Reuters safety adviser killed, two journalists injured in Ukraine's Kramatorsk

[August 26, 2024]  (Reuters) -Ryan Evans, a member of the Reuters team covering the war in Ukraine, was killed and two Reuters journalists were injured in a strike on a hotel in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, the news agency said on Sunday.  

Reuters safety advisor Ryan Evans (L) takes a selfie with Reuters photographer Dylan Martinez on a news reporting assignment near the border with Gaza in Be'eri, southern Israel, February 8, 2024. REUTERS/Ryan Evans

Evans, who was working as a safety adviser for the agency, was killed after a missile struck the Hotel Sapphire where he was staying as part of a six-person team on Saturday, Reuters said in a statement.

Two of the agency's journalists were being treated in hospital; one of them was seriously injured, it said.

"We are urgently seeking more information about the attack, including by working with the authorities in Kramatorsk, and we are supporting our colleagues and their families," Reuters said.

Evans, a former British soldier, had been working with Reuters since 2022 and advised its journalists on safety around the world including in Ukraine, Israel and at the Paris Olympics. He was 38.

"We send our deepest condolences and thoughts to Ryan's family and loved ones. Ryan has helped so many of our journalists cover events around the world; we will miss him terribly," Reuters said.

The three other members of the Reuters team who were in the hotel at the time of the strike were accounted for and safe, the agency said.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the hotel was hit by a Russian Iskander missile, a ballistic missile that can strike at distances up to 500 km (310 miles).

"An ordinary city hotel was destroyed by the Russian Iskander," he said in his evening address on Sunday, adding the strike was "absolutely purposeful, thought out ... my condolences to family and friends".

The Russian Defence Ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

Reuters was not able to independently verify if the missile that hit the hotel was fired by Russia or if it was a deliberate strike on that building.

The Donetsk province's regional prosecutor's office said in a Telegram post earlier that the body of a British citizen had been found in the rubble of a hotel building in Kramatorsk.

The hotel was "destroyed" at 10:35 p.m. local time (1935 GMT) on Saturday "probably with an Iskander-M missile", it said. The prosecutor's office has opened a pre-trial investigation into the strike, it said.

(Reporting by Rachel Armstrong and Tom BalmforthEditing by Frances Kerry)

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