NPR Ukraine producers Polina Lytvynova and Hanna Palamarenko contributed to this story. When the Fox News Channel hosted hundreds of advertisers and industry executives at the ornate Hammerstein Ballroom in Manhattan two years ago, the network centered attention on a tragic yet heroic figure: the war correspondent Benjamin Hall. "From Ukraine to the Middle East, and here at home, the dedicated journalists of Fox News are trying to inform Americans, even in the most perilous of circumstances," Hall proclaimed.
Hall knows peril all too well. In the first weeks of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a strike by Russian forces hit the car in which Hall's team had been traveling outside Kyiv. He lost his right leg below the knee, most of his left foot and part of an eye.
Two years after the attack, Hall stood center stage on prostheses, in a suit that ended just above his knees. He entered to a standing ovation. "These stories, they need eyes on the ground," Hall said.
"They need a human perspective. They need us to bear witness." Though gravely injured, Hall was the lucky one. The strike killed all four people who traveled with Hall that day: The two Ukrainian soldiers who served as guides.
Pierre Zakrzewski, a beloved Fox war videographer. And Oleksandra Kuvshynova, known as Sasha. The 24-year-old Ukrainian had just joined the team as a producer and interpreter.
Fox has described the deaths as tragic and honored the fallen. Yet two multimillion-dollar lawsuits against the network blame it for what happened. One of those lawsuits has been filed by Kuvshynova's parents, who also squarely blame Hall.
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