Ryan Evans, Reuters security adviser in Ukraine, killed by rocket at age 38

Ryan Evans, a Reuters security adviser, was killed in a suspected Russian missile attack on his hotel in Ukraine on Saturday, the news agency reported. He was 38. Two other members of the Reuters team covering the war in Ukraine were hospitalized in the attack, one of them seriously injured.

Evans was a retired British soldier who supported Reuters and advised its journalists on security issues around the world, including their coverage of Ukraine, Israel and the Paris Olympics. He began working with the agency in 2022.

He was part of Reuters' six-person team covering the war in Ukraine when he was killed in an attack on their hotel, the Hotel Sapphire in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk. Evans was initially reported missing but was eventually declared dead after his body was found in the rubble of the hotel.

“We extend our deepest condolences and thoughts to Ryan's family and loved ones. Ryan helped so many of our journalists cover events around the world; we will miss him terribly,” Reuters said in a statement.

According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the hotel was hit by a Russian Iskander ballistic missile.

“An ordinary city hotel was destroyed by the Russian Iskander,” he said in a speech on Sunday evening, adding that the attack was “absolutely targeted and well thought out … My condolences to family and friends.”

“We are urgently seeking further information about the attack, including through cooperation with the authorities in Kramatorsk, and we are supporting our colleagues and their families,” a Reuters statement said.

Three other members of the Reuters team at the hotel are safe and sound, the agency said.

Reuters noted that the Russian Defense Ministry did not respond to a request for comment on the attack and that the news organization could not independently verify whether the missile that hit the hotel was part of a deliberate attack or whether Russia had fired the missile.

The regional prosecutor's office of Donetsk province said in a Telegram post that the hotel was “destroyed” at 10:35 p.m. local time on Saturday.