President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky met with Fox Corporation CEO Lachlan Murdoch, Fox News journalist Benjamin Hall and The Sun journalist Jerome Starkey, who visited Kyiv.
The Head of State thanked the representatives of the media group for comprehensive coverage of Ukraine's fight against Russian aggression and for telling about Russian atrocities despite the risks to themselves.
In the spring of 2022, a group of Fox News journalists came under Russian fire in Kyiv region. Cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski and Ukrainian fixer Oleksandra Kuvshynova were killed. Benjamin Hall was seriously wounded.
The President noted the important role of the world media in consolidating international support for Ukraine and expressed condolences to all those whose relatives and friends were taken by the war.
"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. My sincere condolences to the families and friends of those very brave men and women who lost their lives trying to show what is happening in Ukraine. In particular, it is thanks to journalists from many countries that we now have such support in the world," Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
The President awarded Benjamin Hall with the Order of Merit, III class, for his outstanding personal contribution to strengthening interstate cooperation, support for Ukraine's independence and territorial integrity.
The Head of State thanked Lachlan Murdoch for his visit and emphasized that it is a very important signal of support at the time when the world's attention is blurred by other events.
The President also spoke about the situation on the battlefield, the high motivation and determination of the Ukrainian people and their belief in victory. Volodymyr Zelensky emphasized the importance of maintaining the world's attention to our efforts in the fight for freedom and our state.
"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. 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," the Head of State emphasized.
The interlocutors discussed further cooperation and exchanged views on Russian propaganda narratives used by opponents of support for Ukraine. They also discussed the Ukrainian vision of a just peace based on the Peace Formula.
