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The Russians have moved closer to Kyiv and now, there’s the first American casualty reported from the conflict.

The Ukrainians are reporting that American journalist Brent Renaud was killed, and at least two others were wounded in Irpin, a suburb of Kyiv. According to the Ukrainian chief of police, the Russian troops opened fire on a car of journalists, and Renaud was killed in the fire. The Ukrainians then evacuated the wounded to a hospital.

“The occupants cynical [sic] kill even journalists of the international media who try to show the truth about the inaction of Russian troops in Ukraine,” Kyiv Chief of Police Andrey Nebitov wrote on Facebook.

“Of course, the profession of a journalist is a risk, but US citizen Brent Renaud paid his life for trying to highlight the aggressor’s ingenuity, cruelty and ruthlessness,” he continued.

Irpin has been under heavy attack as the Russians advance on Kyiv.

Renaud was initially identified as a NY Times journalist because he was wearing a NY Times press badge, but according to the NYT, he hasn’t worked for them in years.

The NY Times issued a statement.

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“We are deeply saddened to hear of Brent Renaud’s death. Brent was a talented filmmaker who had contributed to The New York Times over the years,” a New York Times spokesperson said in an emailed statement to Fox News Digital. “Though he had contributed to The Times in the past (most recently in 2015), he was not on assignment for any desk at The Times in Ukraine. Early reports that he worked for Times circulated because he was wearing a Times press badge that had been issued for an assignment many years ago.”

So, what was the Biden Administration’s response to this?

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan called reports of Renaud’s death “shocking and horrifying,” telling “Face the Nation” on Sunday that the U.S. and its allies would impose “appropriate consequences” against Russia for the killing.

“I will just say that this is part and parcel of what has been a brazen aggression on the part of the Russians where they have targeted civilians, they have targeted hospitals, they have targeted places of worship and they have targeted journalists,” Sullivan said.

Unfortunately, the Russians are not frightened by the Biden team’s threats. That’s the problem of not being strong with them to begin with, and backing them off even before they invaded. They’re always a day late and a dollar short, reacting rather than proactively addressing problems.

While the Russians have shown a lot of ineptness so far in the fighting — far more than anyone anticipated — they don’t seem to be stopped by the sanctions that Biden has imposed so far. So, Sullivan’s response rings hollow. Unfortunately, there’s likely a lot more ugliness to come.

Update [11:46 am EDT, 3/13/22]: Here’s a video of a second American journalist, Juan Arredondo, who was allegedly also shot and injured at Irpin:

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