MANHATTAN (CN) — Ukrainian journalist Oleksandra “Sasha” Kuvshynova was just 24 years old when she was killed by Russian fire while reporting on the front lines of the Eastern European conflict for Fox News.
Her parents blame the network for her death.
In a scathing 29-page lawsuit filed in New York state court, Kuvshynova’s parents claim Fox News ignored safety precautions and lost track of its reporters while they were on the war’s front lines, leading to the death of their daughter and her colleague, photojournalist Pierre Zakrzewski.
“Fox has maintained that it knew where its crew was,” they claim. “However, that is false.”
They filed the suit on Thursday, exactly two years after Kuvshynova’s death.
Kuvshynova’s family says Fox set its reporters in Ukraine up for failure by lacking sufficient preparation and staffing, putting them at higher risk than reporters for other outlets.
“Given the volume and urgency of information coming out of the Russian invasion, the Fox crew was understaffed compared to other major news networks, and the Fox crew was overworked, sleep-deprived, and exhausted,” they claim in the suit.
Things went from bad to worse following the death of American journalist Brent Renaud, who was gunned down by Russian soldiers in the Ukrainian city of Irpin on March 13, 2022, according to the lawsuit.
In the hours following Renaud’s death, Irpin’s mayor issued a ban on foreign journalists from the area, which Kuvshynova’s parents say was known as “the most dangerous place in Ukraine.”
Fox’s hired security contractor also advised crews not to go. But the next day, Kuvshynova and her team went anyway.
“Inexplicably, one of the Fox teams set out for the Irpin-Hostomel area on March 14, 2022 the day after Brent Renaud was killed there and the Mayor of Irpin issued a proclamation banning all journalists, and the day after security advisor Shane Thomson had vetoed the idea,” Kuvshynova’s parents claim.
The team had no communication with the rest of the Fox crew in Kyiv nor geolocation trackers to know the whereabouts of the field team, they added.
As the team drove around Irpin collecting footage, they eventually stopped at an abandoned Ukrainian checkpoint, where disaster struck.
“While the car carrying the crew was stopped, first one and then two explosive rounds hit near it,” Kuvshynova’s parents claim. “As some of the crew scurried out of the car to escape the clear and present danger, a third round hit the car, with Sasha inside. The car caught fire and Sasha was burned to ashes inside it, causing her death.”
After her death, Kuvshynova’s parents say Fox tried to cover its tracks by getting them to sign a predatory contract in an effort to hide its dubious employment practices.
“It shocks the conscious for Fox to take advantage of shocked and grieving parents, entreating them to sign an agreement to waive their rights without consideration beyond amounts for which Fox was purportedly already obligated — when Fox was, in fact, covering its tracks for its failure to follow Ukrainian law, or any law at all, in its engagement of Sasha’s services,” they said.
There was no evidence that Kuvshynova was ever paid during the two months she worked for Fox, her parents add, and she had no written contract of employment or benefits.
Kuvshynova’s parents also chided the network for its pushing “anti-Ukraine themes,” despite promising to “honor the memory of Sasha” the day after her death.
“Approximately a day later, Fox released a statement on the death of Sasha, in which CEO Suzanne Scott promised to honor the memory of Sasha, who died trying to tell the world the truth about what was happening in Ukraine,” they said. “On the contrary, Fox News since led the way in sounding anti-Ukraine themes. Fox pundits have even sided with Russia.”
In a statement to Courthouse News, the network refuted the claims from Kuvshynova’s parents, calling them "inaccurate."
“While we understand the grief and continue to mourn the loss of both Pierre Zakrzewski and Sasha Kuvshynova, we will respectfully defend against the inaccurate claims within this lawsuit," a network spokesperson said in a statement to Courthouse News. "The safety of our journalists has always been our number one priority and we are immensely grateful to the Fox News journalists who have covered the war in Ukraine and we remain committed to reporting from the region.”
Kuvshynova’s parents are suing for wrongful death, fraud and tortious interference, among other claims for punitive damages. In addition to the network, longtime Fox News chairman Rupert Murdoch and Benjamin Hall — the lead reporter in Kuvshynova’s reporting group the day of her death — are also listed as defendants in the lawsuit.
The New York-based Belluck & Fox represents the plaintiffs.
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