logo
"Resolute": Benjamin Hall on embracing the challenge of recovery

"Resolute": Benjamin Hall on embracing the challenge of recovery

CBS News23-02-2025

On March 14, 2022, Fox News correspondent Benjamin Ball and his crew, who were covering the war in Ukraine, traveled to the frontline town of Horenka with two Ukrainian soldiers, when their car was struck by Russian missiles.
"I reached for the door of the car, and I managed to get one foot out of the door," Hall said. "And then the third bomb hit the car itself. And I was out for, I'm not sure how long, but I woke up and I must be about 15, 20 feet from the car. I was on fire.
"I started to sort of gather where I was and what had happened. I was confused because I had no trousers or shoes on. I didn't quite figure out that it had burnt off. And, you know, my right foot had been largely blown off. And I can still sense what it was like – all the worries had gone. There was, like, one sole thing: survival. There was one thing: Get home."
He flagged down a car that drove him to a Ukrainian hospital. "That was the last I remember," he said. "I think I was just barely, barely alive at that point."
I asked, "When did you realize the extent of your injuries?"
"You know, I didn't," Hall said. "For example, the left foot I didn't really realize. It was only later that I saw a picture that was taken in hospital, which it just has a baseball-sized hole right in the middle of it and totally gone. But I didn't notice that. The leg obviously took most of my attention. I didn't know how badly I was burned. I had shrapnel in the eye, cut the eye in half. I was unaware of that. You know, I was bleeding from the head, but didn't know how much of my skull had been taken out. Nor did I even know that the thumb had been pulled off. It is an incredible place that your body goes to. You are in this survival mode."
He was the only survivor. Longtime Fox News cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski and local producer Sasha Kuvshynova were killed. With no space in the car, they'd decided to go without Fox's own security.
I asked, "You juggle a lot and adrenaline is pushing and you're up against deadlines. Were mistakes made?"
"No, I don't think so," Hall replied. "We have a routine that we follow. You know where you're going and talk about it as a team, and that's what we did that day. Look, Pierre and Sasha are dead. Do I want to reverse it? Do I want to go back? Would I bring them back for absolutely anything? Of course I would. That will be with me forever."
Hall documented the dramatic and tragic events in his book, "Saved," which details how Fox News helped get him on a train headed to the Polish border, where the U.S. military was waiting. "I was taken off that train at the other end, and there was this Blackhawk, 82nd Airborne. I felt I was absolutely saved."
The war correspondent, a dual U.K. and U.S. citizen, began chronicling his own battle. Hall's journey to recovery took him from Poland, to Germany, to Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas, ever-further from his wife, Alicia Meller, and their three daughters in London.
When "Sunday Morning" met the family last year, they were getting ready to welcome a new baby, and adjusting to a changed reality.
I asked Alicia, "Were there times that you were preparing for the very worst with him?"
"The first night that I got the call, I actually thought he was probably going to die, to be honest," she replied. "I think when this kind of a thing happens, you do expect, like, worst-case scenario, and you could be prepared for death. But I was not prepared for this. I have no experience with amputees or amputations or just the amount of surgeries that, you know, are involved with someone who has a blast injury. I had no idea."
"Until you're challenged with something, I don't think you always understand what you're capable of," she said, turning to her husband. "So, I think maybe you surprised yourself with your capabilities."
He's undergone around 40 surgeries, and hundreds of hours of physical therapy, writing about that, too, in a new book about the power of resilience. "Resolute: How We Humans Keep Finding Ways to Beat the Toughest Odds" will be published March 18.
"You suddenly are open to doing anything," said Hall. "And if a doctor comes in and says, 'We're putting leeches on that, we're going to take the thumb off, we're going to put your elbow onto it,' bring it on! Whatever you've got to do to get me home, to get me walking, to get me back to my kids, I will do it and I won't complain about it."
He's embraced the challenge, even his new mismatched eye. "The only lens they had left was blue," he said. "And they said, 'We can go find you a brown one.' And I said, 'Give me the David Bowie look, I want it, you know?' So, I love the eyes. And you know what? They're a conversation starter. And I love that."
"Why do you want people to ask about the injuries?" I asked.
"You know, I don't think I had spent much time before the injuries thinking about what it was like to be disabled. So, I guess I want to do it to help others feel natural about it."
On his first day back in the London bureau, he told Fox viewers, "I'm a strong believer that, if something knocks you down, you go away and you deal with it and you keep coming back."
Reminders of the tragedy are ever-present; Fox dedicated its bureau to Zakrzewski after the deadly attack.
Sasha Kuvshynova's parents are suing Fox News, claiming wrongful death in their lawsuit.
I asked Hall, "They've named you, your book, as perpetuating a story that they believe is a false story of how close you were, whether you should have been that close."
"Look, I came home to my family, I came home to my children; they lost their daughter. But when it comes to my book, I sat down within a few days and I started jotting down what happened. I wanted people to read about what happened, because I wanted to talk about Pierre and about Sasha and the amazing work they did, and the war, what we were covering. And so, the idea that the book is false in any sense isn't true in any bit."
"How was it to have your memoir named in this lawsuit, the allegation being that HarperCollins is a subsidiary of the same parent company, that somehow Fox is getting its story out through you?"
"Surprised, I suppose," Hall said. "I certainly didn't see it coming."
The ordeal has reordered his priorities – and family is more important ever. Asked if he thinks he's fully processed what happened, Hall replied, "Yeah, I have. Processing it doesn't mean that it's gone. Pierre and Sasha died. I don't want to totally process that. I always want to have that drive me. So, I'm happy to hold those burdens, you know? I feel like they're part of me now."
"How do you think about conflict reporting today?"
"Oh, more important than ever," said Hall. "I loved my career. I loved what I was doing, and I would take these injuries as a result of that. I would change it all to bring Pierre and Sasha back in a heartbeat. But I think it's the most important job in our field, to be honest. I think it's essential."

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Russia launches another large-scale drone and missile attack on Ukraine, killing 3 and wounding 13
Russia launches another large-scale drone and missile attack on Ukraine, killing 3 and wounding 13

Los Angeles Times

time8 minutes ago

  • Los Angeles Times

Russia launches another large-scale drone and missile attack on Ukraine, killing 3 and wounding 13

KYIV, Ukraine — Russia attacked two Ukrainian cities with waves of drones and missiles early Tuesday, killing three people and wounding at least 13 in what President Volodymyr Zelensky called 'one of the biggest' strikes in the 3-year-old war. The attack struck Kyiv and the southern port city of Odesa. In an online statement, Zelensky said that Moscow's forces fired over 315 drones, most of them Shaheds, and seven missiles overnight. 'Russian missile and Shahed strikes are louder than the efforts of the United States and others around the world to force Russia into peace,' Zelensky wrote, urging 'concrete action' from the U.S. and Europe in response to the attack. A maternity hospital and residential buildings in the southern port of Odesa were damaged in the attack, regional head Oleh Kiper said. Two people were killed and nine injured, according to the regional prosecutor's office. Another person was killed in Kyiv's Obolonskyi district, regional head Tymur Tkachenko wrote on Telegram. 'Russian strikes are once again hitting not military targets but the lives of ordinary people. This once again shows the true nature of what we are dealing with,' he said. Explosions and the buzzing of drones were heard around the city for hours. The fresh attacks came a day after Moscow launched almost 500 drones at Ukraine in the biggest overnight drone bombardment of the war. Ukrainian and Western officials have been anticipating Moscow's response to Kyiv's audacious June 1 drone attack on distant Russian air bases. Russia has been launching a record number of drones and missiles in recent days, despite both sides trading memoranda at direct peace talks in Istanbul on June 2 that set out conditions for a potential ceasefire. However, the inclusion of clauses that both sides see as nonstarters make any quick deal unlikely, and a ceasefire, long sought by Kyiv, remains elusive. The only tangible outcome of the talks has been the exchange of prisoners of war, with a swap that began Monday for soldiers aged between 18 and 25. Russia's Defense Ministry said Tuesday it had received a second group of exchanged soldiers as part of the deal. Amina Ivanchenko was reunited Monday with her husband, a POW for 18 months, in the release of an initial group of Ukrainian soldiers. She said was grateful to Ukrainian officials for supporting her. 'My struggle was much easier thanks to them. Our country will definitely return everyone. Glory to Ukraine! Thank you!' Anastasia Nahorna waited in the Chernyhiv region to see if her husband, who has been missing for eight months, was among those being released in the latest swap. 'This pain is more unbearable every day,' she said. 'I really want to hear some news, because since the moment of his disappearance, unfortunately, there has been no information. Is he alive? or maybe in captivity? Has someone seen him?' she asked. Anna Rodionova, the wife of another Ukrainian POW, also was waiting. 'I just want him to come back soon and for this to all be over,' she said. 'We are tired of waiting, we come every exchange and he is not there.' A similar exchange was announced for the bodies of fallen soldiers held by both sides, although no schedule has been released. Asked to comment on the exchange of dead, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was unclear when it could take place and how many bodies Ukraine would hand over. He again accused Kyiv of dragging its feet on the exchange. 'There is one unarguable fact, we have had trucks with bodies standing ready for it on the border for several days,' he told reporters. Plumes of smoke rose in Kyiv as air defense forces worked to shoot down drones and missiles Tuesday. Viktoriia Melnyk, 30, vented her anger at the Russians after her building in the Obolonskyi district was struck by a drone. 'I want them to leave our territory, to leave us alone, to leave our families alone,' she said. 'Small children are dying. This is not normal. It's not normal that (the world) is turning away. This is not normal for the 21st century.' Mariia Pachapynska, the 26-year-old manager at a T-shirt company in the Obolonskiy district that produces T-shirts, decried that her facility was struck. 'There were military facilities here,' she said, noting that 'everything and half of me, half of my soul, burned down.' Seven out of 10 districts were damaged in the attack, according to Maryna Kotsupii of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, adding that 16-story and 25-story residential buildings were hit. Residents took shelter and slept in metro stations during the long attack, including Nina Nosivets, 32, and her 8-month-old son, Levko. 'I just try not to think about all this, silently curled up like a mouse, wait until it all passes, the attacks. Distract the child somehow because it's probably the hardest thing for him to bear,' she said. Krystyna Semak, 37, said she was scared by the explosions and ran to the metro at 2 a.m., carrying a rug. Fires broke out in at least four Kyiv districts after debris from downed drones fell onto residential buildings and warehouses, according to the Kyiv City Military Administration. 'I was lying in bed, as always hoping that these Shaheds would fly past me, and I heard that Shahed (that hit the house),' said Vasyl Pesenko, 25, standing in his damaged kitchen. 'I thought that it would fly away, but it flew closer and closer and everything blew away.' The attack sparked 19 fires across Ukraine, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko wrote on Telegram. 'Russia must answer for every crime it commits. Until there is justice, there will be no security. For Ukraine. And for the world,' he said. The Russian Defense Ministry said an attack early Tuesday targeted arms plants in Kyiv, as well as military headquarters, troop locations, air bases and arms depots across Ukraine. 'The goals of the strikes have been achieved, all the designated targets have been hit,' it said in a statement. The death toll rose Tuesday from previous Russian strikes. In Kharkiv, rescuers found a body in the rubble of a building that was hit Saturday, Mayor Ihor Terekhov wrote on Telegram. The discovery brought the number of dead there to five, with five others potentially under the debris, Terekhov said. In the northern city of Sumy, a 17-year-old boy died of his injuries Tuesday after a June 3 attack, acting Mayor Artem Kobzar wrote on Telegram, bringing the number killed to six. The Russian Defense Ministry reported downing 102 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions and Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula Moscow illegally annexed from Kyiv in 2014. The drones were downed both over regions on the border and deeper inside Russia, including central Moscow and Leningrad regions, according to the Defense Ministry. Flights were temporarily restricted at multiple Russian airports, including all four in Moscow and the Pulkovo airport in St. Petersburg, the country's second-largest city. Stepanenko and Kullab write for the Associated Press. AP Journalist Illia Novikov contributed to this report.

A crypto CEO is accused of laundering $500 million to aid sanctioned Russian banks
A crypto CEO is accused of laundering $500 million to aid sanctioned Russian banks

Business Insider

time23 minutes ago

  • Business Insider

A crypto CEO is accused of laundering $500 million to aid sanctioned Russian banks

The US Department of Justice charged the CEO of a cryptocurrency company with a money laundering scheme that helped clients with ties to Russian banks evade sanctions. An announcement from the department on Monday said that Iurii Gugnin, the CEO of Evita Pay, funneled $530 million of foreign payments through banks and crypto exchanges while concealing the purpose and the source of the transactions. "The defendant is charged with turning a cryptocurrency company into a covert pipeline for dirty money, moving over half a billion dollars through the U.S. financial system to aid sanctioned Russian banks and help Russian end-users acquire sensitive U.S. technology," John A. Eisenberg, assistant attorney general for national security, said. The scheme ran from June 2023 to January 2025, and involved processing payments of Tether — one of the biggest dollar-denominated stablecoins — for Russian clients linked to blacklisted banks including VTB and Sberbank. "To effectuate the scheme, Gugnin defrauded various banks and cryptocurrency exchanges through which he converted funds and made wire transfers," the DOJ statement said. "Gugnin repeatedly lied to these banks and exchanges, telling them that Evita did not conduct business with entities in Russia and did not deal with sanctioned entities." Gugnin was arrested in Manhattan on Monday and faces 22 counts related to wire and bank fraud, operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, and failing to implement an effective anti-money laundering compliance program. The DOJ statement also says Gugnin's internet search queries included things like "how to know if there is an investigation against you," and "money laundering penalties US." If convicted, Gugnin could face life in prison, with a maximum of 30 years for each count of banks fraud, 20 years for each count of wire fraud, and 10 years for failing to implement anti-money laundering practices.

Noem: LA a ‘city of criminals'
Noem: LA a ‘city of criminals'

The Hill

time42 minutes ago

  • The Hill

Noem: LA a ‘city of criminals'

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem declared Los Angeles a 'city of criminals' while slamming Mayor Karen Bass (D) and California Gov. Gavin Newsom's (D) handling of ongoing protests against the Trump administration's immigration raids. 'Today, we had over 400 to 500 targets we were going after that were known members of gangs in L.A. that have been victimizing people for years, that Gavin Newsom has done absolutely nothing about, that Mayor Bass has done absolutely nothing about,' Noem said during a Monday night appearance on Fox News' 'Hannity.' 'And now she's [Bass] holding press conferences, talking about the fact that people have the right to peacefully protest and that they're a city of immigrants,' Noem said. 'Well, they're not a city of immigrants, they're a city of criminals because she has protected them for so many years,' the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) chief added. Noem's remarks come as President Trump has deployed another 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles, increasing the total count to 4,000, according to Newsom. Trump has argued the deployment of National Guard troops is necessary to address violence as protesters clash with law enforcement while protesting ramped-up Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations that have taken place in recent days. The Pentagon has also deployed about 700 Marines to Los Angeles to protect federal buildings and officials. Trump's moves have been criticized by Newsom and California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D), who sued the administration on Monday over the decision to send in the National Guard, deeming it an 'unprecedented power grab.' 'And so, we're coming in and doing what the president has said that he's going to do and he's going to allow people to live in a safe community again and we're going to use the authority that he has as president of the United States to conduct these operations,' Noem said Monday night. The DHS secretary said that 'the more that people' use violence against law enforcement, 'Boy, we're gonna hit them back and we're gonna hit them back harder than we ever have before.'

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store