British safety adviser for Reuters killed in Russian strike on Ukraine hotel

CNN: A British safety adviser for the Reuters news agency was killed and two journalists injured when a Russian strike hit a hotel in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine, on Saturday night.

Reuters had a six-person crew staying at the Hotel Sapphire as part of its team covering the war in Ukraine. A spokesperson for the news agency identified the killed safety adviser as Ryan Evans, a 38-year-old British citizen who was assigned to its reporting team in Ukraine.

Reuters added that two of its journalists were being treated in hospital, one for serious injuries.

In a statement on Sunday afternoon, 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. 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.”

Members of emergency services stand at the site where the hotel was hit. - Vitalii Hnidyi/Reuters

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, the news agency said.

Three other colleagues have been accounted for and suffered mild injuries, Reuters added.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed in his daily address on Sunday that British and American citizens were in the Kramatorsk hotel, adding “My condolences go out to the family and friends. This is a daily Russian terror that continues, because Russia has the ability to continue.”

A spokesperson for the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said, “We are aware of reports of a British national missing in Ukraine and are seeking more information from the local authorities.”

The US State Department has confirmed that an American citizen was among those injured but has not identified the person.

Rescuers uncovered the body of one man under the rubble, the head of Kramatorsk City’s military administration, Oleksandr Honcharenko, said in an update on Sunday afternoon. He did not give further details or identify the body.

The head of Donetsk regional military administration, Vadym Filashkin, said the injured journalists include “citizens of Ukraine, the United States, Latvia and Germany.” He confirmed on Telegram Sunday morning that the deceased was a British citizen.

The Reuters crew managed to file video on Sunday morning of the extensive damage done to the hotel, showing emergency services searching through huge piles of rubble with torches. Footage filmed inside the hotel showed several destroyed hotel rooms.

The video also showed extensive damage to the hotel’s roof.

A man walks among debris inside the hotel targeted by a Russian missile. - Thomas Peter/Reuters

Kramatorsk has often been the target of Russian shelling since the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine in February 2022. It remains one of the largest cities under Ukrainian control in the country’s besieged east.

In April 2022, Russian forces carried out a missile strike on Kramatorsk’s railway station that was being used to shelter civilians fleeing the fighting.

More than 50 people, including several children, died in that one attack, which was called “an apparent war crime” by Human Rights Watch and SITU Research.