A British safety adviser working with a team of journalists has been killed after a Russian missile struck a hotel in the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, Reuters news agency says.
Ryan Evans, 38, was staying at the Hotel Sapphire with colleagues in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region when it was hit by a Russian missile on Saturday night.
Two journalists who were part of the six-person Reuters crew were hospitalised with injuries.
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.
"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 agency said.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said citizens of Ukraine, America and Britain were among the seven people injured.
"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.
'Russian Iskander' missile turns hotel to 'rubble'
Mr Zelenskyy said the hotel was hit by a Russian Iskander missile, a ballistic missile that can strike at distances up to 500 kilometres.
"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".
The Russian Defence Ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
Associated Press reporters at the scene described the hotel as "rubble", with excavators being used to clear debris hours after the attack.
Besides the hotel, a nearby multi-storey building was also destroyed, said Donetsk regional Governor Vadym Filashkin.
Ukraine's eastern Kharkiv region also came under Russian fire, resulting in multiple civilian injuries, regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov wrote on the Telegram messaging app on Sunday local time.
In Kharkiv's Chuhuiv region, five people were injured, including a four-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl, after two houses were hit by a Russian strike.
In Kharkiv city, eight people were wounded when a two-storey house was set on fire by a Russian attack.
In Russia, five people died in Ukrainian shelling in the border region of Belgorod, officials said Sunday.
Twelve other people were wounded in the Russian village of Rakitone, 38 kilometres from the Ukrainian border, including a 16-year-old girl reported to be in critical condition, said regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov on Sunday.
Another man also died in a separate drone attack on the border village of Solovevka, he wrote later on social media.
ABC/wires
