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Ryan Evans, a British safety adviser for the Reuters news agency, has been identified as the man killed in a missile strike on Hotel Sapphire in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine on Saturday.
The incident occurred while Evans was staying at the hotel as part of a six-person team covering the Ukraine war.
Reuters said Evans, 38, was a former British soldier who had been with the agency since 2022. He died when a suspected Russian Iskander missile struck the hotel on Saturday.
The attack also injured two Reuters journalists, one of whom sustained serious injuries.
The US State Department confirmed that an American citizen was among those injured in the Russian strike on the hotel.
“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.
“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.”
Evans had extensive experience advising journalists on safety in conflict zones, including Ukraine and Israel. He also worked on coverage of the Paris Olympics.
He had previously worked as an operations manager for the UK Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office in Libya for nine years. According to his LinkedIn profile, Evans was originally from Cheshire in the UK.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky described the missile strike as “deliberate” and “calculated”, condemning the targeting of a hotel used by civilians.
“An ordinary city hotel was destroyed by the Russian Iskander [missile],” he said in his evening address on Sunday, adding the strike was “absolutely purposeful, thought out.
“My condolences to family and friends,” he said. “This is the daily Russian terror that continues.”
The Donetsk regional prosecutor’s office confirmed the body of a British citizen was found in the rubble, and Ukrainian authorities reported additional injuries among other foreign journalists in the attack.
All other members of the Reuters team members who were not injured or killed in the attack have been accounted for and are reportedly safe.
Source: independent.co.uk
