British Safety Adviser Killed in Russian Missile Strike on Ukrainian Hotel

Ryan Evans, 38, British safety adviser working with a team of journalists

A British safety adviser working with a team of journalists was killed when a Russian missile struck a hotel in the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, Reuters has confirmed.

Ryan Evans, 38, was staying at the Hotel Sapphire in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region on Saturday night when it was hit by a Russian Iskander-M ballistic missile. Evans was part of a six-person Reuters crew, two of whom were hospitalized with injuries from the attack.

Ukrainian emergency personnel work among the rubble of a destroyed hotel following a Russian strike, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in the town of Kramatorsk, Ukraine, August 25, 2024.

Local officials reported that the missile strike left the hotel in ruins, with reporters suffering blast injuries, concussions, and cuts. The Associated Press described the hotel as reduced to "rubble," with excavators working to clear debris hours after the strike. A nearby multistory building was also destroyed in the attack, according to Donetsk regional Governor Vadym Filashkin.

The violence extended beyond Kramatorsk. In Ukraine's Kharkiv region, Russian fire injured multiple civilians, including a 4-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl, after two houses were struck in Chuhuiv. In Kharkiv city, a Russian attack wounded eight people and set a two-story house ablaze, according to regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov.

A tractor clears rubble after a Russian strike on the Sapphire Hotel in Kramatorsk, Donetsk Region, Ukraine on August 25th, 2024

Meanwhile, in Russia, Ukrainian shelling in the border region of Belgorod left five people dead and 12 others wounded, including a 16-year-old girl in critical condition. Regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov reported that another man was killed in a separate drone attack on the border village of Solovevka.