches for answers. - The Washington Post

“I decided not to archer his family,” she said, “because I was truthful definite helium was going to amusement up. We each knew helium had 9 lives.”

But Ross-Stanton wasn’t waiting for the adjacent connection from Fox: A erstwhile writer herself, she started making calls from her London location that nighttime to friends, sources, distant connections — anyone who mightiness cognize thing astir Pierre.

Seven months later, Ross-Stanton hasn’t stopped moving the phones.

For warfare correspondents, the hazard of decease has agelong been accepted arsenic portion of the job. Already, 15 journalists person been killed successful Ukraine since the warfare began successful February, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. But arsenic of November, Zakrzewski and Kuvshynova stay the lone journalists moving for a U.S. tv web who person died successful this conflict.

Ross-Stanton remains connected a quest to recognize the murky circumstances of her husband’s death. Though she has pieced unneurotic immoderate of the communicative of however his squad ventured retired to the beforehand lines of the warring astatine a peculiarly unsafe time, she is inactive trying to find whether anyone — beyond the subject unit that launched the onslaught — is liable for what happened, oregon for the chaotic aftermath.

One peculiar item continues to occupation her: The squad of information consultants hired by Fox to enactment with its journalists successful Ukraine was not traveling with her hubby and his squad erstwhile they were attacked.

Her vexation with the dearth of accusation is shared by the parents of Kuvshynova, a young arts maven and aspiring writer who launched into conflict-zone reporting erstwhile her state was invaded. They said nary 1 from Fox called to archer them that their girl had been attacked, and they person not been fixed immoderate much accusation successful the months that followed astir however she died. They archetypal became alert of the incidental aft speechmaking a societal media post from a Ukrainian authorities official. “We were not kept successful the loop astatine all. The connection was not sufficient,” said her father, Andrey Kuvshynov. “We learned astir it from the internet.”

A Fox News spokesperson said that elder enactment was successful interaction with some families and worked with a translator to pass with Kuvshynova’s parents.

In a statement, the spokesperson added that Fox was wholly devastated by their deaths. “Their bonzer dedication to telling the stories of those impacted by the warfare successful Ukraine placed a captious spotlight connected the atrocities unfolding determination regular — we are everlastingly grateful for their committedness to journalism and their eventual sacrifice. We did everything humanly imaginable successful the aftermath of this unprecedented calamity amid the chaos of a warfare zone.”

While she declined to sermon the details, Ross-Stanton said she is inactive successful talks with Fox implicit a colony that would supply compensation for Zakrzewski’s death. Meanwhile, with a notebook and calendar astatine her side, she has been constructing a chronology of her husband’s last days and hours.

“I privation the information and I privation the full information and I privation to cognize precisely what happened,” Ross-Stanton said successful the archetypal interrogation she has fixed astir her husband’s death. “It’s not that I don’t spot Fox to springiness maine the close answers, but I don’t spot anybody to springiness maine the answers that I privation to hear.”

Zakrzewski arrived successful Ukraine successful precocious January on with a unit of Fox News colleagues. After checking into the InterContinental Kyiv edifice — a fashionable basal campy for Western journalists — they got to enactment reporting connected the increasing threats of a Russian invasion.

A relentlessly upbeat beingness with a shaggy push-broom mustache, Zakrzewski came to this duty with a higher presumption than astir camera operators. A estimation for competence and bid built implicit his decades of tract acquisition had besides positioned him to instrumentality connected immoderate of the accepted responsibilities of a producer. From his location basal of London, helium was often dispatched to information zones arsenic good arsenic for little perilous quality stories crossed Europe, specified arsenic British royal functions — which his woman says helium didn’t peculiarly bask covering. Even their vacations were globe-trotting adventures. Family videos amusement Zakrzewski — a French-Irish dual national called “The Mad Irishman” by immoderate friends — zooming astir connected his motorcycle, chatting up the locals.

“He ne'er unpacked,” Ross-Stanton said. “I learned not to bargain nutrient for much than 2 days astatine a time. For him, it was a manner choice.”

In their archetypal weeks, the Fox News squad produced regular updates connected the Russian threat, usually done the lens of Zakrzewski’s camera. Many were broadcast unrecorded from the hotel’s rooftop, though correspondents besides went to the streets of Kyiv and different cities, talking to residents astir the increasing threats of war. In precocious January, Fox reported connected a radical of civilians grooming for combat; successful February, it captured scenes of Ukrainian soldiers conducting live-fire grooming extracurricular of Chernobyl and, later, teenagers lobbing grenades to hole for guerrilla combat.

Most of the Fox unit had worked unneurotic before. But they had 1 caller subordinate of the team: Oleksandra Kuvshynova, a festival organizer and publicist who viewed the accidental to enactment with Fox arsenic a large accidental to interruption into journalism. Starting successful mid-January, she began helping the Fox unit coordinate and construe interviews and find their mode astir the region. She bonded with her caller colleagues implicit their shared emotion of java and her passionateness for music.

“We were precise arrogant of her and knew it was important enactment to bash erstwhile the warfare started,” her begetter said, speaking for himself and her mother, Iryna Mamaysur. When her parents fretted astir her safety, “she tried to calm america down and told america that Fox News was reliable, and they had each information measures successful place.”

In caller years, Fox News has cemented its ratings dominance with a absorption connected hot-button blimpish punditry, and its newsgathering beingness successful Ukraine was smaller than immoderate of its competitors’ — astir 20 radical during the conflict’s aboriginal weeks, portion CNN had 75 astatine the opening of the invasion.

But “Fox threw everything astatine Ukraine,” Ross-Stanton said. “They did propulsion a batch of resources astatine it. Everybody was implicit there.”

The Kyiv bureau’s archetypal on-camera brushwood with information occurred connected Feb. 19, erstwhile analogous Trey Yingst traveled to Ukraine’s eastbound borderline and broadcast footage of troops preparing for the invasion. As Yingst interviewed the country’s interior minister, Russian-backed separatists began artillery strikes. The analogous made a tally for it connected unrecorded television. As Zakrzewski’s jostling camera tried to support up, Yingst could beryllium heard yelling, “Where’s Pierre? Where’s Pierre?”

On Feb. 24, Russia began its battle connected Ukraine. Hall, who chiefly covered the State Department from Washington, moved from the comparative information of the occidental metropolis of Lviv to articulation the Kyiv staff. On March 11, the British-born analogous reported connected aerial that Russian troops were poised to invade the capital. Fox aired a conception filmed astatine a children’s infirmary successful Kyiv — the voices of young patients raised successful song, the half-covered assemblage of a dormant lad lying connected the floor. Air raid sirens could beryllium heard successful the distance.

“Thanks, Benji,” anchor John Roberts said astatine the decision of the report. “Stay safe.”

As the Russians precocious crossed Ukraine that month, journalists became captivated by 1 evacuation route: the span crossed the Irpin River that separated Kyiv from the susceptible occidental suburb of Irpin. Ukrainian forces had destroyed the span to support Russian tanks from rolling into the superior from the west, but present panicked suburbanites were struggling crossed woody planks laid connected apical of the h2o to flight the shelling — a melodramatic country highlighted successful galore quality stories.

Then, connected March 13, an American documentary filmmaker was changeable and killed portion passing done a subject checkpoint connected the occidental broadside of the river. Brent Renaud, 50, had been moving connected a task astir warfare refugees for Time Studios. Zakrzewski witnessed the shooting from immoderate region away, according to his wife.

Renaud’s decease shocked the Kyiv-based property corps. It besides jumbled their logistics: The politician of Irpin called for journalists to enactment away, and a main road was closed off, forcing those who wanted to question to the beforehand to instrumentality a much indirect route.

The adjacent day, March 14, Zakrzewski headed backmost into the occidental suburbs with Hall and Kuvshynova.

From the infinitesimal she learned her hubby was missing, Ross-Stanton went her ain way.

That night, she began reaching retired to her husband’s colleagues, to an array of contacts from her ain vocation arsenic a videographer for the BBC and advocacy organizations. “Every azygous writer that I knew connected the ground, I contacted them to say, ‘Help, find my husband.’ ”

Later, aft she got the telephone that Zakrzewski was dead, Ross-Stanton insisted connected flying to Krakow, Poland, past traveling to the Ukrainian borderline to retrieve his body. Fox News paid for the backstage level and aboriginal for the ceremonial successful Ireland, but she rebuffed suggestions that its executives travel her oregon marque the travel for her.

“I was precise rude to the CEO of Fox News,” she said, adding that she aboriginal apologized. “I said, ‘No, I’m going. He’s my husband, and I’m going to get him.’ … I was prepared to spell to Kyiv if I had to and resistance him retired of the morgue if I had to.”

And past she acceptable retired to larn precisely however her hubby died.

Hall, the lone subsister of the attack, is inactive recovering from devastating injuries. He has not publically described what happened, and Fox News did not marque him disposable for an interview.

But from conversations with her husband’s co-workers and different sources with firsthand knowledge, Ross-Stanton has re-created astir of his last day.

She believes Zakrzewski, Hall and Kuvshynova near Kyiv astir midday with the program of filming soldiers digging trenches to equine a defence of the capital. When subject officials waved them away, they detoured to a colony that had precocious been shelled. The squad astir apt ended up successful the colony of Horenka by mode of a roadworthy that looped the agelong mode astir the off-limits municipality of Irpin.

The Fox News squad did not question alone. Two soldiers from a Ukrainian militia, the Azov Battalion, gave them a thrust from a gathering constituent successful the occidental suburbs, said the group’s co-founder and apical commander, Col. Andriy Biletsky. The radical was formed successful 2014, and its far-right views made its members arguable figures aboriginal successful the war, though they would aboriginal beryllium hailed arsenic heroes for their long, doomed defence of Mariupol.

Zakrzewski felt assured of their safety, his woman says, due to the fact that a squad of New York Times journalists had made the aforesaid travel with the aforesaid soldiers 1 time earlier. But “there was a batch of shelling,” said Andriy Dubchak, a Ukrainian newsman who worked with the Times connected that assignment. “No 1 knew wherever the beforehand enactment was. It was truly unpredictable.”

Sviatoslav Yurash, a adjacent person of Kuvshynova who serves successful the Ukrainian parliament, said subject investigators told him that they judge the Fox unit was filming erstwhile they spotted Russian forces and tried to find a safer determination — lone to extremity up successful the way of artillery fire, perchance launched from the adjacent Russian-controlled municipality of Hostomel. From her ain reporting, Ross-Stanton believes the battle happened erstwhile they were stopped astatine a checkpoint instead.

The barrage was aggravated — astir apt astir 40 rockets, according to Biletsky, the Azov commander. When Yurash visited the country aboriginal with Kuvshynova’s father, they recovered utter devastation, with houses and vehicles decimated by shelling.

Still, the shelling was “very imprecise,” Biletsky said: That the Fox team’s conveyance happened to beryllium wherever the rockets landed was “fantastically mediocre luck.”

According to video from the country viewed by Ross-Stanton, the archetypal ammunition landed astir 20 feet successful beforehand of their vehicle. She says she could perceive her hubby shouting “Reverse! Reverse!” and “Get out!” Kuvshynova was trapped successful the vehicle, Ross-Stanton learned from 2 radical with adjacent cognition of the incident, portion Hall and Zakrzewski escaped oregon were thrown from the vehicle. She believes that a ammunition sprayed the shrapnel that pierced her husband’s femoral artery conscionable beneath his flak jacket. Both Azov soldiers were killed, Biletsky said.

Back successful Kyiv, though, each anyone knew that day was that the Fox squad was missing.

As connection began to spread, information consultants employed by Western media organizations huddled astatine the InterContinental Kyiv, conferring successful hushed tones astir however they could help. Kuvshynova’s parents — who lone knew she had headed retired connected a reporting travel that time — grew acrophobic erstwhile she stopped responding to messages.

Dubchak, the Ukrainian stringer for the New York Times, spent hours that evening accompanying 2 information consultants — 1 with the Times, the different with Fox — connected a hunt of country hospitals. They yet located Hall successful 1 hospital, wherever helium had been transported by soldiers who recovered him astatine the blast scene. Jennifer Griffin, Fox’s nationalist information analogous who had been assisting the hunt from Washington, scrambled to assistance coordinate Hall’s evacuation via ambulance to the Polish border, past to a U.S. subject infirmary successful Germany.

But Zakrzewski and Kuvshynova remained missing. With nightfall and continued shelling successful the area, Dubchak advised them to suspend the hunt until the morning.

Back successful the United States that aforesaid day, Fox News anchor John Roberts delivered the quality that Hall had been injured, giving fewer details and saying thing astir his colleagues.

The pursuing day, astir 20 hours aft Zakrzewski was known to beryllium missing, the 2 information consultants moving for Fox recovered his assemblage successful a morgue.

There was an contiguous outpouring of grief erstwhile Fox News reported the decease of the wide beloved cameraman. As connection began to circulate successful Kyiv that Kuvshynova besides had died, immoderate journalists chided Fox connected Twitter for not promptly reporting this news.

In fact, the web was waiting retired of deference to her family, who had known truthful small astir the enactment she was doing, oregon the information it involved, that they couldn’t comprehend wherefore they were asked — the time aft the onslaught — to travel to the InterContinental Kyiv to cod her belongings. When they were not fixed an mentation for the trip, they decided not to go. Yurash, who had erstwhile worked arsenic a section shaper for Fox, tried to person them that she had been killed. But it wasn’t until yet different time passed, her begetter said, that a coroner astatine a section morgue confirmed her decease for them.

Eventually, Ross-Stanton would travel to recognize 1 crushed for some the disorder of that time and the shortage of accusation she could obtain: Except for their militia escorts, the Fox News unit was unsocial retired determination successful Horenka.

“Why did they extremity up there?” asked Kuvshynova’s begetter successful an anguished interrogation helium gave to Insider.com a period aft her death.

Now, Kuvshynov says: “It was the incorrect determination to nonstop them connected that circumstantial duty and to that location, due to the fact that they knew it was highly dangerous.”

Some journalists — including a fewer Fox colleagues — felt the aforesaid mode initially, noting the decease of Renaud successful the country a time earlier.

But ultimately, astir of the overseas correspondents interviewed by The Post — a close-knit assemblage inactive grappling with the deaths of their friends — decided that the Fox News squad had simply gone wherever the communicative was that day. The Post spoke with much than 10 correspondents from a assortment of quality organizations; galore said that they would person taken the aforesaid travel and that the Fox unit had simply accepted the modular grade of tenable hazard that comes with their enactment of work. Ross-Stanton agrees: “They didn’t see it a risky mission,” she said.

Several Kyiv-based correspondents said Renaud’s decease factored into their ain decision-making but did not support them from leaving their hotels. “Our absorption backmost astatine location successful London, they don’t say, ‘You’re not going retired contiguous due to the fact that this has happened,’ ” said Jeremy Bowen, a seasoned BBC correspondent.

A typical for Fox News said web officials discussed information and caution with its squad successful Kyiv each day. Renaud’s decease “was portion of that discussion, and we were ever urging caution,” the idiosyncratic said.

The world of tv journalism is that reporters request visuals to archer a communicative — and venturing into the satellite to cod footage produces a much compelling bundle than a stand-up broadcast from a edifice rooftop successful Kyiv. “Your networks are ever blessed to instrumentality footage, until thing goes wrong,” said a erstwhile Fox News overseas correspondent, speaking connected the information of anonymity to sphere relationships.

But immoderate questioned whether the Fox squad should person traveled with the militia.

“There is nary information relation that allows you to question with soldiers successful the beforehand enactment nether fire,” said Anton Skyba, a seasoned section shaper successful Ukraine who present works for Canada’s Globe and Mail.

“If you are with the Ukrainian subject anywhere, you are astatine the hazard of being deed by ammunition fire, due to the fact that it’s an artillery war,” said Richard Spencer, a analogous for the Times of London, who had attempted a travel to Horenka a fewer days earlier the Fox team.

But it’s not antithetic for media organizations to “embed” with a subject portion successful an progressive warfare zone. Several correspondents said it was often the lone mode for journalists to screen the Ukrainian beforehand lines.

Dubchak didn’t deliberation doubly astir embedding with the Azov soldiers the time earlier the Fox squad went out. “They cognize the locations. They cognize the area,” helium said. “And they person a weapon to support america if thing happens.”

In the months since her husband’s death, Ross-Stanton’s probe has focused heavy connected the question of whom his squad did not question with successful its last hr — anyone from the squad of information consultants hired by Fox to supply logistical enactment and guidance.

In struggle zones, information consultants often service arsenic battlefield medics and extraction experts, marshaling resources to evacuate injured journalists. Most large quality organizations operating successful Ukraine person hired in-house information consultants oregon enactment with contractors.

Fox News has agelong contracted a information steadfast called Separ International, a tiny institution that conducts hostile-environment-awareness grooming for a assortment of media organizations.

“I would emotion to cognize who made that determination for them not to go,” Ross-Stanton said. “In immoderate ways I benignant of anticipation it was Pierre that told them not to travel due to the fact that it was excessively dangerous, due to the fact that past I’m not going to blasted anybody for his death.”

Every warfare analogous finds a mode to travel to presumption with the risks. Some of Zakrzewski’s friends are present reevaluating them.

“You archer yourself that you volition beryllium good due to the fact that you are precise cautious,” said Clarissa Ward, a longtime overseas analogous present with CNN. “But the world is that determination is an constituent of luck and randomness to each of it, and Pierre’s decease truly rammed that location for me.”

Sky News’s Ramsay — who survived an detonation successful Mosul, Iraq, successful 2017 and was changeable successful the little backmost adjacent Kyiv successful precocious February — teared up arsenic helium recalled the affectional past hug helium shared with Zakrzewski earlier helium near Ukraine to retrieve from his injuries: “My past words to him were, ‘Please instrumentality care. It’s truly dangerous.’ ”

Now, Ramsay said, helium finds himself wondering: “Is it imaginable to bash this occupation without it being incredibly dangerous? If it’s not incredibly dangerous, you’re astir apt not doing it.”

“Pierre was unlucky,” said Nabih Bulos, a Los Angeles Times analogous who has reported extensively connected Ukraine. “They could accidental the aforesaid happening astir maine astatine immoderate point.”

On a caller afternoon, Ross-Stanton sat successful the surviving country of the tiny level she shared with her hubby successful southeast London, a spot filled with relics of overseas assignments: his passports, a state mask, his famously ample postulation of fanny packs.

There were condolence letters from President Biden and Mick Jagger, and a enactment she had erstwhile scrawled for him successful marker connected the backmost of an envelope: “Put yourself first. It’s lone TV — not beingness and death!”

Zakrzewski “would person loved to person been a father,” his woman says, but she disquieted astir raising a kid portion helium was disconnected moving successful unsafe places.

“Our program was for Pierre to discontinue early, and we were going to spell disconnected connected our vessel and person a dog, a h2o dog,” she said. “We conscionable had truthful galore plans.”

Now the aged Dutch barge that helium spent endless hours repairing — his “expensive mistress,” Ross-Stanton jokes — remains docked successful occidental London, its hull featuring a caller representation of Zakrzewski and his family’s caller mantra: #BeMoreLikePierre.

Ross-Stanton doesn’t similar being unsocial successful the level anymore. She’s reasoning astir moving.

In an quality astatine a Fox News unit gathering successful September, Hall spoke up for the enactment that had outgo his squad truthful much. “When we deliberation backmost to some Pierre and [Oleksandra], we person to retrieve what we tin larn from them,” helium said. “That what we do, that this occupation is truthful important that we person to support doing it. We person to support doing it successful their names.”

In fact, the fallout from their deaths has been bitter. Lawyers for Kuvshynova’s parents said they sent questions for Fox to inquire Hall astir her enactment duty and the circumstances of the onslaught — details they sought to assistance prosecute Russia for a warfare crime. “They were not adjuvant astatine all,” the lawyer, Olga Grygorovska, told The Post. “After we had a chat with 2 of their lawyers, they simply ignored our requests.”

Ross-Stanton said pointedly of her still-unresolved colony talks with Fox: “Pierre thought that I would beryllium taken attraction of if thing happened to him,” adding that helium joined the web arsenic a full-time staffer to warrant a “level of protection” for her.

Yet she agreed with Hall that conflict-zone reporting is worthy the risks.

“Pierre wanted to archer the truth,” she said. “He wanted to beryllium the dependable for radical who didn’t person a voice. … This was precisely what helium wanted to beryllium doing.”

She continued: “I get aggravated erstwhile radical accidental they don’t ticker the quality due to the fact that it’s excessively depressing. And I explicate that radical hazard their lives to bring you that quality truthful that you cognize what’s going connected successful the world, and you should beryllium watching it.”

She is inactive making calls, tracking down sources, trying to find answers. She has taken a relation arsenic a cardinal witnesser successful a war-crimes tribunal probe launched by France successful March and hopes the findings volition output caller details — though, she said, “I don’t cognize if we volition ever really find retired the truth.” She is besides raising wealth for aesculapian assistance to Ukraine and plans to found awards done the Frontline Club, a nonrecreational enactment supporting freelance journalists, to grant some her hubby and Kuvshynova.

“I americium dedicating myself to keeping his bequest alive,” she said. “That’s my job. That’s what’s keeping maine going.”