Former British soldier working with Reuters news agency killed in strike in eastern Ukraine

A British national working for the Reuters news agency was killed in a strike on a hotel in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk.

Ryan Evans was working as a safety adviser for the agency. He was killed after a missile struck the Hotel Sapphire on Saturday (Aug 24) where he was staying as part of a six-person team.

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. He 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 news agency said.

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

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"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."

Russia has been bombing hotels in frontline areas for more than a year.

A double-tap missile strike on the Druzhba hotel in Pokrovsk killed seven people in August 2024.

Eleven people were injured in a bombing of a hotel in Kharkiv in January.

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