Reuters safety adviser killed, two journalists injured in Ukraine's Kramatorsk

YEREVAN, AUGUST 26, ARMENPRESS. Ryan Evans, a member of the Reuters team covering the war in Ukraine, was killed and two Reuters journalists were injured in a strike on a hotel in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, the news agency said on Sunday.

Evans, who was working as a safety adviser for the agency, was killed after a missile struck the Hotel Sapphire where he was staying as part of a six-person team on Saturday, Reuters said in a statement.

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 and advised its journalists on safety around the world including in Ukraine, Israel and at the Paris Olympics. He was 38.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the hotel was hit by a Russian Iskander missile

"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".

Ukrainian authorities said Russia fired missiles overnight in various directions across the country.