Reuters team member killed in Russian missile attack on Ukrainian hotel

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A member of a Reuters news crew was killed and two others were injured when their hotel in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk was attacked by a Russian missile.

Reuters said in a statement on Sunday that the Sapphire Hotel, where the six-member team was staying, was hit during the night between Saturday and Sunday.

The Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine announced on Sunday evening that the body of a British citizen had been recovered from the rubble of the hotel.

According to the Financial Times, the dead man is the security advisor of the Reuters team. The events in the hotel were confirmed by one of the two journalists in hospital, but the FT is not publishing the identity of the team at this time at the request of the injured man.

The Attorney General's Office had previously stated in a statement on the Telegram messaging service that it had launched a “preliminary investigation” into the attack, which reportedly occurred at 10:35 p.m. local time on Saturday.

“Russian troops probably attacked the city of Kramatorsk with an Iskander-M missile,” it said. The Iskander is a ballistic missile with a range of up to 500 km.

Prosecutors said the two journalists, aged 38 and 40, were being treated for blast injuries, brain contusions, broken legs and cuts.

Donetsk region governor Vadym Filashkin said a high-rise apartment building was also damaged in the attack. Rescue workers were still searching for the Reuters employee on Sunday while clearing away the rubble.

Russian military bloggers and politicians boasted about the attack on Telegram, falsely claiming that Kremlin forces had attacked an army facility.

“In Kramatorsk, an attack was carried out on the building of the Sapphire Hotel, where, according to preliminary data, the Ukrainian armed forces are usually stationed,” wrote Oleg Tsaryov, a former Ukrainian MP who now supports Russia's war against his homeland.

Kyiv condemned the attack. Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhii Tykhyi said: “Yesterday evening, another heinous and targeted Russian attack hit the residential areas of Kramatorsk, injuring foreign media journalists in a hotel.”

“Targeted attacks on the media have become Russia's systematic war tactic. These barbaric war crimes must be condemned, prosecuted and punished,” he wrote on the social media platform X.

Russia has repeatedly attacked hotels where foreign media and humanitarian organizations stay. An attack on the Kramtorsk hotel and the neighboring Ria Pizza restaurant in June 2023 killed 13 people, including journalists and humanitarian workers, as well as soldiers dining at the restaurant.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 15 journalists and media workers were killed while doing their jobs during the war.

Saturday's attack was one of several Russian missile and drone strikes targeting northern and eastern Ukraine overnight. The Air Force said its defenses intercepted most of the missiles and drones over the northeastern regions of Chernihiv, Sumy and Kharkiv.

An earlier Russian attack on Saturday on a residential area in Kostiantynivka, 30 kilometers south of Kramatorsk, killed five civilians, local authorities said.

The latest airstrikes come as Ukraine continues its invasion of Russia's Kursk region, which began on August 6. Meanwhile, Moscow's forces in the Donetsk region continue to advance toward the military and logistical stronghold of Pokrovsk, 80 kilometers southwest of Kramatorsk.