Renaud with his brother, another filmmaker. The pair are experienced in conflict zones and are understood to have been filming refugees crossing the border when they were killed
"I will be consulting with my colleagues, we'll be consulting with the Ukrainians to determine how this happened and then to measure and execute appropriate consequences as a result of it," Sullivan told CBS.
"This is part and parcel of what has been the brazen aggression on the part of the Russians where they have targeted civilians... and they have targeted journalists," he said.
It remains unclear what kind of response the US is considering. President Joe Biden remains insistent that the US will not engage Russia militarily in Ukraine, and Sullivan echoed this sentiment on Sunday, but added that "If Russia attacks, fires upon, takes a shot at NATO territory, the NATO alliance would respond to that."
News of Renaud's death was first reported by Kiev Region Police chief Andrei Nebytov, who shared images of a New York Times press pass belonging to Renaud and a bloodied corpse - allegedly the journalist's. Nebytov accused Russian forces of killing the reporter.
The Times issued a statement shortly afterwards saying that Renaud was not on assignment in Ukraine, and had last worked for the newspaper in 2015.
Renaud's colleague, a Colombian-American photographer named by The Guardian as Juan Arredondo, was wounded, and told another reporter in hospital that they were fired upon after they were driven past a checkpoint to film refugees leaving Irpen. He did not say who fired, or whether himself and Renaud were being driven in a military or civilian vehicle. Several Western reporters were nearby at the time of the shooting.
The International Federation of Journalists blamed Russia for Renaud's death, claiming that he "died after coming under Russian fire." The Committee to Protect Journalists meanwhile called on Renaud's killers to be brought to justice, but admitted that it was "unable to immediately confirm the source of the gunfire."
Comment: Footage circulating on Twitter claims to show a Ukrainian soldier filming himself and then showing who he claims is the murdered journalist's body lying on the ground. The Tweeter rightly asks: if Renaud was shot by Russian gunfire that happened just 10 minutes before, isn't it strange that the Ukrainian soldier seems to be so at ease in the film he's shooting? Is that because the territory is still completely under Ukrainian control and therefore the gunfire was unlikely to be from Russian forces?
This explanation has the advantage of being plausible: Renaud was mistaken for a spy, as he was taking pictures of troops and their location:
See also: Zelensky is Not in Charge of Ukraine, Nazis Are - And They Believe They Are on a Mission From God to 'Derussify Ukraine in Holy War'
And check out SOTT radio's: NewsReal: Russian Operations in Ukraine Proceeding as Planned, But Risk of War Contagion Grows