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A British citizen is found dead after a Russian airstrike destroyed a hotel in Ukraine where Reuters journalists were staying.
Reporters covering Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine were staying at the Sapphire Hotel in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk when it was hit by a missile on Saturday.
Initially it was said that two people were injured and one was trapped under the rubble. The Reuters news agency later confirmed that a member of its team was missing.
On Sunday evening, Oleksandr Honcharenko, head of the city’s military administration, said: “The body of a British citizen who was killed in a missile attack by the Russian Federation was recovered from under the rubble of a destroyed hotel building in Kramatorsk.”
Four foreign journalists – aged 38, 40, 41 and 46 – also suffered injuries from mines and explosions, a brain injury, a broken leg, concussions, cuts and bruises, the Donetsk regional prosecutor’s office said.
The Independent has contacted the Foreign Office about the death. A spokesman said: “We are aware of reports of a British citizen missing in Ukraine and are appealing to local authorities for further information.”
The attack on the eastern city was one of several Russian missile and drone strikes on northern, eastern and southern Ukraine that left at least 37 people injured, according to the Ukrainian military and local authorities.
The nighttime attacks targeted the Ukrainian frontline regions of Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv and Donetsk, the Ukrainian Air Force said via the messaging app Telegram.
In the attack on Kramatorsk, which has become a center for humanitarian workers and journalists, Russian forces used an Iskander-M missile on the hotel, local authorities said.
Two women who were at home at the time of the attack were also injured in the attack on the hotel.
Russia is bombarding Ukraine’s border regions with attacks, and Kyiv said its surprise invasion of Russia’s Kursk region earlier this month was aimed at hampering Moscow’s ability to carry out such attacks.
“Most of the missiles did not reach their targets,” the Air Force said, adding that Russia fired one Iskander-M ballistic missile, one Iskander-K cruise missile and six guided missiles. It did not specify how many missiles were destroyed.
A rocket attack on the northern region of Sumy killed one person and injured at least 16 others, including three children, local authorities said on Telegram.
Oleh Sinehubov, governor of the eastern Kharkiv region, said at least 13 people were injured in the Russian attacks, including a four-year-old child.
Ihor Terekhov, mayor of Kharkiv, said a gas pipeline was damaged in the city and at least two houses were destroyed and ten damaged.
The attacks came as Ukrainian forces advanced up to 3 kilometers into Russia’s Kursk region and captured two more settlements there, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his evening address on Sunday.
