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Ryan Evans, a member of Reuters’ Ukraine war reporting team, was killed and two Reuters journalists were injured in an attack on a hotel in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, the news agency reported on Sunday (August 26).
Evans, who was working as a security adviser for the agency at the time, was killed on Saturday when a missile hit the Sapphire Hotel where he and six other team members were staying, Reuters said in a statement.
It was reported that two of the agency’s journalists were being treated in hospital, one of whom was seriously injured.
Reuters said: “We are urgently seeking more information about the attack, including working with the Kramatorsk authorities and offering support to our colleagues and their families.”
Evans, a former British soldier, has worked for Reuters since 2022 and has advised on the safety of its journalists around the world, including in Ukraine, Israel and the Paris Olympics. He is 38.
Reuters said: “We extend our deepest condolences and sympathies to Ryan’s family and loved ones. Ryan helped many of our journalists cover events around the world; he will be greatly missed.”
The agency said three other members of the Reuters team who were at the hotel at the time of the attack were safe.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said the hotel was hit by a Russian Iskander missile, a ballistic missile with a strike range of up to 500 kilometers.
“A Russian ‘Iskander’ missile destroyed an ordinary city hotel,” he said in a speech on Sunday evening, adding that the attack was “absolutely purposeful and well-thought-out… My condolences go to the family and friends.”
The Russian Defense Ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
Reuters could not independently verify whether the missile that hit the hotel was fired by Russia or whether the building was deliberately attacked.
The Donetsk regional prosecutor’s office said earlier in a telegram that the body of a British citizen was found in the rubble of a hotel building in Kramatorsk.
The hotel was “destroyed” at 10:35 pm local time (19:35 GMT) on Saturday, “probably by an Iskander-M missile”, the report said, adding that the prosecutor’s office had opened a pre-trial investigation into the attack.
Read more by Euractiv
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