Wounded Fox correspondent Benjamin Hall recounts talking with dying colleague Pierre Zakrzewski after Ukraine bombing
Fox News Channel correspondent Benjamin Hall, who was badly injured while covering the Russian invasion of Ukraine, said Thursday that he credits his dying colleague — as well as seeing a vision of his daughters — for motivating him to survive after the Russian bombing.
Hall was hospitalized and two of his colleagues, cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski and Ukrainian journalist Oleksandra Kuvshynova, were killed when their vehicle was struck by incoming fire in March 2022 in Kyiv.
Hall told "Fox & Friends" Thursday that he and Zakrzewski talked to each other as they lay wounded, and that conversation helped give him strength to keep going.
"The two of us laid there for about 40 minutes, and talked. He passed away," Hall said. "But the journey to continue was about me being saved."
Hall also read an excerpt from his upcoming memoir, in which he described the harrowing moments right after the attack. He said he was "all but dead" before hearing his daughter's voice in his head.
"If I had the slightest iota of consciousness, it was a distant sense of shock waves and the feeling that every part of my body – bones, organs, sinew, my soul – had been knocked out of me," Hall read from the book. "I did not exist except as part of the nothingness. I was all but dead but improbably, out of this crippling nothingness, a figure came through, and I heard a familiar voice, as real as anything I'd ever known. 'Daddy, you've got to get out of the car.'"
Hall told Fox that seeing a vision of his three young daughters motivated him to survive.
"I opened my eyes and managed to crawl out of the car," he said. "If it weren't for them bringing me back, there is no way I would be here today."
Hall was evacuated to Poland, and spent months in recovery at Brooke Army Medical Center outside of San Antonio, Texas. He has tweeted that he lost half a leg, his foot on the other leg, and that his hearing was "pretty blown."
On Thursday, he told "Fox and Friends" that despite his serious injuries, he feels strong.
"I've got one leg, I've got no feet, I see through one eye, one workable hand. I was burned all over, and I feel stronger, I feel more confident than I ever have," Hall said.
HarperCollins Publishers announced Thursday that Hall's "Saved: A War Reporter's Mission to Come Home" will be released March 14, the one-year anniversary of the Russian bombing that injured him.
According to HarperCollins, Hall will write about his prior experiences in Syria and Afghanistan among other countries, his decision for "one last" return to a war zone when he agreed to report from Ukraine and the extraordinary efforts to save his life.
"Featuring nail-biting accounts from the many people across multiple countries who banded together to get him to safety, Hall offers a stunning look at the complex teamwork and heartfelt perseverance that turned his life into a mission," the publisher's announcement reads in part.
Hall, 40, has also reported for The New York Times, the BBC and Esquire, among other media outlets. He lives in London with his wife and three daughters.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
