Fox News correspondent Benjamin Hall has been accused of disregarding urgent security warnings before travelling outside Kyiv, where a Russian strike killed two members of his team and left him with life-changing injuries.
The allegations are at the centre of a multimillion-dollar lawsuit brought by the parents of Ukrainian producer Oleksandra ‘Sasha’ Kuvshynova, who was 24 when she died alongside Fox cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski in March 2022.
Two security advisers who were working for Fox in Ukraine have supported key elements of the family’s claims, alleging that the network and Hall had repeatedly been warned to avoid the area north-west of the Ukrainian capital.
Former Fox security adviser Aaron King said: “If you took Benji out of the equation, this never would have happened.”
Fox has strongly denied the allegations and said it would “respectfully defend against the inaccurate claims within this lawsuit”. The network maintains that the safety of its journalists “has always been our number one priority”.
Warnings before the deadly journey
The fatal assignment took place as Russian forces advanced through the region around Kyiv. The previous day, American filmmaker Brent Renaud had been shot dead in Irpin, while the city’s mayor had publicly warned journalists to stay away.
Security adviser Shane Thomson, who has joined Kuvshynova’s parents in their lawsuit, said the danger had been made clear through intelligence available to the team.
“There was no way we were going there,” he said. “No way. Not after the credible intel, what we had and everything what we had before. It was all on point. There’s nothing, no gray areas.”
The lawsuit alleges that a Fox security meeting held the evening before the attack instructed crews to remain within Kyiv’s city limits.
Hall, Zakrzewski and Kuvshynova set out the following morning intending to film defensive trenches being built inside the capital. Hall has previously said their “explicit intention was to avoid the front lines, stay clear of active fighting, remain within the city’s borders”.
When Ukrainian troops refused to allow them to film at the trenches, two soldiers travelling with the journalists suggested going to Horenka, a nearby suburb that had been badly damaged by Russian forces.
Hall later wrote that the crew believed Russian troops were at least 30 miles away. Fox lawyers have acknowledged in a court filing that Hall and the Ukrainian soldiers were mistaken about the location’s safety.
The family’s lawyers allege that Hall’s account was “patently and knowingly false”. They also claim he had been specifically instructed not to travel beyond a checkpoint or enter an area that had not undergone a proper security assessment.
Russian strike kills two Fox colleagues
As the vehicle travelled back towards Kyiv after the crew had filmed the destruction, it came under attack.
Hall later recalled that the first missile landed about 30 feet in front of the car. He said Zakrzewski shouted: “Reverse the car! Reverse the car!” before the vehicle became stuck.
“Pierre shouted, ‘Get out of the car! Everyone, get out of the car!’ And the next second, the second bomb hits right in front of the left of the car. And that one, I went black,” Hall said.
Zakrzewski escaped the vehicle but suffered a severe leg injury and later died beside the road, according to a separate lawsuit brought by his widow. Kuvshynova and the two Ukrainian soldiers travelling with the journalists were unable to get out.
Hall was found alive and evacuated from Ukraine. He lost his right leg below the knee, most of his left foot and part of an eye, and later underwent extensive medical treatment.
Kuvshynova’s parents say Fox did not contact them on the day of the attack. They claim it was her boyfriend, Ukrainian lawmaker Sviatoslav Yurash, who told them she had been killed.
Her father later retraced the route and said a Ukrainian commander told him Hall had been warned not to continue beyond the checkpoint. The family was informed 48 hours after the strike that Kuvshynova’s remains were in a morgue; DNA testing was later used to confirm her identity.
Lawsuits over Fox’s response
Fox subsequently offered the family a payment covering wages and benefits, funeral costs and an additional sum similar to life-insurance proceeds. The network says the payment exceeded its contractual obligations and was made as a gesture of “sympathy and goodwill”.
Fox argues that a document signed by Kuvshynova’s father released it from legal responsibility, describing the agreement as “the beginning and the end of the case”. Her family says they did not understand what they were signing while dealing with the invasion and their daughter’s death.
“I did not know the extent Fox was at fault,” Kuvshynova’s father said in a sworn affidavit.
A New York judge has allowed significant parts of the case to proceed to discovery, potentially enabling the family’s lawyers to seek internal Fox correspondence and other evidence. Judge Mary V. Rosado said it would be “a grave injustice” to prevent the parents from investigating whether they had been told the truth about their daughter’s death.
Zakrzewski’s widow, Michelle Ross-Stanton, is pursuing a separate case in Britain. The proceedings concern allegations that Fox failed adequately to protect and insure her husband.
Fox continues to deny responsibility for the deaths. Kuvshynova’s mother, Iryna Mamaysur, said the family’s case was about more than financial compensation, claiming the network had treated them shamefully and failed to respect them.
