(Kramatorsk) Two Reuters staff members were injured and another was missing after a strike hit a hotel in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine, overnight Saturday, authorities and the news agency said.
Vadym Filachkin, governor of the Donetsk region where most of the fighting is taking place, said the hotel “was targeted” by the Russian army.
“One of our colleagues is missing, while two others have been taken to hospital for treatment,” Reuters said in a statement, adding that three other members of their team were unharmed.
“We are urgently seeking further information, working with the authorities in Kramatorsk and providing support to our colleagues and their families,” the news agency added.
According to Governor Filashkin, the three victims are “citizens of Ukraine, the United States and the United Kingdom.” The attack, which damaged the Sapphire Hotel and a neighboring building, took place “in the middle of the night,” he continued on Telegram. “Police and rescuers are working at the scene. The rubble is being cleared and rescue operations are underway,” he added.
PHOTO THOMAS PETER, REUTERS
A man searches inside the Sapphire Hotel after it was hit by a Russian missile strike on August 24.
AFP journalists in Kramatorsk saw rescuers inspecting the rubble of the hotel using flashlights.
In the morning, emergency services were still clearing rubble from the building, AFP noted.
City often targeted
The last major city in Donbass under Ukrainian control, Kramatorsk is located about twenty kilometers west of the front line.
PHOTO GENYA SAVILOV, VIA REUTERS
A building next to the Sapphire Hotel was damaged in the Russian strike.
Since the start of the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, this city, which had a population of around 150,000 before the war, has been the target of repeated attacks by Russian forces.
In April 2022, Kramatorsk train station was the target of a bombing that left more than 60 dead. In June 2023, a strike on a restaurant in the city left 13 dead.
Elsewhere in Ukraine, 11 people have been killed in Russian bombings in the past 24 hours: seven in the Donetsk region (east) and four in the Sumy region (north), according to local authorities. At least 28 people have also been injured in these strikes.
On the Russian side, five people were killed in Ukrainian bombings in the Belgorod region during the night, announced Sunday Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of this region neighboring that of Kursk, attacked for more than two weeks by Kyiv.
According to him, 13 people were also injured, six of whom are “in serious condition”, including a 16-year-old girl who is in intensive care.
Kursk region governor Alexei Smirnov reported that four Ukrainian missiles had been shot down late Saturday evening.
According to the NGO Reporters Without Borders, at least 11 journalists have been killed in Ukraine and 35 injured since the start of the Russian invasion launched in February 2022.
AFP video coordinator in Ukraine, Arman Soldin, was killed on May 9, 2023, at the age of 32, in a rocket attack while reporting in Chassiv Yar, near the front in the Donetsk region.