Fox Boss and Reporter Travel to Ukraine to Meet with Zelenskyy
Fox Corp. Chairman Lachlan Murdoch traveled to Kyiv over the weekend to meet with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
News of the visit was first reported Monday morning by Axios and confirmed in a news release from Zelenskyy’s office.
Murdoch was joined by Fox News correspondent Benjamin Hall and Jerome Starkey, defense editor of the U.K. newspaper The Sun, during his meeting with Zelenskyy.
The Sun and Fox News are owned by Murdoch, who succeeded his father, Rupert Murdoch, as chairman of Fox Corp. and News Corp in mid-November, according to Axios.
Hall was severely injured while covering the war in Ukraine in early 2022 when Russian forces attacked a vehicle in which he was traveling with Fox News photojournalist Pierre Zakrzewski and Ukrainian fixer and journalist Oleksandra Kuvshynova, according to The Washington Post.
The attack killed Kuvshynova and Zakrzewski and left Hall without half a leg and with one foot.
Hall received the Order of Merit, III class, from Zelenskyy for his “outstanding personal contribution to strengthening interstate cooperation, support for Ukraine’s independence and territorial integrity,” his office announced Monday.
The Ukraine president expressed his gratitude to Murdoch for his visit, stressing that it sent an “important signal of support” for Ukraine during a time when other events blur the “world’s attention,” the news release from his office said.
“All this time, journalists, cameramen, editors, photographers, drivers have been on the frontline. As this is a hybrid war, information is also a weapon in Russian hands,” Zelenskyy said in a statement.
“In particular, it is thanks to journalists from many countries that we now have such support in the world,” he added.
According to the news release, in his meeting with Murdoch, Zelenskyy “emphasized” the need to ensure Ukraine had the “world’s attention” in its fight against Russia.
“For some reason, people treat it like a movie and expect that there will be no long pauses in the events, that the picture before their eyes will always change, that there will be some surprises every day,” Zelenskyy said.
“But for us, for our warriors, this is not a movie. These are our lives. This is daily hard work. And it will not be over as quickly as we would like, but we have no right to give up and we will not,” he added.
Murdoch declined Axios’ request for comment through a Fox spokesperson, the outlet reported.
The media mogul had previously spoken with Zelenskyy via Zoom in March, Axios reported.
Murdoch met with Andriy Yermak, head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, before meeting with Zelenskyy, according to a news release from the office.
Ukrainian officials briefed Murdoch on the frontline situation, the Ukrainian energy sector, Russian attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure, and alleged Russian war crimes, the release said.
Hall also got the opportunity to interview Zelenskyy for the Tuesday night episode of “Special Report with Bret Baier,” Axios reported.
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